A Musical Road Trip

Partly because of that festival's popularity, Country Cabin III is being built. It's a pavilion that will accommodate as many as 450 people, more than twice the limit at Cabin II, which on this particular night is full to bursting. Bluegrass Circle alternates between lilting two-step such as the Osborne Brothers' "Making Plans," during which dancers waltz around the floor in a more-or-less circle, and high-energy tunes such as "Rocky Top," during which the dancing is freestyle, genially competitive and noisy, thanks to metal taps resonating in a wood-rich environment.

These country dances attract a wide range of participants, mostly local, but are welcoming of strangers and neophytes. Some of the jokes emanating from the stage sound more vintage than the tunes, though always family-friendly: The edgiest it gets is when banjo player T.C. Harvey jokes to the assembled dancers, "The only thing we clog is toilets!" Upcoming performers include East Ky Tyme on Saturday and the Midnight Ramblers on Sept. 30. Tickets for adults and children 12 and older are $5, $1 for children younger than 12. Country Cabin II also hosts jam sessions Tuesdays from 7 to 10 p.m.

At the Carter Family Memorial Music Center, on A.P. Carter Highway in Hiltons and better known as the Carter Family Fold, the music starts at 7:30 p.m. and usually ends by 10 or 10:30, "so folks can get home and be ready for church in the morning," says Rita Forrester, who runs the Fold with brother Dale Jett. Both are third-generation members of the legendary Carter Family: children of Janette Carter, grandchildren of A.P. and Sara Carter, niece and nephew of Maybelle Carter. They're carrying on a tradition dating to 1974, when Janette (who died in January) promised her father she'd create a venue to both honor and foster traditional music. (No electric instruments are allowed.)

Resembling a small, rustic concert hall, the Carter Family Fold is built into a hillside and covered by a metal roof, with sides that open up in good weather. It's quickly packed, not surprising with $5 tickets for adults, $1 for kids 6 to 11 and free admission for children younger than 6. The music is courtesy of New Ballard's Branch Bogtrotters, an old-time quintet named in honor of the Bogtrotters, one of Galax's best-known string bands in the '30s; their musical progeny has won best old-time string band honors at the Old Fiddler's Convention on six occasions. Every time fiddler Eddie Bonds launches into an up-tempo standard such as "Cotton Eyed Joe" or "John Brown's Grave," the dance floor fills instantly. Fiddle is king in old-time music, which is mainly for dancing and favors well-worn fiddle tunes. At evening's end, Jett, who often performs here, admiringly notes, "You about wore them out." He's not talking about the band -- he's talking about the dancers, who sometimes partake in "dance ovations," refusing to abandon the floor after the last dance until the band returns for one more tune.

The Carter Family Fold holds about 850 people, many of whom come to dance in front of a spacious stage that looks like a combination living room and front porch and is decorated with portraits of the Carter Family, among the first artists inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. As crowded as the dance floor gets, hundreds of people watch from new folding seats (funded by the state), cooling themselves on this summer night with hand fans and downing Forrester's sweet, home-brewed iced tea, seemingly by the gallon. She also cooks such concession-stand favorites as hot dogs with homemade chili, bean soup and pork barbecue, and it's priced on par with the admission.

Johnny Cash made his last public performance here in an unannounced concert July 5, 2003, about two months before he died. The tuxedo and long gown that he and June Carter Cash wore to the Nixon White House in 1970 are in the Carter Family Museum a few dozen steps from the Fold. Housed in the old general store A.P. Carter operated in the '40s and '50s, it's chock-full of photos, instruments, show and work clothes, newspaper and magazine clippings, vintage radios and record players, and troves of family artifacts and memorabilia. It feels, and smells, like a cluttered curio shop: Forrester says the museum will soon undergo serious renovation to make it a little more user-friendly. A few feet away: the A.P. Carter Cabin, a modest log cabin moved -- board by board, brick by brick -- from a remote location in Poor Valley. Both buildings are open from 90 minutes before showtime and during intermission; admission to each is 50 cents.

CARTER FAMILY FOLD Upcoming shows include Bill Wells & Blueridge Mountain Grass on Saturday and Bill Lowe & Cripple Creek on Sept. 30. Additionally, the musical "Man of Constant Sorrow: The Story of the Stanley Brothers" will be presented Sept. 29 at 7:30 and Sept. 30 at 2. 276-386-6054 or 276-386-9480 or visithttp://www.carterfamilyfold.org/.

Richard Harrington is the music writer for Weekend.