Right: Watch video from a Thursday morning jam session at the Rocky Mount Dairy Queen.

ROCKY MOUNT, Va. – Come Thursday morning, you’ll be scrambling to find a seat inside the Dairy Queen at Rocky Mount.

That’s when the breakfast bluegrass jam gets as sizzlin’ as the sausage.

The DQ Band performs bluegrass music for an hour each Thursday morning, starting at 9.
“I think it’s a big hit,” said Deborah Russell, a co-owner of the Dairy Queen.

“I mean, everybody loves it. But it’s just kind of traditional in Franklin County. It’s been that way for years. It ain’t like we just started doing it because of The Crooked Road.”

This Dairy Queen, still, is now an affiliated partner of The Crooked Road: Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail.

And it stands about a mile from where The Crooked Road begins on the east – at the Rocky Mount Depot.

Obviously, said former Town Manager Keith Holland, this is not the kind of place you would expect to walk in and hear live music.

But, Holland said, “I think the fact that it is so popular in a non-traditional setting, such as a Dairy Queen, just adds to the appeal of the music.”

Sounding as sweet as sugar, The DQ Band offers a musical menu that audiences relish like a piled-on plate of bacon and eggs.

People jump out of their chairs – clogging, in between the booths.

Some shake like jelly.

“Most of the people are regulars,” Russell said. “Ninety percent of them are here every Thursday.”

And then there are the tourists.

“We’ve had Crooked Road travelers coming through in motor homes,” Russell said. “And they really enjoy it. The out-of-towners really enjoy it, maybe, more than the locals, because maybe we’re just used to it.”

Holland, now the city manager at Galax, said this music – the old-time sounds of the mountains and bluegrass – is far from dying.

“There is a wealth of talent out there, of young musicians who are picking this craft up,” Holland said. “It’s being passed on from generation to generation.”

Members of the DQ Band play during the colder months – September to May. They take off during the summer, Russell said, to play different shows and travel with their families.

What’s their pay?

“We feed ’em breakfast,” Russell said. “And that’s it.”

Band members like James Guilliams say they play for the love of the music.
“It’s just a little jam session,” Russell said. “And everybody gets to watch.”

jtennis@bristolnews.com | (276) 669-2181

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YOU SHOULD KNOW

What: Thursday Morning Jams 

Where: Dairy Queen in Rocky Mount, 995 Franklin St.

When: Plays every Thursday, 9-10 a.m., September to May

Info: (540) 483-7987