Barbecue, bluegrass, and four hours you’ll wish could last forever.
A time when kids weren’t glued to their screens, but out on the floor laughing and twirling with their friends. Back to when Saturday night entertainment wasn’t a glowing TV, but the stomp of boots, the strum of live music, and the sound of neighbors clapping in rhythm.
Cell service drops off about halfway down the long gravel road, so you might as well slide that little rectangle that controls most of your life back in your pocket and let the night take over. For a few hours, you finally get to just be where your boots are, no buzzing, no notifications, no “hold on, let me check something real quick.”
The food anchors it all. smoked barbecue that tastes like it’s been kissed by the fire for hours, fall-off-the-bone chicken, plates piled high in a way that fills your belly while the music fills your soul.
I’ll never forget seeing a little girl, no more than six, who chose Sims for her birthday party. Not for balloons or video games, but so she and her friends could square dance under the lights. And there was Meemaw, eyes sparkling, steadying herself with a hand, but still out there spinning across the floor feeling sixteen again.
Sims Country BBQ in Granite Falls, North Carolina (properly in Dudley Shoals) is one of the last few true food and music halls left in the state.
Keith Sims opened it back in 1979 after a trip to Texas with his sons Joe and Michael, where they fell in love with the pit-and-shed style of barbecue. Keith is gone now, but his sons carry on the tradition, keeping alive a place that feels less like a restaurant and more like the family’s giant dining room, one where every Friday and Saturday evening, everyone is welcome.
A visit to Sims is more than a night out. It’s a return to something we’ve almost forgotten, something we didn’t realize we needed until it’s right there in front of us.
Four hours of history, set to the tune of boots and barbecue.
