Blue Ridge Mountains Blues

In Galax, a small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains region of America’s famous Appalachian range, Dara Kell finds solace in memories of her aunt – and the sound of a banjo.

- Dara Kell

It is hard, if not impossible, to find Galax, Virginia, on most paper maps of the United States. But you know you’ve reached it when you see a sign that proudly declares, “Welcome to Galax: World’s Capital of Old-Time Mountain Music”.

In 1994, my aunt and uncle packed up their house in Somerset West, and moved to Galax with my three cousins. A decade later, I moved to New York for work and started visiting them for the holidays. We would celebrate the American tradition of Thanksgiving by cooking and eating way too much.

Each time I visited, I would make sure to pop into Barr’s Fiddle Shop on Main Street, a converted barbershop crammed with handmade mandolins, banjos, guitars, drums and, of course, fiddles. The walls are lined with dusty posters and autographed record sleeves, one of them signed “with love” by Dolly Parton. I would return to New York with Tupperware containers filled with my aunt’s spiced apple cake, gooey koeksisters and her famous crunchies. Her sweet treats were so good they often didn’t last all the way home.

When my aunt died last year from cancer, I was heartbroken. I wanted to feel close to her one last time. I had a week off between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, so I took the chance to go back to Galax – this time, alone. With my uncle away, the cats needed looking after and I needed a break from the grime and noise of New York.

Galax hosts the world’s largest fiddler convention. Every summer, its population swells from 7 000 to more than 70 000 as musicians camp out for a week and compete for prizes in categories like Claw-Hammer Banjo, Folk Song and Flatfoot Dance.