Website / Booking

As one of Bristol, Virginia’s oldest and most successful restaurants, The Vinyard has been known for its fine dining and intimate atmosphere since 1976 when it was converted from a rug cleaning company to (at the time) a unique restaurant concept. Its reputation for fine food has endured and extended to include premier catered events.

With the gravitation of local business to other areas and the growth of chain restaurants, The Vinyard like most independent establishments, however, has suffered the effects of the “Walmart Syndrome” as Interstate 81’s Exit 7 burgeoned into a mecca for consumers shopping or going to movies and the convenience of dining at chains located at that exit. Survival for the restaurant depended on finding another niche, ideally one that related to the one it already filled.

The concept of a music venue for area musicians is certainly nothing new on Highway 58. Located at Exit 1, Interstate 81, the restaurant sets directly across the street from the BCMA Museum and a mere twenty miles from the now famous Carter Fold at Hiltons, VA.; but the concept was definitely out of the ordinary for the owner, a mid-fifties aged, sixties- nurtured, born and bred Southwest Virginian who could not carry a tune in a bucket but loves to hear good music.

So, The Vinyard’s owner Joy Rudder, along with a little help from her friends, decided to take the bull by the horns and offer something to Bristol besides just great food and service. Jeff Malone and his wife Chris, who are long time friends, were the first to be drafted for the effort; Jeff, a music buff and-self proclaimed expert on the subject, was responsible for the name “Sessions”; Chris added the 58 and so it began. Although Chris Malone was not formally an employee of the restaurant at the inception of Sessions58, she, along with the restaurant staff, met for weeks to discuss and brainstorm on what Sessions would be about. Then Jeff , who originated “Homemade Jam” for the Charter Channel 13 invited Billy Crawford from JJ’s House of Music in Bristol to lunch. .

Although Rudder had neither recognition nor appreciation for the fact that she was sitting across from one of the finest guitar players in the world, Billy Crawford, a native Bristolian who since the eighties has toured the world’s music stages, graciously agreed to commit his talents and “The Billy Crawford Band” to performing every Monday night. Crawford was the first to verbalize what has become a frequent plaintiff from area musicians: “Bristol needs a music venue...it’s all about the music.”

Location: 603 Gate City Highway
               Route 58
               Bristol, VA 24201-2308

Phone: 276-466-4244

Website: http://www.thevinyard.net/live-music.html

Booking: booking@thevinyard.net

top