Galax and its surrounding communities have long been an epicenter of Virginia music, preserving historic sounds while creating new ones. In Galax's Old Town, Greenberry Leonard knew tunes he had learned when Andrew Jackson was president, and his student Emmett Lundy, born before the Civil War, carried those tunes into the 1930s and was recorded by Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress. Early radio helped make the Hill Billies famous; this Galax barbershop band, active from 1924 until 1932, performed for President Coolidge, made the first sound film devoted to country music in 1928, and toured vaudeville theaters in the eastern USA. In 1927 Mayor DaCosta Woltz created the Southern Broadcasters, whose recordings became notable and influential. The Galax Moose Lodge organized the first Old Fiddlers Convention in 1935, and the weeklong annual event became the nation's most respected gathering of its type. The Rex Theater and many jam sessions in Galax continue to feature local artists, while the nearby Blue Ridge Music Center, at milepost 213 on the Blue Ridge Parkway, presents live performances and historic exhibits. The New River Trail State Park extends 57 miles for walking, bicycling, and horseback riding and includes scenic places such as Foster Falls and Chestnut Creek Falls, while the river offers fishing, rafting, and canoeing. Galax also stands along the Crooked Road, Virginia's Heritage Music Trail, where historically isolated communities in southwest Virginia preserved strong musical traditions through families and local audiences. Old time mountain music, bluegrass, and gospel remain central to the region, supported by museums, festivals, concerts, radio shows, jam sessions, and instrument makers across the Appalachian Mountains and Coalfields region.