Asheville – Appalachia’s First Country Music Recording Capital – Launches Centennial Celebration And Historic Album Release

Remastered Originals, Concerts, Panels Honor Historic 1925 Asheville Sessions, Spotlight Untold History and the City’s Lasting Influence on Americana Music

Asheville wrote the first chapter of America’s country music story by producing the earliest commercial recordings of Appalachian music two years before any other city in Appalachia. A century ago, in the heart of downtown Asheville, a mobile recording studio was set up at the George Vanderbilt Hotel to capture the voices of a region rarely heard beyond its mountain borders. Known as “The Asheville Sessions,” the 1925 recordings brought together fiddlers, banjo players, guitarists, ballad singers, and family groups. The recordings became one of the first commercial projects to preserve the musical traditions of Appalachia and helped lay the foundation for what would become American roots and country music.

That legacy didn’t fade. Today, Asheville produces stars like country giant Luke Combs and guitar legend Warren Haynes, alongside a burgeoning generation redefining music for the next century.

From left to right: Program Director of the Blue Ridge Music Center Richard Emmett, President and CEO of Explore Asheville and the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority Vic Isley, Wicked Weed Brewing Community Engagement and Communications Manager Rachel Dudasik, and Owner of Worthwhile Sounds and Co-founder of AVL Fest Jeff Whitworth.

Celebrating 100 Years of Americana & Appalachia

Explore Asheville is the presenting sponsor of “The Asheville Sessions: Celebrating 100 years of Americana & Appalachia,” a November weekend filled with concerts and events linking the groundbreaking work of 1925 to the city’s thriving modern music scene. Two significant concert events anchor the weekend:

  • Friday, Nov. 7 | Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show will perform, along with Nest of Singing Birds and Jesse Smathers at The Grey Eagle.
  • Saturday, Nov. 8 | The spotlight turns to the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium for a hometown showcase featuring nationally recognized, Asheville-based artists River Whyless, Tyler Ramsey, Toubab Krewe and Floating Action.

Tickets for both shows go on presale at 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 21. Tickets go on sale to the public at 10 a.m. Friday, Aug. 22, at AshevilleSessions.com.

President and CEO of Explore Asheville and the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority Vic Isley opens with remarks on the legacy of Asheville's music industry, which has cemented the area as a crossroads of tradition and innovation. 

“Asheville’s music story began with the early echoes of country and Appalachian folk, and that spirit still resonates through the city’s vibrant music community today,” said Vic Isley, president and CEO of Explore Asheville and the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority. “This celebration is just the beginning of connecting our earliest contributions to recorded music with the sound and creativity of Asheville’s thriving scene now, while shining a spotlight on the artists who will carry that legacy into the next century.”

Jeff Whitworth, owner of Worthwhile Sounds and co-founder of AVL Fest, said, “With AVLFest on a one-year hiatus due to the impact of Hurricane Helene on our community, we welcomed the opportunity to partner with this team for the historic weekend celebrating and honoring the voices of Asheville, both past and present. Like Bascom Lamar Lunsford and many other contributors to the 1925 sessions, the performers featured on Saturday’s lineup have been shaping our region’s sound for over two decades. In addition to songs from their own catalogs, these celebrated voices will also reimagine selections from the original sessions live on stage. To continue telling the story of Asheville’s rich musical history, AVLFest 2026 will introduce an annual showcase dedicated to the Asheville Sessions comprised of contemporary artists’ interpretations of the historic recordings.”

Owner of Worthwhile Sounds and Co-founder of AVL Fest Jeff Whitworth introduces the concerts anchoring the centennial weekend celebration.

Panels, History and the Bigger Story

In addition to the concerts, Explore Asheville, in partnership with the North Carolina Arts Foundation and the Blue Ridge Music Center, will mark the centennial of the Asheville Sessions with a weekend of panels and symposiums celebrating the city’s role in early recorded music.

The following public events are scheduled:

  • Thursday, Nov. 6 | Wicked Weed Funkatorium: Kickoff event with a historic panel on the Asheville Sessions featuring music historians Ted Olson and Tony Russell, introduced by Brody Hunt, and a performance by the Russ Wilson Jazz Orchestra.
  • Friday, Nov. 7 | Pack Library: A full day of free sessions with Katherine Cutshall on Asheville in 1925, Bryan Wright on remastering acoustic recordings, Olson and Russell on the sessions’ significance, and a Gathering of Descendants sharing family legacies.
  • Saturday, Nov. 8 | Pack Library: Symposiums continue with panels on music as a tool for disaster recovery, the continuing legacy of live performance in Asheville, and the Eastern Band of Cherokee’s influence on traditional music in Western Carolina.

The panels trace themes first captured in 1925, when Ralph Peer made his way to Asheville from New York City, ultimately recording 60 wax masters at the George Vanderbilt Hotel for OKeh Records. Long before Peer arrived in Asheville, the region’s folk traditions had been carried forward for centuries, rooted in the ballads, reels, hymns and fiddle jigs of the British Isles and the distinctive percussive sound and rhythmic drive of the banjo, brought from West Africa. Those elements met and fused in the relative isolation of the Blue Ridge Mountains, forming a powerful bond. Over time, these melodies, carried forward and adapted by mountain settlers, merged with the cadence and rhythm of Cherokee storytelling and dance traditions. That convergence gave rise to a new style – “Americana” – a blend of folk, country, blues and roots that formed the bedrock of country music.

Program Director of the Blue Ridge Music Center Richard Emmett speaks to the history of the original Asheville sessions that lit the fuse for American country music.

From Wax Masters to Remastered Clarity

At the heart of the centennial is the release of “Music from the Land of the Sky: The 1925 Asheville Sessions.” The remastered recordings include 28 restored tracks, many sourced from original 78-rpm discs held in private collections for decades. Each has been meticulously remastered by Grammy-nominated engineer Bryan Wright to bring out unheard details since the recordings were first made. Preorders are now open for the Rivermont Records release, which highlights pioneering artists such as Kelly Harrell and Henry Whitter, Bascom Lamar Lunsford, Emmett Miller, Ernest V. Stoneman and the Foor-Robinson Carolina Club Orchestra, along with several lesser-known performers whose music has rarely been heard beyond these original recordings. The history of the artists is captured in vivid detail within the liner notes by music historians Ted Olson and Tony Russell, known also for their work on the Johnson City, Knoxville and Bristol Sessions.

“The Asheville Sessions represent one of the first large-scale efforts to share Appalachian music with the rest of the nation and shaped how the outside world understood the culture of the Blue Ridge Mountains,” said Richard Emmett of the Blue Ridge Music Center. “These restored recordings give us an irreplaceable record of the variety of voices and styles from Asheville, Western Carolina, and the broader Blue Ridge at a time before making music as a vocation was even possible. The Appalachian musicians who recorded in Asheville were ahead of their time, and many of the songs they captured remain mainstays of roots music today. Asheville still has a thriving music scene and remains a crossroads city that values tradition while embracing innovation.”

Together with the concerts, panels and community events, the release of “Music from the Land of the Sky” ensures that Asheville’s role as an originator of modern country music and as a vital hub where traditional and contemporary roots music are celebrated on stage and on record.

The remastered recordings will be available on CD and vinyl, with packaging inspired by the look of 1920s OKeh Records labels from the era. Citizen Vinyl is pressing the record in downtown Asheville, just steps from where the original recordings came to life at the George Vanderbilt Hotel.

The centennial celebration highlights Asheville’s role as a thriving cultural destination and an early and pivotal chapter in the story of recorded music in America.  Music lovers are invited to experience the city’s past, present and future in one unforgettable weekend. To learn more, purchase tickets or preorder the album, visit AshevilleSessions.com.

North Carolina musician and folklorist Laura Boosinger provides an opening performance at the Asheville Sessions press conference at Wicked Weed Brewing in Downtown Asheville.

Centennial Weekend at a Glance

What: The Asheville Sessions:  Celebrating 100 years of Americana & Appalachia
When: Thursday, Nov. 6, through Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025
Where: Funkatorium, The Grey Eagle, Pack Library and Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
Who: Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show, Nest of Singing Birds and Jesse Smathers and River Whyless, Tyler Ramsey, Toubab Krewe and Floating Action
Highlights: Concerts, album release, history programs and panel discussions
Tickets and more info: AshevilleSessions.com

Centennial Weekend Full Schedule

Thursday, Nov. 6 | Wicked Weed Funkatorium

  • Kickoff event with a historic panel on the Asheville Sessions featuring music historians Ted Olson and Tony Russell, introduced by Brody Hunt
  • Performance by the Russ Wilson Jazz Orchestra

Friday, Nov. 7 | Pack Library & The Grey Eagle

  • Free daytime sessions on Asheville in 1925 with Katherine Cutshall; Bryan Wright on remastering acoustic recordings; Olson and Russell on the sessions’ significance; and a Gathering of Descendants sharing family legacies
  • Evening concert at The Grey Eagle with Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show, Nest of Singing Birds and Jesse Smathers
    • Tickets available at com.

Saturday, Nov. 8 | Pack Library & Thomas Wolfe Auditorium

  • Free daytime panels on music as a tool for disaster recovery, the continuing legacy of live performance in Asheville, and the Eastern Band of Cherokee’s influence on traditional music in Western Carolina
  • Evening concert at Thomas Wolfe Auditorium featuring River Whyless, Tyler Ramsey, Toubab Krewe and Floating Action

Sunday, Nov. 9 | Location to be announced

  • Free daytime community concert with local bands performing roots music in the spirit of the 1925 Asheville recordings

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