The Clinch Mountain MusicFest is more than just another music festival. It’s a unique music experience born from the desire to preserve and foster the rich musical heritage brought to Appalachia by fiercely independent and resourceful Scots, Irish, Anglo, Welch and German settlers in about 1750. These hardy souls built their log cabin homes on steep mountain ridges and in deep, dark “hollers” by rushing mountain streams. They hunted for game in pristine forests, fished in bountiful creeks and rivers, and farmed harsh, mostly barren land, except for bottomland along creeks and rivers. They lived in hard times but these early pioneers worked hand-in-hand with their neighbors to survive, all the while building strong family and community bonds and deeply held religious beliefs.

Musical instruments were scarce. They brought from their native lands a few fiddles, three-stringed dulcimers, jaw harps, mouth bows and bones. And they made simple rhythm instruments out of gourds, dishpans and washtubs. African-Americans introduced the banjo during the Civil War. During that time, minstrel-show music with harmonicas, guitars, and squeezeboxes became popular. In the 1880s, Italian immigrants introduced the mandolin. In the 1900s, the Spanish guitar came to Appalachia when catalog instruments like the autoharp, squeeze boxes, factory-made banjos, mandolins and guitars found their way to new mountain homes.

Appalachian people wrote songs and played music about their shared hardships and beliefs, developing a unique mountain music style. By the 1920s, the music became popular and recording companies recognized its commercial potential. There were three geographical “hotbeds:” Atlanta, Georgia; Galax, Virginia; and the Tri-Cities region (Kingsport, Bristol-Johnson City)—Upper East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, especially Scott and Wise Counties. Atlanta was home base for Gid Tanner, Clayton McMichen, the Skillet Lickers, and Georgia Yellow Hammers. Galax was home base for Ernest Stoneman, Henry Whitter, Al Hopkins and the Jenkins-Jarrell families. The Tri-Cities region was loaded with mountain music talent.

By early 1927, several people had made records. Uncle Am Stuart, champion fiddler from Morristown, Tennessee, recorded for Vocalion. The Roe Brothers, from Bristol, Virginia, recorded for Columbia. Fiddlin’ Cowan Powers, from Dungannon, Virginia had an early hit record for Victor. Charley Bowman, a Johnson City fiddler, played lead on many of the early hillbilly records.

One of the best string bands was the Dykes Magic City Trio, pictured in the 1927 photo above (L-R John Dykes, Myrtle Vermillion, and Hub Mahaffey). The band took its name from Kingsport, dubbed the “Magic City.” John R. Dykes played fiddle. Hubert "Hub" Mahaffey, played guitar and sang. Myrtle Vermillion, a guitarist and banjoist, played autoharp in the band. In March 1927, the Magic City Trio went to New York and recorded 14 sides for the Brunswick-Vocalion company. They recorded some of the earliest and best examples of Appalachian string music on March 8-10.

Two other men often worked with the Magic City Trio, though they were not members of the band: Doc Boggs, banjoist and singer, from Pardee, Virginia; and a square dance caller, Kyle Jayne, who lived in the Bloomingdale area of Kingsport. They played for many dances in Gate City, Kingsport and the surrounding area.