Floyd Country Store adds live streaming TV options

One of the gems of the live acoustic music scene is a small venue in the tiny town of Floyd, VA.

Yes, the same town that hosts the mega FloydFest most years. But while FloydFest is a huge celebration of all sorts of alternative music, the Floyd Country Store is a showcase for bluegrass, old time, and traditional Appalachian music. In form and function it is a general community store like you might have seen a hundred years ago, but they also offer live music several days each week, and house a Handmade Music School that passes along the traditions of music and dance that were created in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Located in southwestern Virginia between Roanoke and Galax, Floyd is such a small community that when people give directions in town, the typically reference the one stoplight. But municipal leaders have done a fine job building a tourism industry based on these same traditional arts and crafts. People drive in for miles for the big Friday night bluegrass jam sessions, which take over the Country Store parking lot, and those of neighboring businesses during the warmer months, and pack the store inside when it’s too cold outside. Same on Sunday afternoons for the old time jam.

Plus they host touring artists in the bluegrass and old time music world on a regular basis. This weekend, for example, features a concert on Saturday evening from Mike Compton & Joe Newberry, with instrumental workshops by both artists in the afternoon. Then Sunday finds the Jerry Douglas Band on stage with their eclectic style. Next Saturday they will host an old time dance with music from the Crooked Road Ramblers.

The Floyd Country Store has recently installed a high definition video system to compliment their existing high end audio, and are offering live streaming of their various events, plus edited and mixed replays of most of the store concerts. Typically, after a concert event has streamed, the Floyd Country Store TV staff will work for several days on editing the multi camera video and hi-def audio before re-uploading the edited version. So subscribers can catch both the live concert in real time, and then an updated version after the fact for the standard $9.95/month we are used to seeing for specialized content.

Current subscribers can watch all the archived content, and see all upcoming streams with their membership. There are apps for smart TVs, and iOS and Google phones and devices. The existing catalog includes full, hour-and-a-half to two hour, edited shows from The Malpass Brothers, Special Consensus, Tim O’Brien, Wayne Henderson & Friends, Jason Carter, John Cowan & The New Grass All Stars, Bill and The Belles, The Kody Norris Show, Jake Blount, Darrell Scott, Lonesome River Band, Dan Tyminski, Seldom Scene, Laurie Lewis & The Right Hands, High Fidelity, Ralph Stanley II & The Clinch Mountain Boys, Alice Gerrard, and many more, with new ones being added weekly. Video from the Friday Night Jamborees are also included.

Here are a couple of sample clips to show the quality of the content…

Full details about subscribing to Floyd Country Store TV ($9.95/month or $99.95/year) can be found online, where you can also see a listing of the existing catalog and upcoming streaming events.

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About the Author

John Lawless

John had served as primary author and editor for The Bluegrass Blog from its launch in 2006 until being folded into Bluegrass Today in September of 2011. He continues in that capacity here, managing a strong team of columnists and correspondents.