Floyd Country Store

Appalachia has provided cultural riches to the world, but its greatest achievement may be string-band music, particularly old-time and bluegrass. In essence, it's Appalachia's core story: immigrants move and bring their culture into the mountains, and become part of the greater whole. Appalachian string-band music combines African-rooted banjo, fiddle and ballads from Scotland, England and Ireland, and numerous other musical strains to make something new that couldn't have originated anywhere else. 

Perhaps the best thing about mountain string music is that it's populist, taught in after-school programs across the region and regularly played by people across all walks of life. Come to Floyd's Friday Night Jamboree and you'll see. The Floyd Country Store hosts the weekly jam that's been carrying on for more than 40 years. Each week, bands perform a gospel set and then a dance set, during which the store's hardwood floors become an exceptionally welcoming dance floor. Most weeks during the year, amateur bands set up and play on the street outside the store, drawing their own crowds and dancers. Friday nights in Floyd are packed with string bands playing inside the country store and outside, as people mill around and enjoy all the music in the air. 

The Floyd Country Store operates a regular schedule aside from the Friday night jamboree. It hosts honky-tonk bands on Thursdays, Americana groups on Saturday afternoons, and an open Sunday music jam with set times for beginners, old-time and bluegrass sessions. Aside from its live music, the country store sells clothes, musical instruments, toys and more. The store also operates a restaurant that serves a menu of sandwiches, soups, and salads sourced from local farms. There's also an attached soda fountain with locally sourced ice cream and drinks. 

The Floyd Country Store is the primary destination in the small, one-stoplight town of Floyd, but a number of local stores and other restaurants are within walking distance. The town also is home to a three-story former schoolhouse that now sells fabric and sewing supplies, a distillery based around the county's moonshine-running heritage, and an award-winning local coffee roaster that supplies customers through the Mid-Atlantic region.