On Friday nights, the small town of Floyd in southwestern Virginia (population 425) becomes a gathering spot to play and hear American traditional music. Decades ago, the Floyd Country Store started hosting an informal jamboree. Word spread, the crowds grew, and the store now boasts a state-of-the-art performance stage.
“People come from all over the world every Friday night,” says Charles D. Thompson, Jr., professor of the practice of cultural anthropology and documentary studies and a senior fellow at the Kenan Institute for Ethics. A musician himself, he often joins the jamboree.
To learn who traveled the furthest, the evening’s host asks audience members to shout out where they’re from. When Thompson brought guests from China, he was sure they’d take the prize – but they were edged by old-time music fans from New Zealand.
Cultural Anthropology