Uptown, Downtown

If you're headed to Floyd this weekend, be prepared to not be the only one.

This may well be the buzziest couple of days all summer long--or at least the first of what promises to be a lot of summer days when cars pile up behind the one traffic light in town.

Ann's scooping ice cream from two til five for the Partnership for Floyd, so I know I'll be wandering around with my camera slung across my neck. Looks like fun.

If you're wondering what's coming up in the weeks ahead in Floyd County and the Greater Floyd area, there's good news: Check out this CALENDAR OF EVENTS which I will certainly put in my sidebar, once the new WordPress blog is ready to go. But here's what appears on the near horizon.

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22 Special Grand Re-Opening Weekend of Concerts
The newly renovated Floyd Country Store will celebrate with a spectacular Friday Night Jamboree with Special Guests Olen Gardner & Friends at 6:30 p.m., Wayne Henderson and Friends at 7:30 p.m. and The Looping Brothers at 8 p.m. It's a night not to miss! The Floyd Country Store is just south of the stoplight on State Road 8 near the crossroads with Route 221.
For more information: www.floydcountrystore.com or

23 Ice Cream Social
Citizens of Floyd are invited to a free Ice Cream Social to Discuss Developments in Downtown Floyd. From 2:00-5:00 PM at the Sun Music Hall Floyd's Town Manager and members of the Partnership for Floyd will be available with information about Community Development seeking input from our Floyd County residents. See our web site for more details http://partnershipforfloyd.blogspot.com/

23 Saturday Night Re-Opening Concert at the Floyd Country Store
The newly renovated Floyd Country Store will celebrate with a Grand Re-Opening Concert featuring Jimmy Costa, Tina Liza Jones and Rounder Recording Artists, King Wilkie. 7:30 p.m. The Floyd Country Store is just south of the stoplight on State Road 8 near the crossroads with Route 221.
For more information: www.floydcountrystore.com or Learn more about the performers at www.dipconcerts.com.

23 A Play Called "Cotton Patch"
The Greatest Story ever Retold is a musical of the Gospel of Matthew and is set in contemporary Georgia. The music and lyrics are the final works of Harry Chapin and the storyline is based on the book by Tom Key and Russ Treyz. Sponsored by Friends of the Oak Grove Pavilion. 7:30 p.m. Rain or shine. Admission is free but a freewill donation is encouraged at intermission. More than $40,000 has been raised for local charities over the years. Oak Grove Pavilion is a gorgeous, covered pavilion in back of Zion Lutheran Church at 635 Needmore Lane NE, Floyd.
For more information: www.floydlutherans.org

This picture of Mac and Jenny Traynham came from Saturday's Oak Grove Pavilion event.

Floyd Virginia : Musical Horizon

There's been some discussion of late over at Blue Ridge Muse in which a false distinction has been made between the washed and the unwashed of Floyd County. Who goes in which camp can be biased by a prejudice against "outsiders" who weren't born here.

If you'll come to the Oak Grove Pavilion performances this summer, any perceived barriers between these two populations of Floyd County residents will crumble. The long-time locals and the recently-arrived locals sit side by side, enjoying each other's company, the music, and the summer darkness under giant oaks, punctuated by the amber flash of fireflies.

This week, our buddies, Mac and Jenny Traynham, perform. They're sure to do quite a few cuts from the newly-released CD compilation of some of their way-back tunes, gospel and otherwise, that have become favorites of ours.

There's plenty of seating under the pavilion, more out under the stars. Bring a folding chair and a picnic dinner if you want, and get to know your neighbors--in tie-dye or bibbed overalls, good folk. See you there.

Click here for directions to Oak Grove Pavilion behind Zion Lutheran Church.

Good Time Had by All

We had just enough chairs (thanks to Haven's Chapel Methodist for the loan!) and just enough parking places for the 40 or so that showed up for the First Ever Goose Creek ANNex House Concert Saturday night.

Performing, Mac and Jenny Traynham (Southern Mountain Melodies) on what was almost the date of the issue of their new CD (coming early next week!) In attendance, ambassadors from the New Roanoke Jug Band, Beggars Circus and the Hoorah Cloggers, as well as a cast of music listeners.

If you'd care to (and even though it does not do justice to the evening's music, here's a short clip of a number that recruited Jay on the washboard and Shay on the fiddle. (Towards the end, you can hear Tsuga barking forlornly, wanting to join the fun.)

More Mountain Melodies

We worked on Southern Mountain Melodies home page a bit more yesterday, and now there are four of the Traynhams songs available to generously sample. See the bottom of the sidebar for the links. And pardon our dust. For now, you can REFRESH the page by hitting F5 to make the player disappear when you're through listening. We'll fix this the next run through.

And for those few of you who might enjoy "Old Time, All the Time", Mac told me about Sugar in the Gourd. Click on the LISTEN button up top on the program's page, and well, listen. Discover some old favorites, and some NEW old favorites.

Mountain Stage

I found this view of the newly-expanded Floyd Country Store that I brought home a few weeks back. You know, I think this is one of those things that, no matter how big you build it, it will fill to capacity.

But the scale of it seems about right. And so many things are better in the new version of the Country Store--not the least of which is the lighting. But then, no great surprise here: the store's owner, Woody Crenshaw, owns Crenshaw Lighting. And he is a photographer and knows how difficult it was to get anything like a usable shot with the old lighting.

I think Ann works Friday evening. Maybe, if there's enough left of me after work, I'll head to town and see what's happening "of an evening" in Greater Downtown Floyd. Ah, soon with warmer weather, the music will spill over onto the street, and the 2007 Music Season will have officially arrived.

Floyd Friday Nights

Last Friday night was my first time in the "improved" Country Store, and I was pleased.

Much of the character (including the hornets nest hanging from the ceiling) remained. The same folks--the regulars--were there predictably attired and in their usual places with usual partners on the dance floor.

There's just more room now. Better lighting. A significantly revamped sound system. And air conditioning when 200 dancing bodies send the temps soaring. Lots more shelf space, waiting to be filled with local offerings. An active soda fountain. And soon, open beyond Friday nights.

I was pleased during my short stay at the store to be able to congratulate Woody Crenshaw, owner and renovator of the store, a man who must be very gratified to see the task completed.

I'll be pleased to offer Slow Road Home in the book section at the Country Store, and hope a new population of visiting readers will discover it there in the "heart of town" over the coming months.

And I'll be back--for more pictures!

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Where in the world do your blog vistors come from? And why? How many of them do you know? Does it matter that visits are almost entirely anonymous? These are questions I'm pondering on Nameless Creek this morning.

Floyd County, VA: Blog Grand Opening!

Please stop by Southern Mountain Melodies, the brand new and still growing website for our friends Mac and Jenny Traynham. These local musicians are familiar faces (and voices) in Floyd, and it's time their music gained a wider listenership.

This is a specially important time for them to become more publically accessible in as much as they will soon have two new CD's available. You'll learn about that on their blog.

And please turn up your speakers! There are THREE audio files (two excerpts and one full song) to sample their sound--traditional mountain, gospel and blue grass duets, solos and instrumentals you'll enjoy.

Leave a comment, add them to your blogroll, and when the time comes, get yourself some CDs--and a couple for your friends! Watch their schedule for performances in and around Floyd!