One thing about me is that I love live music — but not just for the big stars and festivals. Yes, I’ll go to any festival under the sun just to see as many bands as I can in one place. And I flew across the country to see Harry Styles at Coachella. But I also haunt all the beach bars during the summer to watch local cover bands. And I only go to dive bars with live music.
My whole job revolves around writing about music, so it’s only right that I flock to places known for their constant swirl of instruments, vocals, and all-night dancing.
There are plenty of destinations in the United States that can give you your fix of music, and even teach you a little about music history in the meantime. Places like Nashville are full of bars owned by country music icons like Dolly Parton and Jason Aldean – so you’ll never have a shortage of stomp-and-holler dives.
My only requirements of a music city are as follows: there has to be a constant string of performers night after night, and they have to have contributed to our ever-evolving music scene.
Some of these cities are responsible for the careers of our favorite artists, towns they called home long before their music was played by millions of people. And now, these cities have evolved into lively, year-round concerts with music pouring into the streets.
If you want to take a trip to some of the best cities for live music in the country, here are some of my staples.
Nashville, Tennessee
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Literally known as “Music City”, Nashville is the place to go for live music. Idols like Elvis, Dolly Parton, and Willy Nelson have ties to the city, and thousands of aspiring artists flock in hopes of taking off their careers. Taylor Swift moved here from Pennsylvania when she decided to pursue a career as a country music star.
Broadway, also known as Honky-Tonk Highway, is where you’ll find a pulsing, vibrant nightlife that beckons you to dance all night. I spent about four hours in a bar on the strip during a layover and had the time of my life.
Check out Music Row for the extensive number of country music publishers, labels, and studios. You can also find the Country Music Hall of Fame here, and see iconic studios recorded in by stars like Elvis.
New Orleans, Louisiana
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The Big Easy is the birthplace of jazz music and the home of major party events like Mardi Gras. If you’re itching for a nonstop party with music streaming from the streets at all hours, New Orleans is for you. With its French roots, the architecture and food alone are enough to reel you in.
The city is constantly pulsing to the rhythms of marching bands, horns, and even gospel choirs. Music greats like Louis Armstrong have roots in NOLA, and you can visit some of their favorite music clubs and restaurants around the French Quarter today.
There’s a wide variety of music from R&B, soul, jazz, and more, so stroll down Frenchmen Street and take it all in.
Austin, Texas
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One of the live music capitals of the world, Austin, Texas was a bit unexpected for me. It’s the birthplace of many aspiring musicians’ careers spanning genres from country to indie folk.
My favorite place in Austin is Sixth Street. Closed off to traffic on Thursdays through Sundays, you’ll get your fix of live music and affordable food and drinks. It’s one of the places in the city where tourism rates haven’t touched with a flair of street fairs.
New York City, New York
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Well, you knew it was coming. Home of world-famous venues like Radio City Music Hall and Madison Square Garden, New York is a mecca for music. Artists dream of selling out venues here, and truly there’s a different act every night.
Home of record labels, streaming platforms, and artists galore, any given bar in New York City will have live music. And if you’re someone who likes EDM, all the house hotspots are in Brooklyn.
Las Vegas, Nevada
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Again, predictable but a must-go. Las Vegas is known for its residencies and its non-stop ragers. Artists like Usher and Adele have notorious stakes on Vegas stages –not to mention the OG Elvis Presley residency. Casino after casino, venue after venue, you’ll find live music in every corner of Vegas.
New York City has a rich history, and according to some folklorists and superstitious folks, there are as many ghosts walking is streets as living people. (Or if you're Simon and Garfunkel, you might feel like the only living human in New York).
Of course, there are some who believe that the city isn't haunted at all. "I'm sorry to say that although I have made a whole career on spirits and demons, I have never met a single demon, goblin or hobgoblin in New York," said the writer Isaac Singer to The New York Times in 1985. "I'd be a big liar if I were to say I met such creatures, but I still believe they exist." Perhaps, the article continued, New York "may not be a hospitable city for ghosts" due to all its chaos and noise. Knowing New Yorkers, if a bloodstained ghost appeared on the subway, we'd all just let it mind our own business and get on with our commutes.
Still, some ghosts are more notable than others. Whether you're looking for a spooky adventure or are interested in ghosts all year around, here are some of New York's most fascinating haunted landmarks.
Washington Square Park is the scene of many dramatic movie scene reunions and fanciful NYC-inspired musical numbers, but did you know that over 20,000 people are buried underneath it?
It's almost universally acknowledged that Greenwich Village is really freaking haunted, and Washington Square Park may be the Times Square of ghostly New York. It's got plenty of macabre landmarks—standing in the northwest corner is the famous Hanging Tree, an English elm that apparently saw many a hanging during its heyday.
But most of the dead bodies buried underneath the park come from the 1700s, when New York City was hit by an outbreak of yellow fever and the park was used as a potter's field for over 20,000 bodies, buried in a mass grave.
Over the years, many park visitors have reported strange sightings such as carriages, very tall and thin men, and the ghosts of various artists, among other things.
This bridge's name alone makes it notably eerie, and it has more than enough eerie history and urban legends to live up to its name. Hell Gate got its moniker from the tales of early Dutch explorers and traders, who had to pass through the mile-long strait of water to get to the Long Island Sound. Due to the dangerous nature of this passage, which was riddled with whirlpools and sharp glacial rocks, the strait became known as Hell Gate. During the 1850s, an average of 1,000 ships sunk in it each year. Legend has it that some of these sailors continue to haunt the bridge, and if you hear a creaky train thundering over it in the wee hours of the morning, it's said to hold the ghosts of some of these lost souls.
Also, out of all NYC's bridges, Hell Gate would apparently be the last bridge to collapse in an apocalyptic scenario, taking at least a thousand years to fall—and the image of that ghost train sailing across the bridge as the rest of the city decays is so atmospheric, some NYU film student should get on making a film with that as the final frame if it hasn't been done already.
When this pool was first opened, it was the site of several tragic deaths due to drowning and also saw some shooting and stabbing incidents. Locals began reporting hearing the sounds of a crying girl emanating from the pool in the winter and at night, and in 2004, some Paranormal Investigation of NYC investigators captured photographs of dozens of orbs onsite, which indicate spirit presences or dust particles depending on your opinion.
Bronx: Hart Island
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Hart Island, located east of the Bronx in the Long Island Sound, is definitely the most haunted of all these places if you're judging purely by the concentration of ghosts. More than a million dead bodies are buried on this island, and if you're able to book a visit, you can see the ruins of an abandoned psychiatric hospital. Over the years, the island has hosted a tuberculosis sanatorium, a potter's field, a boys' reformatory, a jail, a drug rehab center, and much more. Today, around 1,500 corpses are still buried there each year.
