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MONTROSS, Virginia — By next spring, people planning to visit the Northern Neck or simply searching for an interesting outing should have a new resource to make travel there more memorable.

The Artisan Trail Network is essentially a constantly updated online map of artists, artisans, historic sites, galleries, restaurants, recreational spots and farms that offer agri-tourism opportunities in the Northern Neck.

When it comes online, it will include spots in Westmoreland, Richmond, Northumberland, Lancaster and King George counties.

Since last spring, a group of artisans, artists, government officials and other residents of the Northern Neck and King George have been slowly moving toward creating the trail, which is modeled on versions already in place in and around Charlottesville, Staunton, Shenandoah County and Bedford.

Other, similar trails are in the planning and implementation stages in Rappahannock, Henry, Accomack, Page, Frederick and Rockingham counties, as well as the Williamsburg region.

At an informational session last Wednesday in Montross, trail organizers were joined by artists, artisans, and farmers who may become a part of this new trail.

Kane Lloyd from Westmoreland Berry Farm said his business — which is already working on bringing customers into the Northern Neck — is excited about the new effort.

“We think we can carve out some interesting agri-tourism activities that would work perfectly with a trail like this,” he said.

Andy Pitts, a maker of artistic and fine furniture near Heathsville in Northumberland County, said he and other artisans are excited about how the effort could boost both tourism and their sales.

“The Artisans Center of Virginia used to be a studio in Waynesboro where customers came to buy artisan’s wares,” said Pitts. “After the recession helped shut that down, the focus is now on getting customers out to the artisans to buy those wares.”

The key component of these rapidly expanding artisan trails is a website where trail participants maintain their own web pages.

Even though each trail is launched with a printed brochure that uses regional imagery and a map and highlights trail participants, the web site allows each participant to post real-time updates.

Pitts and Artisans Center director Sherri Smith told the lunchtime gathering that the Northern Neck trail is well on its way to becoming a uniquely interactive visitor experience.

The group has already come up with the required $15,000 in startup fees, thanks to the Northern Neck Chesapeake Bay Regional Partnership and King George County.

In the coming months, there will be other gatherings to settle on a name for the trail, as well as the selection of images for branding.

Pitts noted that a major fundraising event is already planned for this fall at Rices Hotel/Hughlett’s Tavern in Heathsville, where artists and artisans will be asked to sell $100 items at a 50 percent discount. Those items will then be sold to attendees at full price.

Smith, who expects the Northern Neck trail to launch sometime next spring, said a few things must happen before a participant is accepted.

In addition to anticipated first-year costs that range from $90 to $170, there will also be a site visit from a team connected to the trail.

Smith said the team will look at basic retail concerns, things like “having a spot where at least one car can park, the availability of a restroom and no snarling dogs that race at you when you get out of your car.”

The director, who said that artisan trails got started in the Asheville, North Carolina, area decades ago, said trail participants can be open anywhere from seven days a week to “by appointment only.”

She noted that in all regions, the wealth of talented artisans and artists becomes a much better tourism draw when those people are linked and listed to great historic attractions like Stratford Hall or spots like Westmoreland State Park.

Three people are already registered on the Northern Neck Artisan Trail Network: Pitts, Susan Tilt and Spirit Too in Colonial Beach and Zekiah Glass in the Farnham area of Richmond County.

Online:

http://www.artisanscenterofvirginia.org

Information from: The Free Lance-Star, http://www.fredericksburg.com/

Asheville has long been a bastion of cultural richness. From the writings of Thomas Wolfe to the origin of Appalachian music to the homestead of music innovator Bob Moog, the city has been a beacon of artistic expression.

In the last 20 years, an acceleration of art and music has placed Asheville firmly on the national map of creativity. The River Arts District is thriving. The city’s music scene is poised for significant expansion and recognition. That music industry growth is as indicative of Asheville’s rapid ascent to national prominence as the tourism industry.

Producer Stephen Heller has called Asheville home since 1972 and been a fixture in the scene as a musician and a Grammy-winning producer.

“Asheville has always had a vibrant music scene. Now there’s just more of it. We always knew it (the expansion and growth) was coming,” Heller said.

One of the earliest musical events in town was the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, started in 1928 by Bascom Lamar Lunsford. In the ‘60s, the festival gained more prominence with the emergence of artists like the Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul and Mary. The festival sold out the City Auditorium (Thomas Wolfe Auditorium) with regularity. And much like today, “pickin’ parties” often ensued at Westgate Shopping Center after the festival. Singer-songwriter Richard Hurley recalled these sessions lasting through morning.

The communal spirit of open air music collaboration that can be found at Shindig on the Green may be rooted in the presence of local bluegrass musicians like Red Parham, Raymond Fairchild and Roger Sprung joining these pop-up picking sessions.

And the region’s musical traditions have been passed down through generations.

“Kids were everywhere at the early folk festivals,” Heller said. “Artists like Brian Sutton and Marc Pruett got their start as youngsters just hanging around these musical gatherings and being exposed to playing music at a very early age. These kids grew up to be award-winning musicians, which has helped to perpetuate the growth and prominence of local music.”

Asheville’s rootsy, flat pickin’ culture resonated with one of its more prominent native sons, Warren Haynes.

“When I was growing up (in the 1970s), there was a huge bluegrass element, obviously, in town,” Haynes said. “They would just as soon play on the front porch for nobody. I learned a lot about enjoying playing music from these guys, regardless of whether there was an audience or not.”

At that time, Haynes said, there were maybe five or six clubs where he could play his rock and blues, rooms like My Brother’s Mustache, Cosmic Ballroom, Tomorrow’s and the Brass Tap and Caeser’s Parlor. Now, there are almost twice as many venues that have music on any given night of the week.

As an aspiring guitarist, Haynes would find his way into those establishments.

“I used to sneak into clubs as a 14-year-old to check out a lot of singer-songwriters and folk musicians. I could get in there because the drinking age was still 18, so it wasn’t so far-fetched for a 14-year-old guitarist to be in there playing gigs.” The lower drinking age also helped keep the clubs packed because “18- to 20-year-olds like to party,” he chuckled.

“Asheville has become a music hub; a bohemian oasis that every state has at least one of,” he continued. “Asheville has a great, great music scene, much more so than when I was growing up and it’s great to see the town having blossomed into that.”

Haynes attributes a lot of that growth to two things: the club Be Here Now started booking national acts and a more progressive and artistic culture emerged in town. “Music naturally flows from those lifestyles converging in one place,” he said.

Haynes has gone on to enjoy massive success in the music business. He has played in the Allman Brothers Band and with members of the Grateful Dead, and leads Gov’t Mule and the Warren Haynes Band. For 26 years, he has hosted the Warren Haynes Christmas Jam in Asheville, which has grown to be a nationally known event that has drawn big-name musicians like Sheryl Crow, Dave Matthews and Peter Frampton.

One of Haynes’ biggest collaborators is Dave Schools of Widespread Panic. He and his band have been playing Asheville since the late ‘80s and have found this mountain town to be one of the more endearing tour stops.

“Asheville has always been one of ‘those’ towns where there is a unique mix of old-school mountain craft and modern sensibilities,” Schools said. “The vibrant art community sets it apart from many towns that could be described as similar. Asheville is out of the way but offers so much in terms of local color and culture that it makes sense that national acts would want to perform here and also spend extra time here.”

Schools and his band have been hard at work recording a new album at Echo Mountain Recording Studio on Patton Avenue and have found the place to be a refreshing change of pace.

“The environment is such a great one for creativity,” he says. “The main tracking room of the church sounds remarkable and places the band into a far different environment, one that is very different from the usual almost clinical, traditional recording studio environment.”

When asked about the future of the local music scene, Schools says: “As long as Asheville continues to welcome and breed new inhabitants with open minds and fresh cultural leanings, that the sky is the limit.” But, he adds, “vigilance must be maintained as far as development is concerned so as not to overrun the town’s natural charm and longtime personality.”

While Echo Mountain benefits mightily from major national bands like Widespread Panic, it also relies heavily upon the wealth of local talent in the area to help pay the bills and fill necessary session duties.

Jess Tomasin, manager of Echo Mountain, is excited about the current direction of the scene in town. She cites the growth of events like Music Video Asheville and the Brown Bag Songwriting Competition as examples of this positive growth. In addition to managing one of the region’s marquee recording studios, Tomasin has been working to help create more organization within the scene as well as promoting and hosting festivals and other events. Her work with the newly formed group Asheville Music Professionals is helping to pave the way for more advocacy, communication and collaboration among all facets of the local music industry.

“When I’m sitting in a room with songwriters, venue owners, symphony members, buskers, engineers, and others in our field and they are working together to uplift our scene, it’s a really good feeling. I see us becoming more supportive of one another,” Tomasin said.

Asheville’s reputation as an important player on the music scene is recognized across the country, says Gar Ragland, who relocated his music production business, New Song Music to the city two years ago.

“There’s an ever-growing buzz across the country about Asheville’s music scene. I hear it from the artists I work with from other larger cities like Los Angeles and New York, and from booking agents, promoters and presenters,” he said.

Ragland also echoes the concerns of others in town who want to see the tangible economic impact of the local music industry.

Recently the the Asheville-Buncombe Economic Development Commission announced it is launching a study of the industry’s opportunities for growth to determine the draw of local music. Ragland sees this as an essential piece to sustaining and managing the growth.

“Without a full understanding of our music and cultural scene, and careful cultural planning as our national profile continues to skyrocket, I fear that much of what we all love about Asheville and its music scene will and can become a victim of its own success,” he said.