Culture

Country Music in Washington

WETA spotlights the national capital area’s rich history related to country and bluegrass music with short features about important people and places.

The Country Gentlemen Tribute Band

4m 3s

For almost 50 years, The Country Gentlemen entertained audiences with a special brand of progressive bluegrass music. Today, a tribute band tries to keep their sound alive and give listeners a sound they thought they'd never hear again.

Episodes

  • The Country Gentlemen Tribute Band: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The Country Gentlemen Tribute Band

    4m 3s

    For almost 50 years, The Country Gentlemen entertained audiences with a special brand of progressive bluegrass music. Today, a tribute band tries to keep their sound alive and give listeners a sound they thought they'd never hear again.

  • Bluegrass at the Old Lucketts Schoolhouse: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Bluegrass at the Old Lucketts Schoolhouse

    4m 27s

    Some have called the old schoolhouse in Lucketts, Virginia the “Grand Ole Opry of Bluegrass.” We take a step inside the history of this special place and explore what it's like to be at the schoolhouse on a bluegrass Saturday night.

  • Rob's Bluegrass Barn: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Rob's Bluegrass Barn

    5m 12s

    For almost 30 years The Friendly Inn near Ellicott City, Maryland was a go-to spot for bluegrass music in the Washington-Baltimore corridor. When the bar closed, Friendly Inn regular Rob Miller and friends carried on the Friendly Inn camaraderie in his 19th century barn, which he rehabbed and transformed into a bluegrass venue.

  • Cleve Francis: The Singer Scientist: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Cleve Francis: The Singer Scientist

    5m 54s

    After achieving his dream of becoming a cardiologist, Dr. Cleveland Francis stepped away from medicine to chase a second career as a pioneering African American country music artist in Nashville.

  • Country Music on the Dial: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Country Music on the Dial

    2m 37s

    Profile of country music broadcaster Connie B. Gay and his pioneering work at Arlington, VA-based WARL, along with country music radio’s resurgence in the 1980s on WMZQ.

  • The Bluegrass Capital: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The Bluegrass Capital

    2m 36s

    Explore Washington’s origins as an unlikely epicenter for bluegrass, spurred on by WAMU’s extensive bluegrass programming, as well as several nationally known groups like the Seldom Scene.

  • The Stoneman Sisters: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The Stoneman Sisters

    2m 40s

    Learn about the remarkable lives and careers of Roni and Donna Stoneman, the last surviving members of the legendary Stoneman Family, who brought their music from Appalachia to Washington during the Great Depression and dominated the DC honky-tonk circuit in the decades following WWII.

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