Tradition & Evolution

by

Arts

Live music shows take place at Renfro Valley most weekends. For 85 years, it has been revered as a legendary spot for live music and Appalachian culture, sometimes referred to as Kentucky’s Grand Ole Opry. Visitors come from as far away as Canada, California and Ireland, but the bulk of attendees hail from Kentucky and neighboring states. They come for the music but often become regulars because of the welcoming family atmosphere and storied history.

On my visit to Renfro Valley, people referred to it as a special place, but they couldn’t always articulate the factors that makes it so. “It’s a smaller, more intimate venue, and there’s not a bad seat in the house,” offered staff member Brittany Asher. “We get lots of repeat customers.”

For decades, the booking list at the Valley has been a Who’s Who of classic country, Southern gospel and mountain bluegrass music, with Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Willie Nelson and Keith Urban among them. While staying true to its foundation as a thriving home for live music, the venue is expanding to welcome a larger variety of music lovers to the fold. This kind of evolution has always been at the heart of Renfro Valley’s staying power.

85 Years

Renfro Valley exists because of the vision and dedication of Mount Vernon resident John Lair. He took his love for Kentucky music to Chicago in the 1930s, where he embarked on a career in radio. He started the innovative WLS “Barn Dance,” a live broadcast show with folk humor and music featuring Renfro Valley musicians such as Red Foley and Lily May Ledford.

In 1937, the troupe moved closer to home and established the “Renfro Valley Barn Dance” in Cincinnati on radio station WLW. For Lair, it was just a stop on the journey back to Renfro Valley. He was convinced that folks from throughout the region would travel off the beaten path to enjoy live music and, for many, an experience of the mountain homes they held dear.

The show continued in Cincinnati for two years, while—thanks to Lair’s resourcefulness—sponsors helped build an entertainment destination in the Valley. On opening day in 1939, the complex included honeymoon cabins (since destroyed by a storm), the Log Lodge Restaurant (currently awaiting new renters) and a big show barn that seated 500 (the historic structure now called the Old Barn).

While Lair was optimistic about his chances for success, others were not. Neighbors said the venue could always be a tobacco barn if the music thing didn’t work out. What the naysayers didn’t take into consideration was the power of radio and the two years prior that the “Renfro Valley Barn Dance” had spent building a loyal listening audience.

The first Saturday night performance at the Valley on Nov. 4, 1939, was just the beginning. After a year, Louisville’s WHAS took over the broadcasts and expanded them by leaps and bounds. Originally performed only on Saturday nights, Renfro Valley programs grew to 20 shows per week. Listeners were invited on local adventures, such as hayrides, possum hunts and ’lasses making. Other long-running programs became legendary. The Sunday evening “Renfro Valley Gatherin’,” added in 1943, became the second-longest continuous radio broadcast in the nation. The Renfro Valley Bluegrass Festival first opened in 1970, and the Harvest Festival began in the 1980s. Also in the 1980s, the Renfro Valley show was featured at the World’s Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee, and at the Kentucky state Capitol to cement Mount Vernon’s place as the Commonwealth’s Country Music Capital.

As radio productions waned in popularity, Renfro Valley transitioned to being a singular live-music venue. Lair died in 1985, but his legacy continued. The next owner was Warren Rosenthal—a Lexington restaurateur best known for Jerry’s Restaurant and Long John Silver’s—who oversaw the construction of a shopping village, a campground and the New Barn, which seats 1,500. Beginning in 1993, the popular “Christmas in the Valley” show became an annual tradition.

The entire Valley was gifted to the neighboring Kentucky Music Hall of Fame in 2000, and Don and Vera Evans purchased the venue in 2005. The two were dedicated country music and Renfro Valley fans. They had front-row tickets to 1,200 consecutive shows before deciding to steward the business into the future. The Evanses were known for their steady presence, generous spirits and warm hospitality. After they both passed, their daughter and her husband, Julie and John Enneking, took over in 2010.

“My dad was a farmer but loved Renfro Valley,” said Julie. “He poured his heart and soul into it, and we are carrying on the family tradition.”

Continuing to Evolve

For the Ennekings, the business is an all-hands-on-deck family affair. A daughter runs the marketing, and a son handles the bookings. A grandson set out the green room food for Elvis tribute “The Concert of Kings” performers. During our interview, John was tinkering with an HVAC unit, and Julie had paint on her hands from some facility upgrades.

As with most live-music venues, Renfro Valley took a hit during the COVID-19 pandemic and closed for two years. Its 2025 schedule has a slate of country music greats such as Travis Tritt and the Oak Ridge Boys. But the area, once known only for country music, is now termed “The Music Capital of Kentucky.” Signs of change are in the air.

The Beach Boys, Van Halen and Taylor Swift tribute groups appear in the 2025 lineup. Changes such as serving alcohol and marketing on social media are reaching and attracting a new generation of music lovers. The Ennekings are adapting the venue to meet contemporary needs—removing the seats from the Old Barn to create a standing venue and installing a 7,000-capacity outdoor amphitheater on the footprint of some of the old shopping village.

The couple’s plans for change and adaptation would be familiar to those who previously operated Renfro Valley. Eighty-five years of history requires a constant evolution to welcome successive generations of music lovers, an evolution that stands firm on its foundation: powerful live music and a warm small-town welcome.