Carter Family Fold — Hiltons, Virginia

The Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, Scott County, Virginia, is a performance venue and heritage site dedicated to the memory of the Carter Family — the foundational group in the history of country music. Built on land that belonged to the Carter family, it was established by Janette Carter, daughter of A.P. Carter, to preserve and present the old-time music her family helped define. The Fold hosts Saturday night performances of traditional music in a simple, barn-like building that seats several hundred people, has no amplification beyond a microphone for the singer, and charges minimal admission. The concerts have run continuously since 1974 and represent one of the most authentic ongoing folk music experiences in the United States.

The Carter Family — A.P. Carter, his wife Sara, and his sister-in-law Maybelle — recorded in Bristol, Tennessee, in August 1927 in what has become known as the 'Big Bang' of country music. Their recordings of 'Wildwood Flower', 'Keep on the Sunny Side', 'Single Girl Married Girl', and hundreds of other songs codified the Appalachian and mountain music tradition and established the template for country music's vocal and instrumental style. Maybelle Carter's 'Carter scratch' guitar technique — playing the melody on the bass strings while using the treble strings for rhythm — became the standard approach for country and folk guitar.

The Carter Family Fold is freely accessible and the concerts are open to all. The surrounding Scott County landscape of the Virginia coalfields and Appalachian ridges provides the geographical context for the music. Nearby Maces Spring holds the A.P. Carter store, where Carter operated a small business and which now serves as a small museum. The community around Hiltons and Maces Spring is regarded as the most authentic physical connection to the origins of country music still available to visitors.