If you've got your guitar, fiddle, or banjo, you're free to join in as the impromptu jams meld into respectable renditions of the old standards. Welcome to the Folk Music Capital of the World. If you doubt this, just drive out to the edge of town. It says so on the welcome sign.
People gather around the courthouse square, no matter what the weather is.
If it's cold or rainy, they'll build a fire. Some nights you'll find eight or 10 different groups playing at the same time. To some, it refers to songs imported centuries ago from the British Isles. To others, it's the music of America's early days as a nation. And some use the term to describe the guitar-based songs born of civil rights and labor activism in the '40s and '50s.