Upper South

States: Kentucky

US 23: The Country Music Highway

coal seams and gold records

US 23: The Country Music Highway is a ~140-mile back-roads route from Ashland to Pikeville on US 23, driven in 1–2 days, that stays off I-64 through the Upper South.

Open the interactive map →

Drive

Ashland → Pikeville

Distance

~140 miles

Time

1–2 days

Highways

US 23

Avoids

I-64

Region

Upper South

One eastern Kentucky highway produced enough stars to be legally named for the fact: the Judds out of Ashland, Loretta Lynn up Butcher Hollow, Crystal Gayle, Ricky Skaggs, Billy Ray Cyrus, Chris Stapleton, county by county down US 23. The road runs the Big Sandy through coal camps and courthouse towns to Pikeville, where the Hatfields and McCoys buried their dead and the town later moved an entire river out of its way.

📍 Each county posts its stars on Country Music Highway signs; collect the full roster southbound.

The drive, segment by segment

The Big Sandy

Ashland → Louisa · ~30 mi

The Judds' river city, then the valley road south along the Levisa Fork.

• 🎸Highlands Museum — Ashland

  Ashland's own case for the highway: Judds memorabilia and the region's music story, blocks from the Paramount.

Butcher Hollow

Louisa → Prestonsburg · ~55 mi

Paintsville's museum of the whole roster and the coal camp holler that raised a Coal Miner's Daughter.

• 🎸US 23 Country Music Highway Museum — Paintsville

  The corridor's whole roster under one roof, Loretta to Stapleton; small museum, staggering per-capita output.

• 🎸Butcher Hollow — Van Lear

  Loretta Lynn's cabin up the holler, long shown by kin from Webb's grocery below; ask in Van Lear and someone will point the way.

• 🏛️Mountain HomePlace — Paintsville

  A working 1850s Appalachian farm at Paintsville Lake: oxen, gristmill, and the pre-coal mountains.

Pikeville

Prestonsburg → Pikeville · ~55 mi

Jenny Wiley's lake country, the Cut-Through's moved mountain, and the feud graves at Dils.

• 🛸Pikeville Cut-Through — Pikeville

  The town spent a decade moving a mountain, a river, a railroad and a highway; among the biggest earthmoving projects in the hemisphere. The overlook explains the audacity.

• 🏛️Dils Cemetery — Pikeville

  Where the McCoys of the feud lie buried, integrated from its founding; the Hatfield-McCoy driving tour radiates from here.

Tips and best time to go

• Jenny Wiley State Resort Park makes the natural overnight; the namesake's captivity legend is told there as legend.
• Paintsville's Kentucky Apple Festival (October) is the corridor at full volume.

Frequently asked questions

How long is US 23: The Country Music Highway and how many days does it take?

US 23: The Country Music Highway is about 140 miles and takes 1–2 days at a back-roads pace.

Where does US 23: The Country Music Highway start and end?

It runs from Ashland to Pikeville.

Which highways does US 23: The Country Music Highway follow?

It follows US 23.

Which interstate does US 23: The Country Music Highway replace?

It avoids I-64, using US 23 instead.

How many stops are on US 23: The Country Music Highway, and what are the highlights?

6 stops are mapped, including Highlands Museum, US 23 Country Music Highway Museum, Butcher Hollow, Mountain HomePlace and Pikeville Cut-Through.

Which ready-made itineraries include US 23: The Country Music Highway?

Coal, Bluegrass & the Country Music Highway (6 days).

When is the best time to drive US 23: The Country Music Highway?

The atlas’s seasonal note for this route: “Paintsville's Kentucky Apple Festival (October) is the corridor at full volume.”

Worth a detour

• Paramount Arts Center — Ashland's deco movie palace; Billy Ray Cyrus shot the Achy Breaky video on this stage, a fact the building has made peace with.
• Breaks Interstate Park — The Grand Canyon of the South on the Virginia line: a five-mile gorge the Russell Fork cut a quarter-mile deep.

Spurs & side-roads

• Butcher Hollow (Van Lear)