Where to move to in US? (Yes, there's mandolin content!)

[JeffD]

I live on the side of a mountain. The back of my plot of land is some 300 feet above the front of my land. My house is one story on the uphill side and two stories on the down hill side.

I am willing to drive an hour to play music, if I can live on the morning side of a hill.

[bigskygirl]

Johnson City, TN...lots of bluegrass, they have electricity there so you can get Internet, I don't think it's too bike friendly from what I've seen and I have no idea what rent is but it's got to be less than SF and its not SF.

Seriously, I have some very good friends there, visit when I can, and other than where I live I would move there. East Tennessee State University is there and it offers a degree in bluegrass, and Adam Steffey is on the faculty. Lots of camps and gatherings within driving distance....and it's not SF....

[Pete Jenner]

Contoocook, New Hampshire.

[Charlieshafer]

Contoocook, New Hampshire.

Soooo, just curious. Is it because the name reminds you of some of those Aussie names? I visited Wangaratta once. Those are cool names.

[Pete Jenner]

No it's because I went there to visit Max and Lauri Girouard and I loved the place.

But it is a cool name.

[FLATROCK HILL]

A few folks have suggested Ashville N.C. I love that area of the south and I'm sure it meets most of your wish list. I'm curious about the cost of living there though. I'm under the impression (from friends who're long time N.C. residents) that Ashville has become overrun with "northerners and yuppies and artsy types" and that it's very expensive to live there now.
I haven't been down there for many years and don't know anything about it first hand. I suppose anyplace that is that nice is bound to get crowded. Was it Yogi Berra that said "Nobody goes there anymore; it's too crowded!" ?

[stevedenver]

coloraddy...yup, theres a bit of BG round here, but, for the most part, 'taint a cheap place to rent (as far as I have heard).

Its not NYC or LA, but I understand its not exactly inexpensive, as there is a shortage I believe-you might want to actually research this. and of course, as always, its location.

biking and life here are lovely-a quite a few happening venues, decent restaurants (not as nice as SF fer sure)-nice folks,
Higher education levels, in good physical shape, compared to the rest of the nation.

Denver and boulder are the most sensible options for urban and music
Durango , which know well and love, is way far away from everywhere, is beautiful and unique-like Switzerland topographically-but close to the desert as well-and it too aint cheap especially for renters as there's barely enough housing for students, I hear.

[dreadhead]

I've lived in three of the places mentioned so far. I grew up in Asheville, NC (from 10 months to 24 years old), spent 5 years in Johnson City, TN & 2 years in Nashville until moving to France right outside of Paris where I've been ever since. If I was to move back to the states, Asheville is where I'd want to be. I'm going to be vacationing there in a few weeks & can't wait to go hiking in the mountains, listen to some great bands, see my friends & try out all those new breweries!. It has maybe lost some of the charm it had with the influx of people, but that area has so much to offer & I think the good outweighs the bad. So my vote is for Asheville...

[Austin Koerner]

Yeah... I don't know about Asheville. Pretty much anywhere besides there. Uhh I'd probably go with Bristol, TN, most places in NC, the Boston area, anywhere on the coast... Because that's just awesome.

[chasray]

Let's see how Key West stacks up ...

journeybear, I hope you don't work for the city's chamber of commerce!

I think Nashville would work, and Chattanooga will surprise people. Seems to be a lot of "young" people in Nashville, if that matters to you.

[fatt-dad]

Really, Richmond will surprise you too. Big bike scene. Irish and old-time jams weekly. Good festivals too! Easy traffic.

f-d

[journeybear]

journeybear, I hope you don't work for the city's chamber of commerce!

Sho nuff don't! But this is a town of mixed contrasts. The local C of C and similar organizations have so successfully promoted this as a party town that tourists think nothing of - in fact, expect to be - drinking beer in pubic in the morning, walking around downtown with beer in hand, wandering right down the middle of the streets regardless of any reason, exhibiting loud, boisterous behavior at all hours, and otherwise carrying on in ways they would never tolerate from others were they to occur in their own home towns. Local residents alternate between laughing at all this, accepting it as part of a package deal that comes with much-needed income generated by tourism, and complaining about any number of examples of boorish behavior. At least we get plenty of conversation starters!

I'm sure this sort of stuff goes on in plenty of other towns where tourism is a large part of the local economy. It may just be a bit more apparent here. In any event, wherever you live, there are bound to be pluses and minuses. There are also bound to be ways to make your chosen residence the place you want it to be. And to turn a blind eye to the aspects of you home town you don't like. There are thousands of people here who never go downtown - just don't want anything to do with the way things go there - and are probably the same people who complain about all that, despite being quite unfamiliar with it due to their avoidance. Ah, people! What are ya gonna do?

[Jim]

My main criteria (roughly in order):

Lots of bluegrass jams (see, mandolin content!) - ideally also at least some Irish sessions
Not too expensive to rent an apartment
Good internet connection available (Obviously no problem in cities and towns but I'd consider more rural areas)
Bicycle-friendly
Not San Francisco!

Where I live we jam 5 days a week ( I am often the only one there because I live 20 miles from anywhere)
Sometimes the Jams have an Irish Flavor ( Whiskey)
Apartments do not exist here. (I do have friends that live in TeePees)
I ride a Bicycle and am friendly ( the off road riding is amazing, the road riding is basically playing chicken with Gas and Coal trucks )
I have no idea what a good internet connection looks like.
This is NOT San Francisco

[John Ritchhart]

Well a little more about Asheville from an outsider. Been here about five years full time and five years part time before that and would say it is one of my favorite places ever. I've lived all over the U.S. and abroad and this is a great place for music. Buncombe and Madison counties are home to folks like Bryan Sutton, Bobby Hicks, Josh Goforth, Laura Boosinger, Don Pedi, Ralph Lewis, etc. There are jams everyday somewhere around here. The Fletcher Feed & Seed, The Isis jam, the Depot in Marshall, Zuma's coffee house, Shindig on the Green in the summer, Jack of the Woods Irish Pub....and on and on. There's Irish, oldtime, and bluegrass, as well as classic country,classical and swing. You name it, you can find it. Crowded? Not like other places I've been, Austin, Houston, LA, Cleveland, Munich, Zurich etc. It's a young town, with six or seven colleges in the area. Pedestrian areas downtown, art, great food and music everywhere. Something like 18 micro-breweries within an hour of downtown. They have a pub crawl every year. I live on a mountain in the boonies but I can be downtown in twenty minutes. Cost of living? Well it ain't Dunbar, W.Va. but it ain't Austin either. Somewhere in between. Yankees? Well, again it ain't Meridian Mississippi, but it ain't Atlanta either. There's a website called Asheville now I think. Check it out.

[evanreilly]

It bemuses me to note that Asheville considers itself to be 'The Paris of the South'.....
Well, they don't speak French either......
There are lots of mandolins around; I have a whole mess of them.
I've played with all the players John R. mentioned above, and picked at most of the venues as well.
I used to bike race and now don't consider riding on the road shoulder on a bike here a safe bet at all.
YMMV, but of course...

[j. condino]

It bemuses me to note that Asheville considers itself to be 'The Paris of the South'.....
Well, they don't speak French either......

The ONLY people who say that about Asheville are those that have never been to Paris!!!!

If you're an uptight, crusty, crusty wanna be, then Asheville is definitely not for you. If you want a Dixie spin on open minded then it has a lot of options; that said, you'll never forget that at the heart of things, you are still in the south and those things are never going to change.

The locals may think that it is very expensive, but the reality is that it costs about 1/2 to 1/10 of the price to live here as anywhere else in the US that you'd actually want to live in. For the price of the downpayment out west, you can buy the whole farm here. It has turned from a run down post industrial type of place into a town where hipstres come to have babies. If you need to have a job to survive, then this is NOT the place to move to. There is virtually no manufacturing, and no significant job opportunities other than the hospital and a few very competitive universities. Everyone has a college degree and all of the manual construction type work is done under the table by immigrant labor. Almost everyone I know has had to create their own job /company to get by here.

As a former Portland resident, the road cycling in town is some of the scariest I've seen outside of India! The mountain biking is incredible- you may not get the 50 mile views that you get out west, but the quality and caliber of the trails is much better and you can ride all year long without any issues. Town sits at about 2500' elevation and you can break 6000' with about 1 1/2 hours of pedaling; the weather is pretty friendly all year long.

The sheer number of musicians is unlike anything I have experienced anywhere in the world- and I've lived in some major cities like Tokyo and such. This little town of 70,000 people blows Portland, Oregon out of the water for a music scene. That also comes with a price. If you are in a good working band and everyone gets $50 for a top shelf Friday night gig, it is considered reasonable. You can usually make more busking than the clubs will pay. The busking is competitive and can be aggressive and territorial. You literally can't walk down the streets without having to push a couple of dirty guitar players outta your way every ten seconds and then you'll get quite the backlash from the yoga instructor they just stepped on.....

On almost any given day you can find multiple grammy winners busking in the streets for the tip jar. There are several former Monroe bandmates that will make the same amount of $ you will for a good weekend of playing. John Paul Jones from Led Zeppilin lives here and can be seen at the local jams. Two of the Guys from AC DC have places here, Steve Martin and a host of other Hollywood types are local. MOOG has always been here, so there is a huge electronica scene, tons of Indie rock, it is the heart of old tyme fiddle scene, almost ground zeroo for bluegrass- there used to be a poster around that showed something like 100 bluegrass festivals within a 1 hour drive over the 100 days of summer, there is a thriving gypsy jazz scene and a lot of old retired be bop and jazz players from up north who played with the greats like Sonny Rollins and Chet Baker, there is a fantastic Celtic music scene here with lots of iconic ex pats from the UK around....the list goes on and on.... the music scene really does live up to the hype. As such, you have to be on it and very professional to get gigs. I imagine this is what Nasheville was like 50 years ago when it was a small town and not the dirty toilet bowl it is today....

There are more breweries than police officers in town (no joke!).

Remember this one fact if you're thinking about moving here from someplace like San Francisco- while Asheville itself is a very friendly, fun city, when your old volkswagon breaks down 25 miles outside of the city, your experience may be a lot more like "Deliverance".....

Stop by to say hello and pick a few tunes when you come visit!

j.
www.condino.com
www.kaybassrepair.com

[Steve-o]

That was a very informative and amusing description j.

[stevedenver]

The ONLY people who say that about Asheville are those that have never been to Paris!!!!

If you're an uptight, crusty, crusty wanna be, then Asheville is definitely not for you.

www.condino.com
www.kaybassrepair.com

no that why i come to this forum......LOL

[Jon Hall]

There are a lot of acoustic musicians in and around Austin. Compared to other cities of the same size or larger, it is inexpensive. Also: John Paul Jones lives in Asheville but Robert Plant lives in Austin.

What about Austin Texas. I have some friends there and I hear good things.

[sachmo63]

You guys and gals are all WRONG. The place to go is Johnson City TN, ETSU (east tn state U) has the bluegrass program and it's just swimming in bluegrass and old time. You can't throw a rock in east tn without hitting a bluegrass picker!

[nickster60]

++++ Asheville It is a nice central location, a very nice small city. You could do a lot worse in the South than Asheville. Austin Tx is a great music town period. One thing I love about Texas is the have some of prettiest ladies in the south.

[FLATROCK HILL]

One thing I love about Texas is the have some of prettiest ladies in the south.

That is a fact.
The OP's list may not have included that criteria, but it is certainly worth considering.

[AlanN]

Where I live we jam 5 days a week ( I am often the only one there because I live 20 miles from anywhere)

pub guy: Hey, I like the way you sound. Listen, I'm having a jam at my place on Saturday, maybe you'd like to come over.
jammer: Thanks
p/g: Gotta warn you, may be little drinkin'
j: No problem, I can put 'em down
p/g: Also, could be some fightin' too
j: I can handle myself
p/g: And, may be a little lovin'
j: Now I'm getting interested. Tell me, what should I wear?
p/g: Don't much matter, just gonna be the 2 of us...

Asheville is a neat place.

[EdHanrahan]

... Durango, Colorado ... 5 hours from anywhere ... he loves it. ... cycling-crazy, but mountain biking mostly.

Durango is outdoor-crazy in general. Skiing, whitewater kayaking (play spots right downtown) and rafting, hiking, climbing/mountaineering, horse trails, etc. Plus the narrow-gauge 2-8-2's on the Durango & Silverton RR.

Canyon Music Woodworks was my first exposure to high-end mandolins. Unfortunately, they closed in '11, but just their presence for a decade or two indicates that there s/b a number of local players.

Buddy of mine (retired professor & WW kayaker) lived there for a year over a decade ago, but couldn't afford the fast-rising (pre-crash) real estate. Worked for fun as a tour guide on the D&S RR, pointing out where Butch & Sundance (in the movie, at least!) did their jump into the Animas River.

We were there in January, when it was generally 20 to 40 degrees in town. Drive 30 minutes north to Durango skiing, and the temperature goes down 20 degrees. Drive an hour south to desert & canyon hiking and the temperature goes up 20 degrees.

[teleman73]

I'll put in another vote for Colorado, its a big state and you can most likely find something to your tastes. If you want a city go for denver or even boulder, for a mid-size city try ft. Collins. Those are all on the front range though which in my opinion is sub-par to the western slope. Durango as mentioned is a fantastic place with great biking and music scenes and has easy access to the desert (year-round camping and adventuring opportunities). If you go farther north you can get into many other great mountain towns. Most of the ski towns have good music scenes for their size, and it seems almost every town has a microbrewery. Some other great towns worth mentioning are; Crested Butte/Gunnison, Steamboat, Salida, Carbondale/Aspen, Granby, Winter Park to name a few. While rent does tend to be more expensive, if you can move hear during the summer and are willing to commit for a year you can get decent deals (especially compared to SF), but you will pay a lot if you try to move hear in the fall (the beginning of ski season).

If colorado just doesn't sound like you're cup of tea, I have a friend who will advocate that any serious musician should live in New Orleans for a year due to the quality and diversity of the music culture there. The same guy also advocates that very few should live there for more than a year or two so if you just want a place to go for a short term move that might serve you well.