Floyd Country Store & The Crooked Road

The building has operated as a general store since 1910. Every Friday since 1983, the Friday Night Jamboree has opened its doors at 6:30 PM. Old-time Appalachian string bands play. Flatfoot dancing happens in the aisles. No alcohol is served — homemade baked goods are sold instead. No tickets, no reserved seats.

Floyd is a town of 430 people. During summer months, thousands arrive weekly for the Jamboree. That ratio — 430 to thousands — is what the place is.

This is the closest stop on The Crooked Road to Roanoke, about 50 minutes south via Route 8 through the Blue Ridge. The Crooked Road is Virginia's 330-mile Heritage Music Trail connecting 9 major venues, running from the Blue Ridge to the coalfields. Most people begin here because it never stopped being what it was: a general store that stayed a general store, a Friday night that stayed a Friday night.

Roanoke became a city because the Norfolk and Western Railway chose it in 1882. The railroad made Southwest Virginia's economy, then left in 1982. What stayed were the older routes — the roads that came before the railroad, the music that came before the roads. Floyd is on one of those routes. You go because the thing still happens, and because 430 people hold the door open for thousands every week.