- Our first story takes us to the Pitt County town of Fountain.

Now Fountain may be a small town, but its old general store is big on music.

Producer Clay Johnson and videographer Cornell Campbell take us to hear its foot-tapping sounds and glimpse a window into the past.

♪ This train is going down a one-way track ♪ - [Clay] The music of the East Side Ramblers sneaks out onto the silent streets of Fountain.

It's coming from R.A.

Fountain General Store.

Alex Albright and his wife are the owners.

- Invariably people that perform in here think, whoa, this is just an incredible place for sound.

Plus people are very respectful of the musicians here.

It's not an environment where people are drinking and making noise, so everyone's listening, and it's just a really nice place for sound.

- [Clay] R.A.

Fountain opened the store in 1903.

- [Alex] This is the the fourth iteration of his business.

He outgrew two and then his third one was torched.

- [Clay] This one opened in 1918.

Fountain used to say he offered people everything they needed from cradle to grave, even coffins.

He supplied local farmers too.

- It was essential to have these general stores.

- [Clay] But the railroad left, and the highways came, and the world bypassed Fountain, the store closed.

In 2001, Albright and his family moved here from Greenville.

He and his wife purchased the store, and in 2004 reopened it as Fountain General Store and Internet Cafe.

Musicians played at the grand opening.

- It was a regional newsstand, but it was the wrong time for that.

That failed, it failed as a cheese shop, it failed as several different things.

- But the music carried on.

[lively bluegrass music] - [Alex] To get people back out, we said, "Okay, we'll have a concert."

And we started getting concerts, and people started showing up, and then when they would come in they would buy ice cream, and lemonade, and some other things.

- [Clay] Many also come to see the amazing mix of everything Albright has collected over the years.

- Some of it is vintage, some of it is junk.

Yeah, most of what you see in here is what we would call curious debris plus a lot of books.

I'm sort of next to the last stop before the dump for people, especially for books, 'cause really nobody wants books much anymore.

Lots of people come in and say, "Oh, I know somebody, my daddy, my granddaddy, my uncle.

We had this store in this town where I grew up."

You play a record player for kids, and turn a record over, and they're amazed 'cause they've never seen something that plays on the other side.

- [Clay] The curious debris extends to an adjacent store building that the Albrights also own.

On the second floor, they've created a rental apartment.

- You got a project you wanna work on, and you want to get somewhere and not be bothered, it's an artist retreat is really what it is.

If you're from New York, you might appreciate that.

It might be too quiet.

- [Clay] But it's sound that saved this store, sound like this.

[lively bluegrass music] - If you come here, I want you to feel like you've gotten a bit of American heritage.

I mean, we're not playing electronic.

We don't play people that have tracks behind them.

You gotta make the sound yourself.

- The intimate atmosphere gives you the chance to interact with the musicians in ways that you don't get in most settings.

- It's like someone came in your living room, and you feel like you're part of the whole thing.

- One of the things that I really liked about the idea of this place was that it attracts multiple generations, and that's not something that you see much in the world anymore.

This is not a bar, it's not a place where young people go to drink and hear music.

It's a place where young people sometimes bring their parents or their kids, and they have a lemonade, and they play checkers, and it's nice.

♪ Get into my room ♪ ♪ Who's that tapping at my window ♪ - The R.A.

Fountain General Store is at 6754 East Wilson Street in Fountain.

To find out who's playing, give them a call at [252] 749-3228, or visit their website at rafountain.com.