Video: New, Original Bluegrass Song “Beth Macy Goes to Washington” Reminiscent of “Mark Warner Country”

Beth Macy’s new song is reminiscent of  Mark Warner’s 2001 gubernatorial campaign’s  famous bluegrass song (“He understands our people, the folks up in the hills…Warner…vote in this election, to keep our children home…he’ll work for mountain people and economic health”) – let’s hope it’s as successful as Warner’s was! 🙂

BETH MACY’S CAMPAIGN RELEASES BLUEGRASS JINGLE TO LOCAL RADIO STATIONS

August 21, 2026

ROANOKE — Beth Macy, Democratic candidate for Congress in Virginia’s 6th District, is burning up the airwaves with a new campaign jingle released to local radio stations today.

“Beth Macy Goes to Washington,” the original bluegrass song performed by Roanoke-area musicians, will air on stations in the Roanoke, Harrisonburg and Washington, D.C. Designated Market Areas. The radio spots are the beginning of a seven-figure advertising campaign.

The song’s chorus illustrates Macy’s commitment to reaching folks across the 6th District, from the Roanoke and Shenandoah valleys to the Alleghany Highlands and beyond, where she has met farmers, veterans, doctors, working families and others along the way.

The chorus:

Beth Macy’s burning up the road

Everyone on 81 has a story to be told

She’ll fight the fight, she’ll do what’s right

She’ll work for everyone

When Beth Macy goes to Washington

Beth Macy said, “I love this song. It really captures the energy of the campaign, especially my driving everywhere on the dreaded I-81! It’s fun and catchy, a real earworm. It hits all the right notes, from addressing real concerns to giving people hope.”

Elsa Howell, the song’s vocalist, is a Roanoke native and a rising star in old-time and folk music circles. She studied with the renowned Elizabeth LaPrelle as part of the Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program, and has been a featured performer at the Richmond Folk Festival, Roanoke’s Taubman Museum of Art and the Floyd Country Store. Howell was a resident artist at the 2024 MidMountain Festival in Natural Bridge Station.

Click here to listen to 30-second and 60-second versions of the jingle.

Click here to watch a special “making of” video that includes the entire song.

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Beth Macy has spent her career holding truth to power. She grew up poor in a small Ohio town, became the first in her family to graduate from college, and built her adult life in Roanoke, Va., where she and her husband, Tom, raised their two children. For 25 years at The Roanoke Times, Beth covered the stories of people and communities across Western Virginia—listening without judgment and digging for the truth, even when it was uncomfortable.

She’s spent her career highlighting how the system has devolved to benefit billionaires over working families. She has listened to, grieved with and advocated alongside parents who lost children to addiction, workers whose jobs disappeared, and communities forced to fight for basic services that include child care, healthcare and mental health treatment. She has watched families across the 6th District work harder than ever while falling further behind, as the people in power have become more beholden to corporations and the ultra-wealthy than to the communities that elected them. Now she’s running for Congress to make life affordable for working families, expand access to health care and ensure every child has a real chance at a better future.

Learn more about Beth’s campaign at www.bethmacyforcongress.com.