The Blue Ridge region's mountain music is a unique and truly American tradition that evolved over time as immigrant settlers brought different musical styles into the region, including the fiddle from Europe and the banjo from Africa. In isolated rural communities, people gathered on front porches and in churches to sing, play instruments, dance, and enjoy fellowship, creating a musical heritage that remains alive today. From spring through fall at the Orchard at Altapass, local residents gather to celebrate, play, and share this music of the mountains, and throughout the region it can still be heard on festival stages, in town squares, and in places where old-time, bluegrass, ballad singing, blues, and sacred music continue to fill the air.