Bristol, VA-TN (May 7, 2003) The Birthplace of Country Music Alliance (BCMA) recently received the East Tennessee Historical Society’s Award of Distinction at the 20th annual East Tennessee Historical Society Awards of Excellence in Knoxville.

For two decades, the East Tennessee Historical Society (ETHS) has rewarded efforts to preserve, interpret, and promote the rich heritage of this region with presentations of the ETHS Awards of Excellence. The awards are given to individuals and organizations with outstanding contributions in the fields of teaching, media, preservation, publishing, and lifetime achievement. The Award of Distinction is awarded to either an individual or organization for publishing, preservation, or programming.

The BCMA was recognized for its production and coordination of events celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Bristol Sessions – “the Birth of Country Music.” In 1927, record producer Ralph Peer traveled to Bristol to make field recordings of “hillbilly” musicians, where he recorded 76 performances by 19 different artists, including the first recordings of the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers, the first superstars of country music. These recording sessions, considered by historians to be “Big Bang of Country Music,” were recently included among the fifty inaugural recorded sounds on the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry and recognized by Congress in 1998 to be the “birth” of country music.

The celebration of the diamond anniversary of those recordings included ten days of concerts at eight venues in three states. During the performances, over forty bands, comprised of 217 different artists performed to approximately 12,000 people. Additionally, stories about the Carter Family and the 75th anniversary of the Bristol Sessions in appeared in a variety of national media, including the New York Times, Los Angles Times, and two radio broadcasts on National Public Radio. Cherel Henderson, Associate Director of the ETHS, stated that “the review panel was quite impressed by the excellence with which the organization pursues its mission.”

Other award recipients from Northeast Tennessee include:

· Grant Hardin of Carter County, who received the Special Award of Distinction for his efforts to provide visitors to Rocky Mount Museum with accurate portrayals of historical regional characters.

· Ned Irwin of East Tennessee State University, who received the McClung Award for the best historical paper published in the 2002 edition of the "Journal of East Tennessee History."

· William George Cooper of Unicoi County, who received the Award of Merit for his research in two volumes of Unicoi County history.

· John L. Kiener of Washington County, who received the History in Media Award for his weekly newspaper column of local history and genealogy.