This resort destination in the Ozarks was the first outside of
Vegas to compel audiences to travel to the entertainment, instead
of the other way around. As such, Branson is chock-full of theaters
featuring family-style acts, heavy on mainstream country, with a
special fondness for fiddler Shoji Tabuki and singer Andy Williams.
Seattle, Washington
The birthplace of grunge is still very much a happening,
cutting-edge music town populated by more than a few players and
producers who commute to day gigs in L.A.
Detroit, Michigan
Between Motown,
Eminem, Aretha, the White Stripes, and MC5 and the
Stooges led by
Iggy Pop, respect is a given. There's a long
history of great music emanating out of the Motor City, and it's
still bubbling up.
2. great bigger-is-better music festivals
Calle Ocho
Miami, Florida
Every March, a 23-block-long mass street baile on Calle Ocho, the
city's main Latino thoroughfare, is fueled by such an overload of
Latin music - from meringues to boleros, salsa to good ol' rock en
español - it might as well change its name to La Bomba.
Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival
Manchester, Tennessee
Four years young and already dubbed the American Festival of Rock,
this four-day event, held each June on a 700-acre farm, is jam-band
heaven, pulling in 90,000 fans despite a no-advertising policy.
Dave Matthews Band and Widespread Panic top the bill with Joss
Stone, Ozomatli, and
Modest Mouse among the undercards.
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
The big daddy of modern festivals is a 10-day feast of homegrown
heroes (Fats, the Neville Brothers,
Branford Marsalis and Ellis
Marsalis) spiked with a tasty representation of nonnatives (Isaac
Hayes, 50 Cent, Eric Clapton) poured onto 12 stages scattered
around the infield of the Fair Grounds Race Course. Small wonder
500,000 fans from around the world make the annual pilgrimage each
April.