Looking for musical, old-fahioned place to live in TX (San Antonio: best city, college)

[countryway]

Thanks for all the replies so far!! Nashville is not a good place anymore for Traditional country...the city has followed suit with the record industry and most of the people playing in those clubs are the same as what you are hearing on the radio for that is where the Record companies find them and sometimes mold them into commercial music. The Radio is far from Country music Hopefully a revival will happen some day.... But I have been told that good Country music is alive and well in Texas.

[countryway]

Originally Posted by hound 109

VERY much agree with New Braunfels. It has a checkmark next to each of your criteria points.

30 min. to San Antonio & 45 min. to Austin for larger venues or opportunities....but lots of dives/ honkytonks etc. in greater NB & 15 min. up the road in San Marcos.

A couple of links that might be helpful:

Gruene Texas

Visitor Information

Yeah I have heard the Austin area is grand. I.E. New Braunfels etc. but wasn't sure. Really don't want to live in Austin or San Antone but those other ones nearby might be the best bet. San Marcos too? Just want to make sure that the 2nd criteria on my post is met as well. It is very important to me the kind of culture I live in. I have lived in Southern Missouri/Ozarks region for a while near Branson and really enjoyed the old fashioned, values and standards of the southern/midwestern people and from what I have been told by friends, Texas is very much that way. I know that in the big city it is probably less so, but I don't want to live in a huge city anyway...Grew up in a 60,000 pop town and really liked the size but can stand bigger if needed...no more than 200 to 300 thousand. This said however, I don't mind travelling into a metropolis to perform.

[Hornblower]

I would alos recommend New Braunfels/Gruene area but if your looking for smaller try San Marcos or even Wimberley. Wimberley is a B&B/small shops type of town. They have woeked up to 4 lights now. Watch out for Market Days the first Saturday of the month, traffic hits its all time high.

[hound 109]

Originally Posted by countryway

Yeah I have heard the Austin area is grand. I.E. New Braunfels etc. but wasn't sure. Really don't want to live in Austin or San Antone but those other ones nearby might be the best bet. San Marcos too? Just want to make sure that the 2nd criteria on my post is met as well. It is very important to me the kind of culture I live in. I have lived in Southern Missouri/Ozarks region for a while near Branson and really enjoyed the old fashioned, values and standards of the southern/midwestern people and from what I have been told by friends, Texas is very much that way. I know that in the big city it is probably less so, but I don't want to live in a huge city anyway...Grew up in a 60,000 pop town and really liked the size but can stand bigger if needed...no more than 200 to 300 thousand. This said however, I don't mind travelling into a metropolis to perform.

With a newspaper named the Herald Zeitung, & a fine HS football team named the Unicorns....

Herald-Zeitung Online: Serving New Braunfels and Comal County since 1852

& gun racks in most pickup trucks (check the voting patterns of Comal Co.).....it's probably small town enough & conservative enough for you.

But also a little iconoclast. The little burg of Gruene advertises that it has "gently resisted change since 1898" (or something).

And if you're tired of the Kuntry music in nashville, check out the local radio station (which also does a good job of playing a quite a bit of local artists along with national Americana music):

KNBT 92.1FM | New Braunfels Radio

I used to live there....might move back.


I've heard San Angelo has a good scene & is a bigger town (& a college town). Los Lonely Boys are from there... But i've never been there.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by countryway

Thanks for all the replies so far!! Nashville is not a good place anymore for Traditional country...the city has followed suit with the record industry and most of the people playing in those clubs are the same as what you are hearing on the radio for that is where the Record companies find them and sometimes mold them into commercial music. The Radio is far from Country music Hopefully a revival will happen some day.... But I have been told that good Country music is alive and well in Texas.

The Radio is far from Country music

Very true. Standard radio is very far from country music. I listen to Willie's Place (ch 13 on Sirrius-XM) on satellite radio. I even heard a very old Marty Robbins the other day (Ballad of the Alamo), and the hair stood up on the back of my neck! They play ALL of the oldies (some TOO old, LOL!)

Austin-based Asleep at the Wheel, Willie Nelson, Johnny Bush (don't get much more honky-tonk than that guy!!), Ray Price, Fiddlin' Frenchie Burke, George Strait and a few others are in Texas, and still touring.

Asleep at the Wheel was in Alpine when I was down there a few weeks ago--and sold out! Had I been able to get a ticket, I would have gone!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cktg8tpWt3Y

[Watchful]

The LaGrange/Hallettsville/Schulenburg area is a "hot spot" for Czech influence, and might also be worth looking into. I think there are some live music venues worth checking out. Nice small towns that would seem to really fit your criteria!

Maybe someone knows more about the specific music options - or which town or towns would be most appealing!

[catman]

Cathy4017: Gotta love Frenchie Burke (have you heard Frenchie Burke's Black Mountain Rag?), but I consider him more Louisiana Cajun than Texas.

Marty Robbins had a fabulous voice! I heard him playing solo in Bill Mack's studio late on night on WBAP 820 AM, and he was spectacular. I'm more of a jazz/classic rock musician, but I know talent when I hear it.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by catman

Cathy4017: Gotta love Frenchie Burke (have you heard Frenchie Burke's Black Mountain Rag?), but I consider him more Louisiana Cajun than Texas.

Marty Robbins had a fabulous voice! I heard him playing solo in Bill Mack's studio late on night on WBAP 820 AM, and he was spectacular. I'm more of a jazz/classic rock musician, but I know talent when I hear it.

Yes and yes......FB is definitely a Louisiana boy, but his family moved to Texas when he was a child, and he plays Texas a LOT. I went to one of his gigs in Lubbock a long time ago.

I have no doubt that Marty was wonderful. He's one of the ones I never did go see in person, and I wish I had!

[rr2005]

Definitely check out Lubbock. Population is between 200k and 300k, Super-nice people, conservative values and a thriving music scene. To quote a previous City-Data post by Mr.Football:

"Lubbock has a strong music scene (so much so that over the years the term 'Austin via Lubbock' was coined to describe the sheer number of acts that made it big in Texas that originated from the South Plains) and has over the years produced the likes of legends like: Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Waylon Jennings, John Denver, Pat Green, Mac Davis, Natalie Maines, Delbert McClinton and many others. There are plenty of bars and other nightclubs that cater to the University students."

I would add to his list Don Williams, Lee Ann Womack, Trent Willmon, Jimmy Dean, Aaron Watson, Cory Morrow, Jody Nix, Bob Wills, Richie McDonald and Tanya Tucker, who all have ties to the South Plains.

[Cathy4017]

I don't know how I could have left out Jody Nix (who lives in Big Spring)..... he and his band are great! Nix and Asleep at the Wheel (Ray Benson) are among the few who are keeping the Bob Wills-style Texas swing alive.