Working Musician - what are my prospects? (Knoxville, Johnson City: live in, shop) - Kingsport - Johnson City - Bristol - Tennessee (TN) -The Tri-Cities area - City-Data Forum

Mountain Sprite · 03-07-2010, 04:51 PM

We are thinking of relocating somewhere between Kpt and JC. Commuting is NOT an issue. DH teaches as well as plays professionally. Any hopes or should we just stay put for now?

Reventorghini · 03-16-2010, 06:50 PM

Depends on the kind of music you play. I live in Johnson City and no real talent will come here since the radio has people listening solely to popular bands. Hard rock, acoustic pop, and hardcore metal are the only genres that get attention around here.

DrJerome · 03-17-2010, 05:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reventorghini

Depends on the kind of music you play. I live in Johnson City and no real talent will come here since the radio has people listening solely to popular bands. Hard rock, acoustic pop, and hardcore metal are the only genres that get attention around here.

Wow! An amazing assesment of an area that has its own great musical heritage and one that brings in many good performers from both near and far.

Jim37680 · 03-17-2010, 06:43 AM

Sounds like someone needs to get out more and listen to something more than just WQUT. This is the very heart of "Traditional Appalachian Music"- that fact should be appreciated even by those that don't like the genre.

Reventorghini · 03-17-2010, 10:55 AM

I stopped listening to the radio years ago save Bob and Tom in the morning on 99.3. I'm just telling it like I see it. There's a little bluegrass played at ETSU every now and then but not even enough worth mentioning. Johnson City is just a bad place for talent. Simple as that.

The only places I've been to hear talent (not even from genres I like) are Asheville and Knoxville.

jabogitlu · 03-17-2010, 11:42 AM

haha you're just simply wrong, sir. There is so much talent in Southwest Virginia, Western North Carolina and East Tennessee that it's almost ridiculous. It may not line up with your personal tastes, but there's no denying it. Yes, there's a LOT of bluegrass played at ETSU, and it's such a successful and renowned program that Grammy-award winning musicians are teaching the students there. Betcha didn't know that.

mbmouse · 03-17-2010, 05:50 PM

Well, I can't speak for JC as I don't spend a whole lot of entertainment time there much anymore but as far as Kingsport there are a WHOLE lot of bluegrass, blues, jazz, rock and more types of music all spring, summer and fall long. Here are some links with band names, dates, places and so forth. Scroll through them, lots more than rock or heavy metal for sure.
Event Calendar | The Bus Pit by BONE FIRE Smokehouse

The link for Twilight Alive (FREE!) concert series web site is not working properly at the moment, but this is what they have listed so far for this year on their face book page:
Saturday May 22nd ~ Air Force Band
Thursday May 27th ~ Scott Miller
Thursday June 3rd ~ Frontiers (Tribute to Journey)
Thursday June 10th ~ Shawn Mullins
Thursday June 17th ~ The Mustangs
Thursday June 24th ~ Benny Wilson & Ivy Road
Thursday July 1st ~ A1A (Tribute to Jimmy Buffet)
Thursday July 8th ~ Folk Soul Revival & The Black Lillies

And here is a link to last years schedule of Twilight Alive and Bluegrass on Broad that is every Thursday night (Spring through Fall) in downtown Kingsport.
Official Site for the 2009 Downtown Kingsport, TN Summer Free Concert Series

Here is a great post here on CD with a list of music events around the region (thanks Jab!) //www.city-data.com/forum/kings...ri-cities.html

There is LOTS of music of all kinds in this area about all the time.

jabogitlu · 03-17-2010, 07:20 PM

Folk Soul Revival is a regional superstar. I love them. Scott Miller is really good too... I saw them at Rhythm & Roots two years ago and it was an amazing show. I love that R&R reaches out beyond bluegrass and country.

weaselmouse · 03-21-2010, 12:56 PM

If you do bluegrass or would like to get in with that crowd, just go to Down Home. I am not sure if they do open mic night on Wednesday anymore, but they are all pretty nice in there. Acoustic Coffeehouse has been having a lot of bands come from out of town. The Hideaway is a venue for anything from punky teen shows to power electronics to rockabilly (I have seen all of those genres there). I had a friend whose band got paid pretty well from Poor Richards too. Plenty of venues in town. Not sure about teaching. The radio here sucks and I don't listen to it. We have a new record store too on W. Walnut St next to the tattoo shop.

During the summer, we have the Blue Plum festival on Main St. and you could get in on that too.

Not sure if this was helpful, but I'm sure it was more helpful than lamenting the terrible radio station, LOL!

angrycandy · 03-23-2010, 08:40 AM

All I can say is... if you do relocate to the area and commuting is not an issue - there's always Asheville or Knoxville.

I lived in that area for 8 months (and being married to a musician) I wasn't glamoured with the local music scene. The most excitement I took in locally, from a non-local band, was seeing Hayseed Dixie at The Down Home. For anything "better" for my musical tastes, I had to travel to Asheville or Knoxville. Maybe if I grew-up there and was 18 years younger... it might be a different story.

Now that we live in Asheville, we literally have to pick and choose what we want to see due to the huge array of local music plus the bigger acts coming through. My Husband plays in two local bands - yet still has a "day job" (if that tells you anything), as there's a lot of competition for getting local paying gigs. He's happy if one of the bands plays once a weekend - which, most often they do.

I didn't listen to the local radio while I lived there, let alone, at all really. More of an NPR person. So I cannot comment on that.

Hope that helps.