Music Jamboree: in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia …

On stage, the old-time band is rollicking along: banjo, guitar, fiddle and double bass prompting the audience to show off their flat-foot dancing. An elderly guy in dungarees, battered felt hat and work boots twirls his partner. A spectator leans towards me: “That’s actually what he wears. It’s not an act,” she says, before diving off to find a partner of her own. It’s the Friday Night Jamboree at Floyd Country Store in Virginia’s Blue Ridge mountains – and you can forget about lonesome pines. This joint is jumping.

The store, which dates from around 1910, really is a store: traditional beamed frontage, unfussy wooden interior and exactly the rural, small-town America image I pictured before starting my road trip along the Blue Ridge Parkway. For seven days a week it serves the town of Floyd (population about 400, just the one stoplight) and Floyd County with everything from pots and pans and work clothes to ice-cream and candy. But old-time, bluegrass, Americana and the Appalachian sound is so pervasive that the store has also become integral to the music scene – and a key stop on the Crooked Road, Virginia’s Music Heritage Trail.

The Jamboree sprang up in the 1980s because the store’s owners at the time were musicians and, rather than being interrupted by inquisitive locals while jamming, they opened the doors and let the snoopers become their audience. Now every Friday night is the Jamboree ($5 entry), every Saturday is Americana afternoon (free), Tuesday Tunes is a songwriters’ get-together (free), and once a month, on a Saturday evening, you can attend the Floyd Radio Show ($12 in advance, $15 on the door), which is also broadcast live online and available as a podcast later.

Although this is moonshine country, the store doesn’t serve alcohol – but that doesn’t stop the Jamboree from being a rattling good night out. The crowd is lively, the welcome warm and no one criticises your moves on the dancefloor. Between acts, co-owner Heather Krantz – who, with husband Dylan Locke, took over the store in 2014 – gets on stage and, with a prize up for grabs, asks who has come the furthest to be here. I miss out to a couple whose “Scotland” narrowly defeats my “Nottingham”.

Stepping outside for a brief banjo breather, I see another aspect of Floyd’s musical cool as bands, buskers and friends play in designated bays along the main street. The night air now has a chill but the lights of the store burn on and a group is singing Paradise by John Prine. It’s not quite the perfect title … but it’s not far off if you love the music of these mountains.