If live music is your thing, Asheville is the place to be

As you peruse all of the Asheville tourist info that’s out there, make sure you consider the area’s live music scene as you make your travel plans. Asheville has one of the most vibrant live music scenes in the country. In fact, it has recently made headlines nationally thanks to The Orange Peel on Biltmore Avenue downtown. The club has hosted Bob Dylan, The Indigo Girls, Ben Harper, The Flaming Lips, Todd Rundgren, Son Volt, a nine-show residency by the Smashing Pumpkins, and many other major shows. And in April 2008, Rolling Stone named the club one of America’s top five music venues.

Still, the Asheville music experience is about much more than what fans can take in at the Orange Peel. Top national, regional and local artists play also at the Grey Eagle on Clingman Avenue, where you can also enjoy food from Twin Cousins Kitchen, a southern Louisiana eatery owned and operated by native New Orleans chef Arthur Douglass. Some of the best vacations in Asheville, NC, have included time for activities such as sampling microbrews at the French Broad Brewery Tasting Room on Fairview Road near Biltmore Village while enjoying a performance by a local or touring singer-songwriter. In the same building, you’ll find one of Asheville’s newest music venues, The Garage at Biltmore, where artists such as Colonel Bruce Hampton and Larry Keel perform.

The Asheville visitors’ information you’ve seen may have missed insider tips about the burgeoning community of west Asheville, the newest venue is The Rocket Club on Haywood Road, where groups like Asheville rising stars Stephanie’s Id and other cutting-edge artists perform. Further down Haywood you’ll find food, spirits and fabulous local and touring artists performing at the Westville Pub.

And don’t forget to check out who’s playing The Asheville Civic Center/Thomas Wolfe Auditorium and the Diana Wortham Theater.

All over town, the genres range from bluegrass to rock, from blues to jazz, from folk to pop, from new age to classical. So get out your city of Asheville map. At every level, the music scene in town is hot.

For a good round-up of what’s happening musically at any given time in Asheville (and across Western North Carolina), check The Mountain Xpress or the Asheville Citizen-Times Take Five section, both published weekly and distributed free in boxes all over the Asheville area.