If you love music and especially live music, you might want to plan to travel to cities that are well-known for offering great venues and talent. There are plenty of cities around the U.S. especially well-known for being havens for music lovers.
The following are some of the best cities to visit if you love music, and in particular, live music.
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, TN is known as Music City, so it’s no wonder it’s a top destination for music lovers. There is a lot of music history in the city, but also venues for live performances. Some of the music-related attractions in Nashville include the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Grand Ole Opry, and tours of the Ryman theater.
Lower Broadway which runs through downtown Nashville is where you’ll see all the bars and cafes where there are live music performances morning, noon and night. You can walk along this lively strip in Nashville, and there is no shortage of music pouring out of the front windows of all the many venues.
There are also options like the Blue Bird Café, which is where some of the greatest singers and songwriters in country, pop, and rock got their start. The Blue Bird Café is located in a strip mall outside of downtown Nashville, and you’d never know it’s where artists like Garth Brooks’ careers were launched.
Memphis, Tennessee
A few hours west of Nashville is Memphis, another iconic music city. Beale Street is where many styles of American music were born, and you can find Elvis’ home Graceland in Memphis, Sun Studio and the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. Royal Studio, also in Memphis, is where Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson recorded Uptown Funk.
While you’re there, don’t forget Memphis also has amazing barbecue and beer.
There are regular events based around both music and barbecue in Memphis. For example, there’s the Beale Street Music Festival and the International Blues Festival taking place in Memphis.
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is known for everything from Voodoo to the raucous celebration of Mardi Gras, but there’s more to this deep South state than those things. Music is everywhere you turn in New Orleans, and lively parties accompany much of it.
New Orleans is considered the birthplace of jazz, and Preservation Hall was created to celebrate that. It’s a tiny jazz hall with no bar and mostly floor seating, but you’re guaranteed to hear amazing jazz.
There are private jazz-centric tours and cruises, or you can wander along Frenchman Street which is where local goes to hear live music away from Bourbon Street.
While you’re there enjoying the jazz, don’t forget about the great food from gumbo to po-boys with beignets for dessert.
Austin, Texas
Austin is known as the “Live Music Capital of the World,” so it’s worth checking out as well. One of the places where you’ll find the most condensed live music venues in the world is Red River Street, which is located between Sixth and 10th Streets. There are venues like the Elysium, and they have local and national performers any night of the week.
There is a myriad of record stores in Austin, and there are some iconic live music venues such as The Hole in the Wall and Continental Club.
If you want country music and the honky-tonk style you might associate with Texas, there’s that as well. For example, The Broken Spoke which is located on South Lamar is the oldest dance hall in the city.
Asheville, North Carolina
Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, Asheville is a small city that’s become on-the-radar for a lot of travelers in the past decade. One reason is the amazing restaurants and chefs making their home in Asheville, but there’s also the music scene.
Rolling Stone recently described Asheville as the “New Must-Visit Music City.”
The Orange Peel is one of the most well-known music venues in Asheville, and it’s on the national radar now as well, but there are others like the Asheville Music Hall and the Grey Eagle. Americana and bluegrass are the primary genres you’ll see performed and celebrated around Asheville.
The Echo Mountain Recording studio has seen everyone from Zac Brown Band to the Turnpike Troubadours recording albums there, and unlike Nashville, performers aren’t there because they want to get discovered. Instead, they’re there because they truly love music which makes it unique for a lot of visitors to experience.