When it comes to American music, the South is where it’s at. The birthplace of jazz, blues, gospel, country and rock ’n’ roll also is home to Appalachian folk, Cajun and zydeco traditions. And you can find it all by traveling to Southern cities, small towns and one-of-a-kind festivals.
CMA Music Festival, Nashville
In June 2014, the CMA Music Festival (1-800-262-3378, cmaworld.com/cma-music-festival/#tickets, @CMAFestVIP), billed as the Ultimate Country Music Fan Experience, brought a record 80,000 fans per day to the streets of downtown Nashville to meet and greet their favorite country stars and hear them perform live.
Started as Fan Fair in 1972, it's now considered Nashville's signature event, and the 2015 Festival, June 11-14, is already on its way to selling out. But numerous free areas, such as Fan Alley, and public events and concerts remain a draw for both locals and visitors.
Fan Fair X features live performances, autograph signings, celebrity panels and family activities at the huge new Music City Center. Situated along Broadway, near Nashville's historic honky-tonks and record shops, the Buckle is an outdoor bazaar jammed with fans and sponsor freebies. Side stages showcase the range of country music, from bluegrass, classic and contemporary to Southern rock and Americana.
This year's star-packed Concerts at LP Field featured more than 50 artists over four nights, including Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, Brad Paisley and Zac Brown Band.
Athens
A happening college town, Athens (visitathensga.com), is known as one of the most vital live music scenes anywhere, with a celebrated history of homegrown bands such as R.E.M. and the B-52's.
Venerable venues include the restored Georgia Theatre (215 N. Lumpkin St., 706-850-7670, georgiatheatre.com, @GaTheatre) and the famous 40 Watt Club (285 W. Washington St., 706-549-7871, 40watt.com, @40WattAthens).
Newer spots, such as Melting Point (295 E. Dougherty St., 706-254-6909, meltingpointathens.com, @meltingpointath) and the World Famous (351 N. Hull St., 706-543-4002, facebook.com/theworldfamousathens), offer food, drink and intimate listening experiences.
Every June, the AthFest Music & Arts Festival (AthFest Educates, P.O. Box 327, Athens, GA 30603, 706-548-1973, athfest.com, @AthFest), produced by local nonprofit AthFest Educates, celebrates all that with five days of ticketed events and late-night club crawls, a free weekend outdoor festival on two stages, and an artist market and KidFest. The 2014 lineup included Dead Confederate, Drivin' N Cryin', Ed Roland and the Sweet Tea Project and Futurebirds.
Muscle Shoals, Ala.
The recent documentary “Muscle Shoals” was subtitled “The Incredible True Story of the Small Town with the Big Sound.” With a population under 14,000, the northwest Alabama locale along the Tennessee River might seem an improbable major music destination. But since the ’60s, the likes of the Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding and Bob Dylan have traveled to the world famous recording studios around the Quad Cities in search of the soulful “Muscle Shoals sound.”
A favorite stop for fans is a tour of Fame Recording Studios (603 E. Avalon Ave., 256-381-0801, fame2.com, @Fame_Music), where soul and country hits have been made and Band of Horses, Drive-By Truckers and Jason Isbell have recorded in recent years.
At the newly reopened Alabama Music Hall of Fame (617 U.S. 72, 256-381-4417, alamhof.org) in nearby Tuscumbia, inductees, including Hank Williams, Nat King Cole and W.C. Handy, are honored with exhibits and a star on the walk of fame.
Since 1982, the W.C. Handy Music Festival (wchandymusicfestival.org, @WCHandyFestival) has been celebrating the "father of the blues" with an annual 10-day series featuring headliners such as Ellis Marsalis, Roberta Flack, Diane Schuur, Bobby Blue Bland and Freddie Cole.
Cajun country, Louisiana
Cajun country, in southwest Louisiana, is a land of crawfish, boudin, fried alligator and drive-through daiquiri shacks. But the Cajun and zydeco music of Acadiana, situated around the swamps and bayous west of New Orleans, is the driving sound of this singular American culture, with scores of live performances emanating from bars, dance halls and festivals on any given weekend.
Lafayette (Lafayette Convention and Visitors Commission, 1400 N.W. Evangeline Thruway, 337-232-3737, lafayettetravel.com) is the unofficial capital of Cajun country and a good base for road tripping around the region. Blue Moon Saloon (215 E. Convent St., 337-234-2422, bluemoonpresents.com/web, @BlueMoonSaloon) features a music venue with weekly Cajun jam sessions as well as a guest house.
In Opelousas, Slim's Y Ki-Ki (8471 Highway 182 North [Main Street], 337-942-6242, slimsykiki.com) is the epitome of a rural zydeco dance club. Mamou's Fred's Lounge (420 6th St., 337-468-5411) is another famously rustic outpost of Cajun music.
Eunice is home to the Savoy Music Center (4413 Highway 190, 337-457-9563, savoymusiccenter.com), with traditional Acadian accordions for sale and weekly Cajun jam sessions.
In Breaux Bridge, the annual Crawfish Festival (bbcrawfest.com, @bbcrawfest) in early May is a mecca for authentic Cajun, zydeco and swamp pop music. In Lafayette, the annual Festivals Acadiens et Créoles (festivalsacadiens.com, @FestivlAcadiens), Oct. 9-12, is a sprawling festival of Cajun music, food and crafts.
Myrtle Beach, S.C.
In Myrtle Beach (visitmyrtlebeach.com, @myrbeachonlin), beach music and South Carolina's official dance, the shag, are still alive along the sands of the Grand Strand. But, nowadays, a host of clubs and music venues offer a little something for everyone, from rock and blues to country and pop.
In 1986, country singer and Grand Old Opry veteran Calvin Gilmore brought his Carolina Opry (Calvin Gilmore Theater, U.S. 17 Business at U.S. 17 Bypass, 1-800-843-6779, thecarolinaopry.com, @TheCarolinaOpry) variety show to the Grand Strand. Now in its 28th year, the year-round productions feature musicians, singers, dancers and comics in several different shows and an annual Christmas extravaganza that's one of the hottest tickets in town.
Fat Harold's Beach Club (212 Main St., 843-249-5779, fatharolds.com) bills itself as "home of the shag and beach music." DJs, dancing and shag lessons are the scene, with occasional beach music bands.
The Bowery (110 9th Ave. North, 843-626-3445, thebowery.com, @TheBowery) has been around as an unreconstructed honky-tonk since 1944. But it's most famous as the place country music super group Alabama got its start in the 1970s.
House of Blues (4640 Highway 17 South, 843-272-3000, houseofblues.com/myrtlebeach, @HOBMB) features a 2,000-person capacity concert hall with national and international acts, plus several smaller venues with food, drink and live music every night.
MerleFest, Wilkesboro N.C.
Founded in 1988 by North Carolina guitar great Doc Watson in memory of his son and musical partner, Merle Watson, MerleFest (April 23-26, 2015, 1-800-343-7857, www.merlefest.org, @MerleFest) is one of the world's most beloved music events.
Now held every April on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, the four-day festival brings together a who's who of folk, blues, gospel, bluegrass, Americana and traditional country musicians — many of whom were inspired by Watson's flat-picking style, singing and storytelling, and preservation of traditional Appalachian songs.
The 2013 MerleFest was the first to take place without Doc Watson, who died in 2012. But the spirit of its icon still permeates days and nights of jam sessions, spontaneous collaborations and spirited performances.
This year, 130 artists played on 13 stages, including Alan Jackson, Merle Haggard, Old Crow Medicine Show, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Dr. Ralph Stanley, and Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder.
Offbeat
Lower Keys Underwater Music Festival, Looe Key Reef
A concert in one the most exotic venues anywhere brings divers and snorkelers to Looe Key Reef in July for the annual Lower Keys Underwater Music Festival (lowerkeyschamber.com). The area in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, some six miles south of Big Pine Key, is home to clear blue water and a colorful marine environment famous for its coral formations and abundant schools of tropical fish.
The four hour music show, created both for fun and reef preservation awareness, is staged by Keys radio station US1 Radio (104.1 FM), and broadcast underwater from speakers suspended beneath boats floating over the reef. The typical playlist includes everything from humpback whale song recordings to Beatles and Jimmy Buffett tunes. And many divers dress up in costumes and play along with fanciful musical instruments like the “trombonefish.”
This year’s 30th anniversary pre-festival party took place at Artists in Paradise Gallery in Big Pine Key, where local artist August Powers was honored for his underwater creations.
Many divers and snorkelers traveling to the Festival use the Big Pine Key area (305-872-2411, fla-keys.com/lowerkeys) as a base and charter boats run by Lower Keys dive operators or launch their own boats from public ramps or marinas.
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