The Bristol Sessions were a series of recording sessions held in 1927 in BRISTOL, TENNESSEE considered by some as the "Big Bang" of Country Music The recordings were made by  Victor Records producer Ralph Peer . Bristol was one of the stops on a two-month, $60,000 trip that took Peer through several major southern cities and yielded important recordings of blues, ragtime, gospel, ballads, topical songs, and string bands. The Bristol Sessions marked the commercial debuts of Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family . On this episode we will expolore some of these recordings.