a couple questions about kingsport! (Knoxville, Chattanooga: buy, college, living in)

[rsb23]

last october i moved from brevard county, florida to clifton forge/allegheney county in virginia, and now within a months time i'll be moving to kingsport.

pardon if these questions have already been answered, but could someone kindly tell me of any venues/concert halls/clubs/bars that have live music in the area?

i've heard of knoxville having a really amazing music scene, with the "big ears" festival and Pilot Light.....could someone tell me about how far a drive knoxville is from kingsport? i'd really like to be able to head up there on the weekends or a couple times a month, just curious about how far a commute it would be

any help much appreciated!

[jabogitlu]

Not sure about live music in Kingsport. I'll leave that up to mouse and the others.

Knoxville is 1:15-1:30 (depending on if you're one of the people who go 80 on I-81, or 65 ) from Kingsport. Pretty much a straight shot down I-26 to I-81 to I-40.

[Bailey.]

Yup, Knoxville is about an hour and a half, depending on where you are going. We head out there about 2-3 times a month, mostly to pick up games for our old systems, get my ring cleaned at the retailer's, and drool at the Apple store, stuff we can't do here Asheville is also close, about an hour and fifteen depending on traffic.

I'm also not familiar with the live music scene in Kingsport. As for major concerts, I think Freedom Hall is the largest in the area, but that is JC.

[mbmouse]

Kingsport is becoming a place for music, a wide variety? Maybe not much yet, but getting there.
As of now, there is free concerts on Broad street (they close half the street, bring a chair, buy a beer etc.) every Thursday and Friday throughout the summers. You can check out the schedule of those here:
Official Site for the 2009 Downtown Kingsport, TN Summer Free Concert Series

There is the Kingsport Grocery that has music on the weekend:
Kingsport Grocery Company - Eat Well. Drink Well. Be Well.

There is also the newest venue "The Bus Pit" too:
The Bus Pit by BONE FIRE Smokehouse Official Website

They also have annual events such as Fun Fest:FunFest :: Kingsport, Tennessee and Racks on the Tracks: Official Site for Racks by the Tracks - Ribs, Beer Tasting, and Blues Festival located in Downtown Kingsport, TN they have several music concerts.

Yea, Kingsport likes it's music
Hope that helps.

[jabogitlu]

Mouse, does the Stir Fry in Kpt do music on the weekends? I know most of the other locations do.

Ugh, did you have to mention the Apple Store? That's like THE thing I miss about living in Ktown, being able to nip into the Apple Store to play with the toys.

[TopshelfTom]

The more i hear about Kingsport's music scene, the more I wish i could be there! A friend of mine performed at a small hole-in-the-wall place in North Hollywood, California a few nights ago which is broadcast over the internet, and it got me wishing how I could be able to go to such live performances more often (small intimate acoustic settings, as opposed to huge arenas)....we don't have them up here in the albany area often unless you want to spend big bucks for crappy current top 10 bands....all i know is, when i finally do make it down, i may go nuts with everything Kingsport and the surrounding areas actually have to offer!

[jabogitlu]

But, Tom, Johnson City's is even better...

Actually, music is everywhere in the TC. *Everywhere.* Knoxville is even better.

[mbmouse]

Originally Posted by jabogitlu

Mouse, does the Stir Fry in Kpt do music on the weekends? I know most of the other locations do.

Ugh, did you have to mention the Apple Store? That's like THE thing I miss about living in Ktown, being able to nip into the Apple Store to play with the toys.

I think so, I know they have, but not sure if it is all the time, every weekend yet or not.

[scarpozzi]

Don't forget you're an hour or so from Ashville, NC. Ashville is a nice medium city that has music festivals (Firefly Festival and others). I've noticed a lot of microbreweries popping up (I'm in Chattanooga now and we're seeing Ashville beer here). That's a good sign that you'll have plenty of bars to check out there.

Knoxville has Thompson-Boling Arena at the UT Campus. They have many shows that come through listed on Ticketmaster. In Johnson City, you can catch occasional shows at Freedom Hall (if it's still called that). In the Summer, there's FunFest in Kingsport. They'll have bands come through as well.

The Kingsport Grocery is a very nice restaurant/bar. Also hit the Boone lake area and look at the marinas...there are some bands that play around there. Johnson City is the college town...so you can always find places there, but most of the really cool bars never last. They get overrun by shoddy security and eventually closed down due to poor management or locations. I've seen a lot, but don't know the situation...but there are a lot of places. Just drive around on a Friday/Saturday after 10pm when the weather's nice. It should be easy to find out where everyone is....the towns are small enough.

[Josh Woods]

I Agree with the above poster, you can get just about anything you want Music wise around this area with a short 2 hr drive or so.