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.

The Greatest Hits Of All by George Benson: Smooth Jazz CD Review

The incomparable guitarist George Benson has released The Greatest Hits Of All CD and basically it is exactly that.

I’ve got one word to describe this one, Wow!

This is one of the greatest greatest hits CD’s I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing.

Benson has been in the music game for so long I have to admit I had forgotten about some of these outstanding tunes. It’s really a testament to the fact that he has been a true hit maker for over 30 years now. Virtually defining the quiet storm format back in his younger days, and he continues to roll along even today.

A lot of these songs I remember hearing on the radio back in the days when I didn’t really know who was singing or playing them. Not knowing it was George Benson!

With the release of The Greatest Hits Of All, Benson’s artistic excellence is on full display as he mixes his at once smooth and funky guitar playing style throughout the collection.

The CD is packed with 19, I say again nineteen!, of Benson’s chart topping hits from his very long and amazingly outstanding career.

It begins with one of Benson’s best songs of all, This Masquerade and just rolls right through 18 more of what a lot of people will agree are some of the greatest songs we as music fans have heard over the last 30 years.

Benson, with his signature smooth guitar playing, showing why he his now considered one of the greatest artists of our time.

Contributors on the project includes an amazing line up of musicians with whom Benson has collaborated over the years. Industry heavy hitters like Michael Boddicker, Earl Klugh, Phil Upchurch, Marcus Miller, Lee Ritenour and Narada Michael Walden just to name a few, and the list actually goes on and on and on.

Benson’s The Greatest Hits Of All is simply an outstanding collection. If you love music this is not a CD you SHOULD get. It’s one you NEED.

Release Notes:

George Benson originally released The Greatest Hits Of All Time on July 8, 2003 on the Rhino record label.

CD track list follows:

1. This Masquerade
2. Breezin’
3. The Greatest Love Of All
4. On Broadway (Live)
5. Love Ballad
6. Unchained Melody
7. Give Me The Night
8. Love X Love
9. Turn Your Love Around
10. Love All The Hurt Away
11. Never Give Up On A Good Thing
12. Being With You
13. Lady Love Me (One More Time)
14. 20/20
15. I Just Wanna Hang Around You
16. Kisses In The Moonlight
17. Shiver
18. Let’s Do It Again
19. Standing Together

To listen to samples of each song on The Greatest Hits Of All by George Benson go to:
George Benson CD - The Greatest Hits Of All Samples