The Crooked Road
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Duffield

The Crooked Road, also, Duffield. Virginia's Heritage Music Trail. , The Crooked Road , Virginia's Heritage Music Trail , From the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Coalfields region, southwest Virginia is blessed with historic and contemporary music venues, musicians, and fretted instrument makers. Historically isolated, the region retained its strong musical legacy by passing traditions down through musical families to an appreciative community., Old time mountain music, bluegrass, and gospel can be enjoyed all year long and several museums are devoted to showcasing the area's rich musical heritage., The Crooked Road winds through the ruggedly beautiful Appalachian Mountains and leads you to the major hotspots of old time mountain music, country music, and bluegrass. Alive and kickin' for today's fans, these venues preserve and celebrate musical traditions passed down through generations. Annual festivals, weekly concerts, radio shows, and jam sessions ring out to large audiences and intimate gatherings. Please visit the Crooked Road website to plan your trip to coincide with the current entertainment events., (captions) The Carter Family . Dr. Ralph Stanley, Duffield , Virginia's traditional songs and melodies were carried westward along the Wilderness Road spreading north to Illinois and other areas of the Midwest, and west to Texas and California. Civil War soldiers of both sides learned the song "Cumberland Gap” as well as other melodies of the upland south, and they took this traditional music to their homes. Radio and recordings made it possible for Virginia's traditional musicians to be heard across the nation beginning in the 1920s. Groups such as the Carter Family, the Powers Family, and the Stanley Brothers have inspired keepers of tradition in many distant places., Duffield was an important way station on the South Atlantic and Ohio Railroad, which evolved to become a major coal-hauling route for today's Norfolk Southern. Huge "Mallet” steam locomotives pulled and pushed the coal trains over the steep grades. A famous Carter Family number, "The Lonesome Pine Special", memorialized the passenger train of that name, which stopped at Duffield each day until it was discontinued in 1939. The surrounding area is rich in natural beauty and recreational opportunities with easy access to Natural Tunnel State Park and the Jefferson National Forest. , The Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail follows U.S. Highway 58 through scenic Lee County passing by Wilderness Road State Park and through Cumberland Gap National Historical Park to the Kentucky state line., (captions) Duffield Station . Daniel Boone . The Power Family