June 9, 2026 | 7 pm @ Birthplace of Country Music Museum
BRISTOL, TN-VA- The Birthplace of Country Music Museum presents luthier K.T. Vandyke Tuesday June 9 at 7 p.m. in the Performance Theater at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum for itsnext Speaker Session. This event is free and open to the public, but RSVPs are encouraged. RSVP online atBirthplaceOfCountryMusic.org/main-events.
With this program, he will share how he reconstructs and restores the threads of life in the instruments that find their way to his hands. Owner and operator of Frog Level Guitar Shop, a business with 40+ years of operation, Vandyke keeps alive a storied history of lutherie that was handed down to him by his mentor Walter “Skip” Herman. Hundreds of guitars have passed across his bench from Golden Era Martin and Gibson acoustics to the workhorse instruments seen on stage with performers like Morgan Wade and Dave Matthews.
Born and raised deep in the black diamond hills of SouthwestVirginia, Vandyke is an award-winning songsmith, multi-instrumentalist, and luthier who has devoted himself to the various crafts of music-making. Vandyke makes his home in Bristol, and he apprenticed at Frog Level Guitar Shop for three years before taking over ownership upon Herman's retirement in 2019.
Over the last decade and a half, Vandyke has garnered a laundry list of accomplishments and recognitions, gaining a reputation for his lyrical songwriting. Honors include first place in the Richard Leigh Songwriting Festival and being a finalist in the Telluride Troubadour, Visit Music City, and Tennessee Songwriting Competitions. In 2022, Vandyke and Herman were recognized by the State of Virginia Department of Humanities for their work together, and the following year Vandyke was awarded the Tradition Bearer Fellowship by the Greater Bristol Project and Virginia Humanities. In 2025, Vandyke was the artist in residence at Beinn Mhabu Gaelic College in Mabou, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Vandyke is currently in production of “The Migration Project,” a collaborative enterprise with Grammy-winning cellist and producer Dave Eggar and Haunted Hollow Studios in Charlottesville, Va., which is slated for release late 2026.