Austin is the undisputed Live Music Capital of the World. With an unprecedented number of live music performances happening every night of the week throughout the year, it has earned the title. Touring national acts, local favorites, and unknowns perpetually fill Austin’s venues, clubs, and bars as well as unusual places such as clothing stores, supermarkets, and even the airport. Music fans take full advantage of all this live music and are out supporting the music scene year round, rain or shine.

THE QUINTESSENTIAL AUSTIN MUSIC EXPERIENCE
Music style and tastes vary greatly, making it difficult to suggest one quintessential music experience, but here’s a start. The proper accommodations are crucial for the live music fan. They need to be cheap, centrally located, and near a restaurant that serves breakfast all day. Musicians and fans alike love to stay at The Austin Motel on South Congress Avenue because it meets all these criteria. Once you arrive in town, immediately consult the music section of the Austin Chronicle. All venue listings and festival and event information are found in the pages of this weekly rag. Chances are that at least one band or musician of interest to you will be performing while you’re in town.

After a night of live music followed by a visit to one of Austin’s many dive bars, you’ll probably wake up after noon. If you stay at The Austin Motel, saunter up the street to El Sol y La Luna or Güero’s Taco Bar. If you want to continue with a music-themed visit to Austin, be sure to check out one of the most popular music stores in the country, Waterloo Records, or Cheapo Discs, which is lesser known but has a bigger selection of used discs. If you’re a vinyl collector, head over to Guadalupe Avenue and check out Antone’s Records. While in town it’s imperative that you pay your respects to local music legend Stevie Ray Vaughn on the south-shore trail of Town Lake. On the banks of the Colorado stands a life-size bronze statue of the guitar god.

While in Austin all music lovers invariably ask themselves, “I wonder how to get tickets to a taping of Austin City Limits?” You have a better chance at sprouting wings than acquiring tickets to a taping of this famous PBS program. The closest most of us can get to that legendary stage is by taking the tour of the studio during the day.

VENUES
Austin has over a hundred places that offer live music for both regional and national acts, and nearly all of them are worth checking out. Most are in the downtown area on 6th Street, Red River Street, and South Congress Avenue. Venues generally come alive after dark, except during special benefit shows and during SXSW (more on this later). Most venues have something going on every night of the week, so don’t expect the good shows to be only on weekends. You’re sure to catch something interesting virtually any time doors are open at the following venues.

Antone’s has been Texas’s outlet for the blues for decades. In recent years they’ve expanded their repertoire to include pop, rock, and indie, bringing in some major national acts. If you want to see Willie Nelson perform in a backyard, The Backyard is where it will happen. Austin’s premier open-air venue features big-name national acts in pop, country, folk, and rock. Stubb’s serves up both great BBQ brisket and superb big-name rock and indie bands. Housed in a historic limestone building, this is where the hip parties go down during SXSW. There’s a small indoor stage for smaller acts, while the big outdoor stage features national acts such as Death Cab for Cutie and Queens of the Stone Age. For traditional country and two-step dancing, there’s the legendary Broken Spoke. This real honky-tonk will blow your Stetson off when you walk through the door. The crowd is a perfect mix of country folk, young hipsters, and everyone in between, which makes it all-inviting. The premier intimate venue for all things unplugged is the Cactus Café. Big-name acoustic, singer-songwriter, country, and folk acts have graced the small corner stage for over 70 years. The space is small, upscale, and outfitted with a full bar in the back. For those who like it loud and grungy, Emo’s is Austin’s outlet for punk, metal, and indie rock. To give an idea what is to be expected at Emo’s, Trail of Dead got their start here and Johnny Cash has graced the stage. Need I say more?

FESTIVALS AND EVENTS
Out of all the music festivals that happen in and around Austin there are a few you simply can’t miss if you happen to be in town. In March one of the biggest music festivals in the nation takes over Austin — SXSW, also known as South by Southwest. For one week the city is completely overrun by hundreds of musicians and celebrities and thousands of music fans. Restaurants, clubs, music stores, and BBQ joints are teeming with greasy-haired, tattooed, ripped-jean-wearing rock stars and rock star wannabes. The festival features literally hundreds of big names and up-and-coming artists in alternative, indie rock, and even pop. This isn’t your typical music convention held in a convention center. Shows happen in all Austin venues from midday to the wee hours. You have to purchase pricy wristbands to get into venues, but it’s well worth it. Oh, and good luck getting a hotel if you haven’t booked it months in advance.

In April, the Austin Marley Festival celebrates the legacy of Bob Marley. Come see top reggae acts perform in exchange for canned foods. Along with food for charity be sure to bring sunscreen, as this is an outdoor fest.

Also in April is Old Settlers Music Festival. For a four-day weekend banjos will be plinkin’ and fiddles will be fiddlin’ at the Salt Lick BBQ Pavilion in Driftwood just outside of Austin. The festival features over two dozen of the top performers of bluegrass and Americana music on four stages.

One of the biggest folk festivals in the nation, the Kerrville Folk Festival happens out in the Hill Country every May. This 18-day folk implosion draws the biggest names in Americana, folk, bluegrass, acoustic rock, blues, and country. Fans mull around in fields all day long listening to folk legends past and present. Most festivalgoers camp on site.

The biggest festival on Austin’s calendar is Austin City Limits Music Festival. For three days in September nearly 200,000 people fill Zilker Park and overdose on music and sun. Spun out of the famous public television show, ACL Fest features top acts, bands, performers, and musical legends in nearly all genres of music. Passes are available for all three days or for single days. Be sure to bring sunscreen and be prepared to sit in the Texas summer heat for this one.