Bristol Sessions Nights Night 5: A True Taste of Tennessee

Tennessee has always made two things better than anybody else: whiskey and songs. Both start with what the land gives you. Both take patience, hands that know the work, and recipes handed down through generations. And in 1927, when the recording machines came to Bristol, the world finally got a taste of what these hills had been making all along.
We're spending the next year honoring that legacy.
Bristol Sessions Nights is a 12-night songwriter series running monthly through the 2027 centennial of the original Bristol Sessions. One stage. Real songwriters. The stories behind every song.
This is Night 5: A True Taste of Tennessee. Homegrown songwriters, homegrown spirits, and the next generation of Tennessee music, poured straight and served with the stories behind it.
LINEUP
Adrian Bundy
An 18-year-old freshman in ETSU's Bluegrass and Country Music program, Greeneville's Adrian Bundy is carrying the torch for the golden age of country music. He taught himself to play on a 1994 Fender he found under a bed during a family move, and he'll tell you he was born 50 years too late. Merle Haggard would've saved him a seat on the bus.
Ryder Casey
A young songwriter out of Erwin blending neo-traditional country, Southern rock, and a touch of bluegrass, somewhere in the vein of Charlie Daniels. He released his debut EP last year, his live shows run more polished than most players twice his age, and his name keeps coming up in bigger circles. Catch him now.
SPECIAL GUIDED WHISKEY TASTING
Tennessee Hills founder Stephen Callahan leads a guided tasting of Tennessee Hills whiskey. Stephen comes from 11 generations of distilling heritage and learned the craft at age 11. He'll walk you through what's in the glass, how it got there, and why it could only come from here.
Doors 6:30 PM. Music starts 7:30 PM.
The Bristol Session West Coast Pilsner pours all night. Brewed by Tennessee Hills. Crisp, piney, built for a long Bristol night. It's the official beer of the series and pours at every Sessions night through 2027.
Hosted at the historic L.C. King Building in downtown Bristol, Tennessee.
Co-produced with the City of Bristol, the ETSU Appalachian Music Collective, Explore Bristol, Believe in Bristol, the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, and Tennessee Hills Distillery.