As Ken Burns’ “Country Music” documentary unfolds on PBS stations around the country, Virginia is getting its share of attention.
The earliest documented fiddle festival took place in Virginia in 1736, 40 years before the Declaration of Independence was signed.
It’s considered the birthplace of country, as the home of the Carter Family and because the 1927 recordings that launched the careers of the Carters and Jimmie Rodgers took place in Bristol, the town that straddles the Tennessee-Virginia border.
George D. Hay, founder of country music’s beloved Grand Ole Opry, is buried in Norfolk’s Forrest Lawn Cemetery, and the United States’ first radio station to play all country music, WCMS, started right here in Norfolk in 1954.
But what is the state of country music in Hampton Roads today? Where do folks go when they want to take their boots for a spin around the dance floor? What radio stations are playing three chords and the truth, or the modern twist on that definition of the genre? Is the region a hotbed of country music talent?
The country scene around the 757 has a few things going for it. The fans are diverse, the watering holes are welcoming and there is local talent turning out tunes. But it’s no Nashville.
Every summer, without fail, country music’s biggest and brightest – think Luke Bryan, Rascal Flatts, Brad Paisley and Jason Aldean – roll through town to perform at the Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater in Virginia Beach and residents rush to buy tickets, filling the seats and spilling out into the lawn. By comparison, the absolute A-list in other genres tend to blow past Hampton Road when they tour.
Yet Tidewater is home to just two major country stations – 97-3 The Eagle (WGH-FM) and US106, America’s Country (WUSH-FM) – which seems too few to reflect the obvious fanbase. For the most part, the stations seem to stick to the same rotation of chart-topping songs, skipping over local talent.
Just ask Celeste Kellogg. If you’ve never heard of her, it’s not because she hasn’t worked hard to get her music in front of you.
Kellogg is a Smithfield native and still lives in the area. She gigs all over the region and makes the trek to Nashville often.
She’s got a charted single out right now, “There’s a Beach Somewhere,” but unless you’ve seen her around town, you probably haven’t heard it on either of our major country radio stations.
“I love both major stations here, but I don’t think they play indie artists at all. I’m on over 100 stations across the United States, but the ones at the Beach, I’m not sure if they have much of a say in playing artists that aren’t on major labels,” Kellogg said over the phone from her Smithfield home.
It’s frustrating, and fans ask her about it often.
“I’m still working on it though, and I won’t give up,” she said mustering a laugh as she recovered from a summer cold.
You will hear her songs on one station, though you have to jump on a computer or download a smartphone app to enjoy it.
Jimmy Ray Dunn was a DJ on Eagle 97.3 for nearly three decades, excluding a brief departure in 1994 when the station was “looking for a new sound.” He returned the following year and stayed until 2015.
Now, Dunn hosts a digital radio webcast, Jimmy Raydio, every day, via the website or smartphone app. His morning show runs from 6 to 8 a.m. and is a mix of listener requests and whatever he feels like listening to.
He plays all country, from Tammy Wynette to Florida Georgia Line. He plays songs of local artists, too.
“The listeners own it. That was the whole purpose from the start, so people could have an alternative to what’s on the FM dial,” Dunn said. “I don’t have to ask anybody if I can play a song or a record.”
Kellogg isn’t the only recent talent to look to Nashville for success, either.
Alana Springsteen’s family uprooted their lives in Virginia Beach to move the 18-year-old to Tennessee, where she’s steadily releasing material and gaining a following by playing her own music.
For musicians here in Tidewater, playing original material at shows isn’t as easy.
Jim Cahoon, bass player for local band Runnin’ Shine, explained: “Places want danceable country covers, more often than not. Squeezing in our songs was off-limits. How do you survive like that?”
Cody Christian’s band, Every King and Commoner, recently started testing the gig waters and has run into the same issue. Christian said the biggest offenders are breweries.
“Those kinds of places are looking for much longer sets, and they want you to fill the time with cover songs,” he said. “And we’re just not a cover band.”
Curtis Cowles, lead vocalist for Buckshot, said his band has leaned into the local demand for cover songs. They’re in high demand, too, and have played at least two or three shows a week for the past few years on stages at festivals, breweries and bars around the region.
“We’ve found that if you play good covers right, play songs that people know as they’re meant to be played, fans really enjoy that. And then you can slip in your own songs and if they like it, they remember them.”
They like to stick to country’s roots, he said. If you’re a fan of Alan Jackson, Sturgill Simpson or Dwight Yoakam, Buckshot is your kind of band.
Some venues don’t make the demand, though, like The Vanguard Brewpub and Distillery in Newport News and the newly relaunched Granby Theater in downtown Norfolk.
Both Runnin’ Shine and Christian’s other band, Old Myrtle, opened up for country legend Billy Ray Cyrus earlier when he played there this year.
More space in the spotlight needs to be given to original material. That’s something Kellogg, Runnin’ Shine and Christian all agree on. But how?
Bringing back singer-songwriter showcases would be a good start.
“It’d be a great way to get people invested and interested in country music,” said Janice Chandler of Runnin Shine. “What The NorVa used to do was called 757 Country Fest every year, and it was a lot of fun.”
A handful of local bands would play, and tickets were only around $10, she said. The fests were perfect for spotlighting local talent, but they ceased a few years ago.
Similar events exist, and they’re held by the Virginia Country Music Association, said its former president, Tom “Tee” Meroney.
The VCMA, founded in 1971, holds jamborees on both sides of the water where Tidewater musicians get together, learn how to line dance and take turns on stage, often jumping in with other artists to improvise on the spot.
On the first Sunday of the month, they gather at the Moose Lodge in Newport News. The next jam, held on the third Sunday of the month, is at the Portsmouth Moose lodge.
For country music month, the jamborees are intensified.
“We have what is called a super jam. We bring in some of the best musicians and best singers in the area to create a house band of sorts,” Meroney said. Details for next month’s super jam were being finalized, he said.
And there are frequent country shows at Frank’s Truckstop in Chesapeake and the Indian River Road Hardee’s in Virginia Beach.
These get-togethers aren’t for fans of what Meroney calls new country. VCMA members love the classic country sound, where fiddles, banjos and lap steels are in the mix.
Rarely will you hear a song written in this century.
“There are two groups of followers, in my opinion. You’ve got the younger crowd that listens to these top 40 radio stations playing this new country music. Then, you’ve got the older people who still like Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard, Alan Jackson – the true country music, as I know it,” he said.
If you visit any of the region’s remaining country bars, you’ll see that there’s something to his theory.
There are at least three bars that give specific space to country music, one of them with locations on both sides of the water. And depending on whether you like old or new country, you’ll feel more at home at a specific spot.
Eagles Nest Rockin Country Bar is tucked into the corner of a Chesapeake strip mall. If you don’t know it’s there already, you’d never be able to tell just by driving by. The Nest embraces old and new country alike, which makes it a popular hangout with a diverse crowd and many dedicated regulars.
Inside, you’ll find two large rooms – one for country music and another for a mix of top 40 songs. Outside, there is a newly-created outdoor area for live music.
Up-and-coming and obviously modern touring country artists Filmore, whose breakthrough single was “Slower,” and Hardy, who dropped “Hixtape Vol. 1” last week, are the biggest acts on the bar’s event calendar for the next month.
In the section where country music is king, a modest, wood dance floor takes up the center floor, surrounded by high top tables, two separate bars and a stage. Neon lights shine all over and music pumps out of large monitors, making it nearly impossible to talk without shouting. On a recent nightm, TVs spaced around the room ran games of every sport in season and President Donald Trump’s live 9/11 commemoration.
The cowboy boots are aplenty at The Nest, and the variety is impressive – painted, bedazzled, paisley, floral, some shiny and new, others beaten and rustic. Only a few go the extra mile with a cowboy hat or an oversized belt buckle.
Free line dance lessons are taught by DJ Kenny – who is dripping head to toe in cowboy swagger – on Wednesdays starting around 7 p.m.
Even though Virginia Beach resident Maleka Buck clearly knows what she’s doing on the dance floor, she comes every week for Kenny’s lessons, and has been for about three years.
Toward the end of the night, when a more difficult dance is taught, she catches on quickly after one or two practice rounds and starts adding flourishes of her own. Wednesday is for brushing up and fine-tuning her moves. When she comes back each Friday, that’s when the real fun begins.
“This is a hobby that has turned into a lifestyle,” Buck says with a grin as she watches the other dancers slide across the floor. “We’re all here because we love what we’re doing.”
She hangs out at two other local spots that feature country music, PBR and The Banque, but said Eagles Nest is her home because she found her chosen family there. It beats any bar she’s visited in Nashville, too.
PBR, which stands for Professional Bull Riders, is the newcomer to the scene. As its name suggests, the Hampton and Norfolk locations feature mechanical bulls and a host of riders who have learned to tame the beast.
The bars are more contemporary than their counterparts. The most you’ll see in the way of country attire is cowboy boots. Long gone are the days of pressed Southern chic dress shirts and pants.
Staff at PBR have a little fun with cowboy couture, though. Some sport a version of leather chaps and cowboy hats while others stick to ripped jeans and flannel.
The décor of the bars matches the mood, with an updated yet rustic take on country. At the Newport News location, “A COWBOY BAR” is spelled out in giant illuminated letters.
Events range from line dancing nights and bull riding competitions to live bands. On nights where DJs rule the soundwaves, you can expect to hear all the latest country radio hits and a sprinkling of other genres.
Cowles said Buckshot has played at the Norfolk location several times, and when they stick to songs you can dance to, the floor stays packed and the drinks flow faster.
The area’s longest-running country bar, The Banque, sits in a Norfolk strip mall, not far from Little Creek Amphibious Base. As such, a fair bit of its clientele are young and enlisted, though a good amount of older line dancers mingled with the younger-leaning crowd on a recent ladies night.
Dennis Doughty opened the nightclub in 1973, “before country was cool.” In its early days, the bar was a disco club.
That changed in the early ’80s, and the only thing that remains from the era is the original disco ball that used to shine above the dance floor. It has since been moved over the stage area, and a brand new, sparkling saddle-shaped disco ball has taken its place over the line dancers. There are only four others like it ever made, and one of them belongs to country-pop sensation Kacey Musgraves.
The Banque feels like somewhere you could potentially meet the love of your life among décor that transports you back in time. Walls are lined with photos and murals of country stars of yore, many who played in the club before they made it big and others who were known to stop by when they were in town.
“Alan Jackson played here before he was on the radio, and it’s long been a rumor that he wrote ‘Don’t Rock the Jukebox’ while he was here,” Doughty said, standing in front of a mural of the golden-haired musician.
Very few TVs are placed around the bar’s fringes. Most show photos of Doughty’s staff, many of whom have been for decades.
Like the Nest, the Banque has its regulars, especially on Friday nights, when about eight or nine couples come in for what general manager Chrissy Clinedinst has coined “date night.”
“We call that group ‘the hats,’ because they come in all wearing cowboy hats and that stand over at that bar in between dancing,” she says, motioning toward bartender Chris Gilbert Luhman who has tended the club’s largest bar for 37 years.
Luhman came to the club when she needed a second job all those years ago, but the clientele and atmosphere made her stay.
“I like to watch ’em all out there line dancing,” Luhman said. “I get excited – I get a high when people I come back. It starts at my toes and goes all the way to my head.”
Originally from Texas, Luhman said she can spot another Texan on the floor in a second “because they put that little twinge” in their two-step.
Jen and Brad Setzer teach free line dance lessons at the club every Thursday and Friday and have been for going on a decade. They teach lessons outside of the bar, too, and even taught Kellogg’s crew the moves for her “Country Swagger” music video.
The Banque is special to the couple, though.
“The environment that they’ve created, it’s not like a normal night club but more like a restaurant with entertainment. If you don’t dance, it doesn’t matter. If you want to learn to dance, you can do that here and not worry about being embarrassed,” Brad Setzer said.
It’s the kind of place that gives people like David Wood the ability to open up and find something that excites them.
Wood moved to Newport News for a shipyard job from Florida. Searching for a place to belong, he Googled places to hang out and stumbled across The Banque’s reviews.
“I came up here and just hung out by myself at first, but I took advantage of the lessons and started making friends. Now I come four or five nights a week,” he said during a dance break.
Afterward, Wood strode back on the floor and asked a stranger to dance. Seconds later, the two swirled around the floor, weaving in and out of the crowd.
Doughty said the club has started booking live bands again, but It can be tough to compete against Eagles Nest and Waterside when booking bands, both of which are tied to local radio stations Eagle 97.3 and US 106.1, respectively.
Despite their DJ setlists that stick close to old school country, they’re branching out when it comes to live music. This year, Kellogg, Runnin’ Shine and Good Shot Judy, a jazz band from Williamsburg, have all graced the club’s stage. In December, they’re bringing in an Elvis Presley impersonator.
“As long as it’s something people can dance to, we’ll try it. People want to dance, and they want to dance to good music. That’s what has kept country music, and my bar, alive.”
On TV
New episodes of Ken Burns’ “Country Music” will air at 8 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday on WHRO-TV.
Amy Poulter, 757-446-2705, amy.poulter@pilotonline.com
