Watch Dave Eggar & Bristol Lightning’s Paste Session Recorded Live at Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion

Paste Studio set up shop at the 2024 Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion in Bristol, Tennessee-Virginia, the annual music festival that’s been honky tonkin’ since 2001. The festival features Americana, Appalachian Roots and more, honoring the legacy of Ralph Peer’s 1927 Bristol Sessions that introduced the Carter Family to the world, and continues to inform and inspire musicians to this day. We chose the most fitting location for this intimate series, showcasing artists in the performance space inside the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, dedicated to telling the story of the Bristol Sessions.
Full Session
Cellist and pianist Dave Eggar is one of the hardest working and most prolific artists around. You may know his work through his collaborations with Frank Ocean, Fiona Apple, Esperanza Spalding, or any of the dozens of household name artists across genres he has worked with over the years (have a look at his Wiki page—the list is insane). Eggar teamed up with badass Brooklyn guitarist Phil Faconti, Bristol mandolinist Blake Collins, and vocalist Le’Asha Julius to bring us a special quartet arrangement of Bristol Lightning. The first song in this session is “Letter From Cambodia,” penned by Collins, and presented as an instrumental trio here.
“Letter From Cambodia”
The EP Bristol Lightning came out in the summer of 2024, not long before the taping of this Paste Session. The EP mashes up sources as diverse as classical, traditional bluegrass and African rhythms. Eggar draws a parallel between Bristol Lightning and the original country music recordings from nearly a century ago, since those old-timey recordings also drew on influences as diverse as Irish fiddle and Ethiopian banjo. The second song in this set fuses Mozart’s “Rondo Alla Turca” with the band’s Bristol flavor, and vocals from Le’Asha Julius.
“Appalachian Wolfgang”
The third and final song of this session is the only one not heard on the Bristol Lightning EP. It was written by Faconti while he was working at a valet booth in Coney Island, featuring verses from Julius as emcee.
“Valet”
Big thanks to Charlene, Danielle and the whole team at Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion, and to June and her team at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum for bringing these sessions to life. Stay tuned for more Bristol x Paste sessions on the way.