Blue Ridge Mountains Blues

It is hard, if not impossible, to find Galax, Virginia, on most paper maps of the United States. But you know you’ve reached it when you see a sign that proudly declares, “Welcome to Galax: World’s Capital of Old-Time Mountain Music”.

In 1994, my aunt and uncle packed up their house in Somerset West, and moved to Galax with my three cousins. A decade later, I moved to New York for work and started visiting them for the holidays. We would celebrate the American tradition of Thanksgiving by cooking and eating way too much.

Each time I visited, I would make sure to pop into Barr’s Fiddle Shop on Main Street, a converted barbershop crammed with handmade mandolins, banjos, guitars, drums and, of course, fiddles. The walls are lined with dusty posters and autographed record