49 Winchester

The Clinch River of Virginia rises near the town of Tazewell and flows down through the mountains of Southwestern Virginia, coursing through the region that has become known as the heartbeat of rural America’s music.

The Clinch River weaves through the community of “Old Castlewood” in the heart of Russell County where lifelong friends and neighbors Isaac Gibson and Chase Chafin grew up on Winchester Street.

The two would go on to form the band 49 Winchester with their friend and now longtime lead guitarist Bus Shelton, christening the group after the address of Gibson’s childhood home in honor of the immeasurable influence the space had on their lives and the development of their musical brotherhood.

The current lineup of 49 Winchester features Gibson (vocals, guitar), Chafin (bass), Shelton (lead guitar), Dillon Cridlin (drums), and Noah Patrick (steel guitar), and together they are distinctly and proudly Appalachian – carrying on and reinventing the musical traditions of their region with a sound that is wholly and distinctively their own.