if you were to move anywhere for bluegrass

[drewgrass]

just wondering not trying to start a big pi%#ing contest on who has the best local scene but if you were to move anywhere just to jam and have a good time playing bg and old time music where would you go. where im from there aint much. im going to be a working stiff for the rest of my life might as well go somewhere where my interest are served. north carolina, georgia, colorado kentucky anywhere in the south is fine.
im no pro so im not interested in nashville

[jim_n_virginia]

I've alway wanted to live in Galax, VA LOTSA good music going on around there and and it seems like almost everyone plays and they are all GOOD!

Second I've always wanted to live in the rural parts of West Virginia. I just think I would like the simpler life up there.

I love the mountains and I love mountain music!

:mandosmiley:

[sunburst]

Anywhere from southern Ohio through Kentucky and Virginia and into western North Carolina is a good area to find a community like you're looking for. There are other places too (like parts of New England and Southern California), but that is the part of the world I'm most familiar with.

[allenhopkins]

Probably not the Northeast, but if the vagaries of life take you there, Boston MA and Ithaca NY come to mind. Ithaca is bodaciously musically active for a small college town.

[F5GRun]

For me, 2 places come to mind. Boulder, CO or Wheeling, WV. I feel alot of good comes out of those places.

[Mike Snyder]

Mountain View, Arkansas has the reputation of the folk music capital of the universe. Having lived an hour and a half north of there, I can't argue the fact. In any sort of decent weather, there are jams going in the town square. The Ozark Folk Center (or something like that) hosts all sorts of week-end festivals, seminars and performances. There are at least two annual bluegrass festivals in town, and numerous others within driving distance. The country is drop-dead beautiful. Trout fishing, river floats, caving.........let me tell you, they do a Christmas carol thing in a big cave north of town (can't remember the name) awesome sound of emsemble singing deep underground.
I REALLY hated to move away........ I mean REALLY......but I couldn't find a job in my field where I wasn't treated badly. Sad. The woods are full of pickers, there are jams in little towns and country schoolhouses all over the north central part of the state. Shoot, now I'm blue. Go to the Ozark Folk Center website for more info.

[Mikey G]

Erwin, TN. Home of the Spivey Mountain Boys.

[MarthaWhitePicker]

By all means please consider Nashville. I know you may feel weary about moving into a professional community.... but that does not mean all jams are professional. If you want to play a lot and still play with people who can challenge you musically and/or play at your level, then Nashville has more to offer you than any other place. (PERSONAL OPINION)! I have lived in East TN and spent a lot of time in KY NC and VA and from personal experiences, Nashville has the most to offer if you JUST want to pick.

[Ivan Kelsall]

I'm with you guys ! ('Oh Brother ..... ' strikes again),
Saska:grin:

[grags]

I have to put a plug in for the High Country around Banner Elk, North Carolina. If God keeps me healthy until February, I fully intend to don some bib overalls and spend what days I have left sitting on the side of a mountain and playing either my mandolin or one of my dulcimers. On any given day during the summer or spring, If I listen hard enough, I can hear a bagpipe or mandolin being played in some secluded valley or glen. Man, I can hardly wait. In the words of Timothy Leary, I'm going to "turn on, tune in and drop out."

[MikeEdgerton]

...In the words of Timothy Leary, I'm going to "turn on, tune in and drop out."

You'll be able to listen to your beard grow as well.

[Big Joe]

Nashville is a great choice for picking opportunities, and it is hard to imagine a community where you will grow as a musician any faster or further. The talent pool is incredible, yet very approachable. The level of player will make you play better than you think is possible. Still, there are plenty of opportunities to play at nearly any level. Not everyone in Nashville is a professional or plays at that level. Just like any other community, there are players at all levels. Here the opportunity to progress is just a bit more accessible.

Another community for bluegrass and old time music is the Minneapolis area. The Minnesota Bluegrass and Old Time Music Association is a great organization that really brings lots of music to the members. They have a great music scene in many genres, but the bluegrass and old time scene is very good. Lots of people to play with and opportunities to play with others is readily available. Just because they are in the far frozen north :) does not mean they don't have a great music scene. Acoustic music in the Minneapolis Metro area is doing very well and alive.

[farmerjones]

Though i've never been to Galax, my vote would be Mountain View, Arkansas as well. If i get there a second time, i'm bringing my furniture.

[sgarrity]

I would think that the Asheville, NC area would be pretty good. Also most parts of western VA and eastern TN and KY. Richmond, VA has a pretty good old-time and bluegrass scene and is a big enough city that finding work may be easier.

[pocketbones]

Western North Carolina

[Barb Friedland]

Louisville KY is a good spot. BG is well appreciated around here and there are a number of regular jams to take part in. Plus a good number of festivals, special events and opportunities to listen to the big guns play.

[Rick Parrish]

I already did, although not specifically for bluegrass music. In Floyd, Virginia we enjoy a wide variety of music on a weekly basis. Not every genre is represented, but for a town of just over 400 residents and a county of about 15,000, the diversity of musical offerings is amazing. Also, being on Virginia's "Crooked Road" music trail, we're not very far from many of the other localities where bluegrass, old time and other traditional forms developed (including Galax). The Floyd Country Store is jumpin' every Friday night!

From what I hear, Jim, you visit us from time to time. You need to take the big leap and leave Norfolk behind! My daughter is down there in Hampton (and driving to work in Norfolk every day); she can't wait to one day leave those traffic-clogged tunnels behind and get back to Floyd where the air is clean and most folks don't even lock their doors at night!

[mandopete]

Tierra Del Fuego.

[Keith Erickson]

Tierra Del Fuego.

Pete, Am I to understand that Punta Arenas, Chilé is a bluegrass town??? :))

[swampy]

Western, NC or VA

[mandocrucian]

General Mandolin Discussions This area is only for those discussions that don't fit into other predefined mandolin categories.
Me think this thread ("if you were to move anywhere for bluegrass")
should move to "Bluegrass, Newgrass, Country, Gospel Variants" neighborhood of board.

And take
"Bluegrass (mandolin/fiddle) workshops in Florida",
"Good Bluegrass Store in North Carolina?",
and
"Cherryholmes - Do they ever smile?"
along too.

http://sandwichanddrink.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/oscar_the_grouch.jpg

Oscar

[Capt. E]

I'll second Mountain Home, Arkansas. I guess it doesn't hurt that my family came to Texas out of Washington County. The Ozarks are beautiful around Mountain Home, heck, right now is the time to go with the fall color and a nip in the air. Take a float down the Buffalo River if you like or hike in the Nat'l Forest.
Austin, Texas isn't bad, though. There are at least four bluegrass jams every week as well as any other style of pickin' you might look for. Several towns within an hour or less have regular monthly jams on the town square and there are festivals throughout the year. Just finished the Austin Stringband Festival last weekend and the Austin Bluegrass Association is one of the oldest in the country.

[TonyP]

Thanks folks for the info here. We were lucky enough to have a prodigal son return back to our area. He had gone and lived in I believe NC and then came back because his mom was dying. What he brought back was stories and a vision of what it's like to live in an area where not only is Bluegrass, Old Time, and acoustic country appreciated, there are places to go hear it that are not bars. He got the long dormant local association to start Bluegrass on the Lawn. Fri nites all through the summer, where locals could come out, and right down the street from the Farmer's Mkt., see a different local Bluegrass bands for free in a wonderful little park. Its great to see the Senior Center, Vet's, Farmer's Mkt. and the California Bluegrass Association all working together through volunteers to make this happen.

Ostensibly it was to help promote the local fall Bluegrass Festival, but it's snowballing because of the support. There's always been bands/pickers/fans around but few places that really reflect our values, to play. And now the local mayor, and tv stations want in. We're going to be putting on a fund raiser for the Senior Center in Jan. and I'm hoping we can get other Senior Center's, and Vets, and local powers that be, to come see what we've got going here at the fundraiser.

Right now the music du jour is "blues". Not long ago it was lite jazz. It's always promoted by Big Beer, loud, not exactly family oriented. My point being, if you get the right people together, it can happen almost anywhere, if it can happen here. Don't get me wrong, I love hearing about these places, and I would love to go visit/pick. But I don't see me moving to them. And maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to pull off our own modest version of those places. Not as good, but waaaay better than what we had, which was almost nothing.

What's funny is the people who come out of the woodwork once you get something like this going too. Players and "closet" fans.

[first string]

I'll second, third, or whatever, Asheville. Only been there once myself, but it was immediately apparent that they have a great music scene, and it is a lovely place.

Now, it is not without great reservations that I throw Washington's hat into the ring. There are a lot of things I don't like about living in DC, and in fact I am preparing to move away myself, but the bluegrass scene is inarguably strong. Most every major or minor act will hit DC or NoVA at some point in their tour. We have the Birchmere, the Barnes at Wolftrap, George Mason University (which often books Bluegrass acts), and a passel of other excellent venues. I'm not really much of a jam goer myself, but there are definitely a good number of them around. Once again, I would caution that Washington has a lot of things going against it, but the music scene isn't one of them.

[Mattg]

I saw Colorado mentioned a few times. There is at least one, if not two or three, jams almost any night of the week in the Denver/boulder area and a few more in Colorado Springs and Ft. Collins. We do OK but I'll bet there are more in the south. It is rare to see someone who's been pickin since they were a baby like I've seen in south eastern jams.

We have Rocky Grass, Telluride (50% BG), Pagosa, Pickin in the Pines, Mid Winter, Durango and a number of other bluegrass festivals in the state. Some of these are outstanding. Winfield is about a days drive away and I hope to make that one soon. Again, we do pretty good fest wise but there may be more in some south eastern states.

This Url shows most of the regular jams and some of the current performances
http://www.kgnu.org/bluegrass/

Most of the festivals:
http://www.bluegrassfestivalguide.com/co.htm

[Stephanie Reiser]

I divide my time between New York City and rural coastal Maine, and can vouch for the fact that bluegrass is alive and well in both locations.

I have a very close friend who lives in North Carolina whom I visit annually, and she took me to Asheville. If I were to actually relocate just for bluegrass, it would be in this neck of the woods, or somewhere in the lower Shenandoah (sp?) Valley.

[John McGann]

Irrelevant to the OP but there is a GREAT scene for the non-pro picker in Boston/Cambridge, every Tuesday night for the past 12+ years- the Cantab Lounge in Central Sq. Cambridge. Several jams happening downstairs while upstairs there is an open mic and featured bands. Great place to network with dozens of pickers at all levels of ability/development...

[f5loar]

After coming back from the big Rosine, KY Jerus. Ridge Festival I would have to say that Rosine is a hot bed for picking the real deal bluegrass. You couldn't ask for a more beautiful setting and it is where it all started with the Monroe Bros. homeplace. You got Owensboro, Louisville and Nashville nearby too. Cost of living real cheap. The Rosine Music Barn and surrounding area is really popping on Friday and Sat. nights.

[Tim Peter]

Not exactly sure where I would move but it would have to be:

A cabin on a hill
overlooking the mill
and the green valleys down below
and the hills would be green as far as I could see

the location would have to make
my memory return
and my heart yearn
for a lover that ain't coming back.
she'd either be dead and buried in the valley or she would have left me...

Then there would have to be pines nearby
where the winds whisper and moan
and railroad tracks populated by big greasy firemen named Steve who would always shovel on a little more coal then crash ol' 37 and a steep grade...

Then I would have to move to the city
get a job in a mill
find a new love
lose my job, have a high tax rate.
have that love run off...

then I would go back to my ruined cabin on the hill,
chase off the foxhunters
and wonder why I ever left.



anyway, that's where I would live...

[drewgrass]

thanks for all the reply's. my wife is finishing her degree this spring. and we are due for a move, she is cool with about anywhere. been through the ozarks area alot it is very nice in that area and close enough to home but far enough away to (i live in western oklahoma there is nothing but wind here) mountains are good. thought about asheville to.

[woodwizard]

I live In Arkansas at the foothills of the Ozarks (it's beautiful) and I love it here but if I was going to pick another place to live to enjoy bluegrass that would be Nashville. I would be hanging out at the Station Inn every chance I got not to mention all the fantastic music stores I could be visiting. Also I'm sure I would be seeing a lot of my favorite mandolin heroes and bands there. It seems they rarely come through Arkansas on tour. Although sometimes we get lucky.

[45ACP-GDLF5]

Having been born and raised in the Asheville, NC area, I've been very fortunate to have been exposed to bluegrass and acoustic music my entire life. There is so much music here. You can find a jam every day of the week!

Although I would love to visit all the other "bluegrass areas" across the country, I wouldn't live in any other place. My heart and soul belongs in western NC, near "The Old Home Place" I've fished and hunted and hiked and picked all over western NC and there's no place like home! :mandosmiley:~o)

[Joe Dodson]

I saw Colorado mentioned a few times. There is at least one, if not two or three, jams almost any night of the week in the Denver/boulder area and a few more in Colorado Springs and Ft. Collins.

I picked CU Boulder for graduate school based in large part on the access to fly fishing, but I didn't start picking until I returned home to Houston. I've always regretted missing out on the bluegrass scene up there.

[jasona]

If I were to move anywhere for music, it would be the Bay Area of California.

[Alex Orr]

I don't have the frame of reference to compare DC with a bunch of other places, but I will say we have lots of opportunities to jam around here, and as has already been pointed out, most touring acts of any renown always come through here. Furthermore, the DC-region has a well-known history of being a very big bluegrass mecca. That being said, the one thing I do notice at the jams I go to is that the age of the pickers is definitely on the older side. I'm 32 and I usually feel I'm the youngest person by at least ten years at every jam I attend.

[sgarrity]

......the one thing I do notice at the jams I go to is that the age of the pickers is definitely on the older side. I'm 32 and I usually feel I'm the youngest person by at least ten years at every jam I attend.

That's pretty much true of bluegrass jams everywhere I've been. I'm 30 and most of the guys I pick with are in the 40s and 50s.

[csstanley]

Mayberry RFD a.k.a. Mt. Airy, NC and the surrounding vicinity has something every week of the year downtown or nearby to hear or people to pick with.

[Kbone]

Even in Minnesota there's a fairly good bluegrass/old time scene with MBOTMA ( bluegrass assoc.) and quite a few festivals & jams.

[Phillip Tigue]

I'll have to go with the tidewater area in VA. However, VA has a GREAT grass scene. While I was stationed at Norfolk, there were tons of pickers in the Chesapeake area who took me under their wing, let me sit in, showed me stuff, etc. Plus, as far as I recall, there was a bluegrass jam going on somewhere every night.

I wish I could say the same for Alabama... *sigh*

[45ACP-GDLF5]

That's pretty much true of bluegrass jams everywhere I've been. I'm 30 and most of the guys I pick with are in the 40s and 50s.


That's who you'll learn the most from. ;)

[MarthaWhitePicker]

NASHVILLE! I have been invited to attend 3 different picking parties and all of them are on Saturday! I just came back from a great jam at the 5 spot in East nastyville(nashville). You wanna pick? Come on out the water is fine!

[Mike Snyder]

Wichita Ks. isn't probably gonna be quite as hot as Nashville or Rosine, but there is a weekly Celtic sessuin, two Bluegrass festivals a year, and the Kansas Bluegrass Assn. has a monthly jam in addition to half-a-dozen week-end campouts (big jams) in ADDITION to Winfield is less than an hour away. Good selection of instruments at E M Shorts Guitars (nfi) with a mandolin luthier on staff. Mattg, did I mention Winfield? Come and see us at Brigadoon camp next year! Kansas has it's own brand of stark beauty, somewhat akin to west Oklahoma. There's no place like home, Dorothy.

[RobAlan]

Ashville, north carolina!!!!!!

[fred d]

I with agree Jasona there is a large Blue grass groups in the bay area of CA , bluegrass blues jug and classic Plus the most buitifull hill are near as is all the gambeling fishing boating cycling riding wine tasting wonderful parks nice weather sking in the hills and right now property is afforable

[staggarlee]

I would think that the Asheville, NC area would be pretty good. Also most parts of western VA and eastern TN and KY. Richmond, VA has a pretty good old-time and bluegrass scene and is a big enough city that finding work may be easier.


I 2nd Asheville. That's where I'd move if I were looking for a bluegrass town.

[pocketbones]

I 2nd Asheville. That's where I'd move if I were looking for a bluegrass town.

there's organized jams in ahseville, nc every night of the week. there's shows galore, clubs galore, multiple festivals within 60 miles, all year long.

you DO want bluegrass don't you? not the wamby-pamby, washed-out, hippy-dippy psuedo grass, right?

asheville is where you'll want to move. it ain't a monthly, bi-monthly, annual deal, it's an EVERYDAY thing in the asheville parts.

now, is that pretty clear?;)

[45ACP-GDLF5]

there's organized jams in ahseville, nc every night of the week. there's shows galore, clubs galore, multiple festivals within 60 miles, all year long.

you DO want bluegrass don't you? not the wamby-pamby, washed-out, hippy-dippy psuedo grass, right?

asheville is where you'll want to move. it ain't a monthly, bi-monthly, annual deal, it's an EVERYDAY thing in the asheville parts.

now, is that pretty clear?;)


Nope! Still too blurry! :))


As an Asheville native, you done us proud, pocketbones!!! ;) Excellent post!!!

As a matter of fact, I'm heading over to Mrs. Hyatt's house tonight for some good pickin'!!! :mandosmiley:

[jhbaylor]

I moved to Asheville for the outdoors... I am staying because of the music.

I didn't know what a mandolin was when I moved here from Raleigh 3 1/2 years ago, and since I found out, I haven't put it down.

[J.Albert]

Jim wrote:
[[ Second I've always wanted to live in the rural parts of West Virginia. I just think I would like the simpler life up there. ]]

I'm with you, Jim! I'm retiring next year and West Virginia is one of the places I've considered (the other is north/central Pennsylvania). The only problem is that I don't _know_ anyone from down there, and not even sure which area I'd like to be in.

I've almost thought of starting a topic on this board or others, to the theme of "where in W.Va.?"

I'd prefer a small town, just big enough to have medical facilities and a decent coffee shop. A smallish-city would do, but nothing large enough to have anything in the way of "suburbs". I figure I'd like the Ohio River side of the state best.

Any West Virginians out there with recommendations?

Regards,
- John

[kyblue]

I don't need to move anywhere. I live in Lexington, KY. Bluegrass is the official music of our beautiful state, and there's a lot of good music going on around here.

Paula

:mandosmiley:

p.s. And I just got back from an afternoon at Keeneland. Perfect weather, beautiful thoroughbreds, and the best bourbon. Yep, Kentucky is a pretty good place to be.

[mando-picker]

Well I guess I can say like Blueridge "back to Cana". There are a LOT of musicians in this area. All you can say is come on down and give it a try, you'll like it.

[GTG]

you DO want bluegrass don't you? not the wamby-pamby, washed-out, hippy-dippy psuedo grass, right?


Heh - nice! Some days I think I like the wamby-pamby hippy pseudo-grass more than the 'real' thing! That being said, Asheville, NC sounds like a very cool town.

[swiba]

No where, I live up the road a little from Rosine, not to far from Owensboro, bout' 2hrs from Louisville bout an hr. or so from Bean Blossem.
Lots of good picken around here........:grin:

[narrogate]

Moved to SW VA over 8 yrs. ago and this is where the music is! So much that there is no way to take it all in. The Oldtime Fiddler's Convention in August is the grand-dad of all bg and ot fests and words can't really describe it. Not to mention the beauty and tranquility of the mountains and woods. Oh yeah, trout streams!!

[Capt. E]

Looks like Bluegrass (and mandolins) are a benevolent virus that is spreading across the land at a good clip. I have probably met at least a dozen people who have taken up mandolin within the past year and for many of them it is the first instrument they have ever played. It is a great disease to catch.

[evanreilly]

I moved from the Boston area (land of the Cantab, The Boston Bluegrass Union & John McGann supra) to Asheville, NC about 6 years ago. Ain't no better place for mandolin playing! I have met several oldsters who remember Bill Monroe playing here when they were kids. So there!

[jasona]

Nope! Still too blurry! :))


As an Asheville native, you done us proud, pocketbones!!! ;) Excellent post!!!

As a matter of fact, I'm heading over to Mrs. Hyatt's house tonight for some good pickin'!!! :mandosmiley:

Funny thing is that the first time I ever heard bluegrass it was at Black Mountain, just down the road from Ashville. Lots of fun!

[Phil Goodson]

North Carolina: Wilkesboro, Mr Airy, Asheville, Union Grove

Virginia: Galax, Independence, Mouth-of-Wilson

Tennessee: Nashville, Knoxville, Maryville, Bristol

And I'm within 1-3 hours of most of these. :grin::mandosmiley:

[stratman62]

I will have to agree with Phil. I spend a lot of pickin' time in Union Grove and North Wilkesboro. In Iredell Co., NC you are in the middle of everything. Walk out the door and see those Blue Ridge Mtns.