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6th street hasn't been the center of the music scene in decades. Austin's music drag is Red River, which is wall to wall amazing venues for the most part.
And you could argue that Lower Broadway isn't the center of Nashville's music scene anymore either. But the point is 6th Street and Lower Broadway are clearly the main touristy/commercial nightlife strips in their respective cities and one is far more oriented around live music than the other.
And you could argue that Lower Broadway isn't the center of Nashville's music scene anymore either. But the point is 6th Street and Lower Broadway are clearly the main touristy/commercial nightlife strips in their respective cities and one is far more oriented around live music than the other.
Yeeeeeaaah.....no. West 6th is not the main attraction of Austin. Maybe 20 - 30 years ago but definitely not today. W.6th are for college students who want to get plastered.
Red River, Rainey, South Congress, have just as much to see and do. South Congress specifically is also a very strong contender in live music venues.
And you could argue that Lower Broadway isn't the center of Nashville's music scene anymore either. But the point is 6th Street and Lower Broadway are clearly the main touristy/commercial nightlife strips in their respective cities and one is far more oriented around live music than the other.
Fair enough, but at the same time, you do an injustice to both cities' music scenes by focusing on their respective kitchiest, most commercialized strips. And for the record, Dirty sixth is quite a bit more lively, gritty and wild than Lower Broadway which really has become bachelorette party central. If you want to hear great live music in Austin, next time you visit, avoid dirty 6th, go east or south: East 6th across the highway is generally much more interesting or go to Skylark up Airport BLVD, which is Austin's best blues live music venue - please Jesus may it survive COVID closures. or even further east to Sahara East. South Congress and South Lamar on the other side of the river have a plethora of great live music venues.
I live in downtown Austin - pre -pandemic I could walk to any of dozens of live music venues - from well established places like Antones on 5th or the Moody ACL theater on 2nd to holes in the wall that change very few months. I imagine that I could do the same if I lived in downtown Nashville. They are both great music towns. I would be quite comfortable saying ITO music: edge Nashville but it is not a huge edge.
Austin, despite all the growth and sometimes because of it has a very distinctive culture and vibe. People upthread who say Austin is California east don't know either Austin or California or likely both.. Ask a Californian what they think of Tex-Mex food or worse Texas wine or the gun shops in Austin strip malls? In certain paradoxical ways, Austin is the most Texan of Texas cities - it is just the Texas of O'Henry, LBJ, Molly Ivins, Barbara Jordan, Willy Nelson, the pot-smoking bongo playing Matthew McConnaughey. The recently arrived Tech Bros are drawn to Austin because they don't have to wear a suit and tie to work, and you can work from a coffee shop. They are the much richer legatees of Austin slacker culture.There are many fancy and expensive restaurants in Austin. Not one of them has a dress code. I love that when I go to the mediocre ballet, symphony or opera in Austin ( They are similarly mediocre in Nashville), I will sit next to some Texas dowager lady in furs and pearls - doesn't matter that it is 90 plus degrees outside and a few of the aforementioned Tech Bros in jeans and T shirts and overpriced sneakers, and some reluctant kid in shorts and river sandals, and no-one bats an eyelid.
I have spent some time in Nashville and think I could happily live there, though there is a white Southern preppy element that I find a little repulsive. I wanna retch whenever I see salmon shorts and bow-ties. I can imagine someone having a similar reaction to Austin's often gleeful lack of decorum. These are all cultural and matters of taste and disposition, and subjective. Objectively I think Nashville is better for its Black citizens: 4 HBUS there as opposed to 1 in Austin and Austin is only 8% Black, Nashville is 27%. Austin is better for LatinX people with the population of LatinX people approaching 40%. Austin also has a larger Asian population . . . so diversity is close even though Austin is technically a majority minority MSA and Nashville is not.
I could go on, but this is already too long. My point is that there are good cultural and subjective reasons to prefer one over the other, but the premise of this thread is about size and economy and there matters are neither cultural nor subjective. 40, even 30 years ago both Austin and Nashville were small, poor, kinda hardscrabble capital cites. They have both made huge strides, but by every objective measure, Austin in 2021 is bigger, richer, denser, safer, better educated and growing faster. It is what it is or as they might say in both Austin and Nashville, "just the facts Ma'am." And those facts are highly unlikely to change in the next decade . . . Why is that so hard to acknowledge?
Nashville moved up the population ranks dramatically in the 1960s because it consolidated with surrounding Davidson County that decade.
Both cities have expanded their borders through the years. While reading the post I immediately began to wonder if the major flip flopping was more due to annexation rather than economically driven population booms, but I didn't know if the data was on a city or metro level.
Fair enough, but at the same time, you do an injustice to both cities' music scenes by focusing on their respective kitchiest, most commercialized strips. And for the record, Dirty sixth is quite a bit more lively, gritty and wild than Lower Broadway which really has become bachelorette party central. If you want to hear great live music in Austin, next time you visit, avoid dirty 6th, go east or south: East 6th across the highway is generally much more interesting or go to Skylark up Airport BLVD, which is Austin's best blues live music venue - please Jesus may it survive COVID closures. or even further east to Sahara East. South Congress and South Lamar on the other side of the river have a plethora of great live music venues.
I live in downtown Austin - pre -pandemic I could walk to any of dozens of live music venues - from well established places like Antones on 5th or the Moody ACL theater on 2nd to holes in the wall that change very few months. I imagine that I could do the same if I lived in downtown Nashville. They are both great music towns. I would be quite comfortable saying ITO music: edge Nashville but it is not a huge edge.
Austin, despite all the growth and sometimes because of it has a very distinctive culture and vibe. People upthread who say Austin is California east don't know either Austin or California or likely both.. Ask a Californian what they think of Tex-Mex food or worse Texas wine or the gun shops in Austin strip malls? In certain paradoxical ways, Austin is the most Texan of Texas cities - it is just the Texas of O'Henry, LBJ, Molly Ivins, Barbara Jordan, Willy Nelson, the pot-smoking bongo playing Matthew McConnaughey. The recently arrived Tech Bros are drawn to Austin because they don't have to wear a suit and tie to work, and you can work from a coffee shop. They are the much richer legatees of Austin slacker culture.There are many fancy and expensive restaurants in Austin. Not one of them has a dress code. I love that when I go to the mediocre ballet, symphony or opera in Austin ( They are similarly mediocre in Nashville), I will sit next to some Texas dowager lady in furs and pearls - doesn't matter that it is 90 plus degrees outside and a few of the aforementioned Tech Bros in jeans and T shirts and overpriced sneakers, and some reluctant kid in shorts and river sandals, and no-one bats an eyelid.
I have spent some time in Nashville and think I could happily live there, though there is a white Southern preppy element that I find a little repulsive. I wanna retch whenever I see salmon shorts and bow-ties. I can imagine someone having a similar reaction to Austin's often gleeful lack of decorum. These are all cultural and matters of taste and disposition, and subjective. Objectively I think Nashville is better for its Black citizens: 4 HBUS there as opposed to 1 in Austin and Austin is only 8% Black, Nashville is 27%. Austin is better for LatinX people with the population of LatinX people approaching 40%. Austin also has a larger Asian population . . . so diversity is close even though Austin is technically a majority minority MSA and Nashville is not.
I could go on, but this is already too long. My point is that there are good cultural and subjective reasons to prefer one over the other, but the premise of this thread is about size and economy and there matters are neither cultural nor subjective. 40, even 30 years ago both Austin and Nashville were small, poor, kinda hardscrabble capital cites. They have both made huge strides, but by every objective measure, Austin in 2021 is bigger, richer, denser, safer, better educated and growing faster. It is what it is or as they might say in both Austin and Nashville, "just the facts Ma'am." And those facts are highly unlikely to change in the next decade . . . Why is that so hard to acknowledge?
Um...Nashville definitely has a top rated Symphony Orchestra and Concert Hall. This is one category Austin does not compete it. Nashville in my view also has better legacy institutions thanks in part to the old money families and Vanderbilt.
Last edited by JMT; 04-29-2021 at 08:06 AM..
Reason: Atlanta is not part of this thread.
A recent WSJ article notes that Nashville metro government is in significant budget crisis partially through attempting to fuel the rapid growth mentioned in this discussion. How are Austin's finances?
They are both in the same tier of city. But in terms of Nashville definitively passing Austin, I highly doubt it.
I agree. They are in the same tier and that is not going to change anytime soon.
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