This year – in fact, this week – marks the 95th anniversary of the famed Bristol Sessions, when record producer Ralph Peer spent 12 days on the third floor of the Taylor-Christian Hat and Glove Co. on State Street, recording 76 songs by 19 different performers.

These sessions later came to be considered “the Big Bang” of country music, because they introduced performers such as Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family to a wider audience…

Bristol claims credit as the Birthplace of Country Music and is doing everything in its power to put itself on the nation’s music map: there’s the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, there’s the annual Bristol Rhythm and Roots festival, there’s the Crooked Road music heritage trail. And now there’s the Bristol Casino.