Rolling Stone: Owensboro a ‘must visit’ music town

Rolling Stone magazine says there are seven “Must-Visit Places Country Music Fans Should Flock to Now.”

And Owensboro is one of them.

The article, published last Thursday, also lists Nashville, of course; Southwest Virginia; Austin, Texas; Cheyenne, Wyoming; Branson, Missouri; and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

 

The article says, “This year, fill up your gas tank, sing along with the radio and take a drive down country roads. A country music trip is about more than just great entertainment (although you’ll find plenty of that, too). With these seven destinations, you’ll take a closer look at how country music came to be. Learn about its roots in folk music and bluegrass, commemorate musical legends and discover up-and-coming artists.”

Owensboro has been building credibility as a “music city” for much of the past decade.

In 2013, ConventionSouth magazine — described as “a national multimedia resource for planning events that are held within the South” — named Owensboro as one of its 20 “South’s Top Cities For Music & Meetings.”

In 2018, Select Traveler, a Lexington-based publication that calls itself “America’s only magazine for bank, alumni and chamber travel planners,” named Owensboro as a music town that “gave birth to music movements and helped raise the musicians who played major roles in our lives.”

The other cities were Macon, Georgia; Branson, Missouri; Cleveland, Ohio; and Seattle, Washington.

And that same year, Brand USA selected Owensboro as one of its Top 10 American music cities.

The agency promotes U.S. tourism in other countries.

Joslin said with Friday After 5 and several other events, there’s already a lot of music in Owensboro with more to come.

Andy Brasher and his fiancé, Tamarra Miller, are planning to open Brasher’s Little Nashville at 123 W. Second St. later this year.

The couple said they plan to feature country music, along with rock, blues and bluegrass.

They also created PorchFest, a free music festival on porches on Griffith Avenue, in 2018.

It returns on June 12.

The city sponsors Live on the Banks, two free concerts every Saturday night from 7 to 9 p.m. from May 15 to Sept. 25 in Smothers Park on the banks of the Ohio River.

Several bars and restaurants in town feature live music and most festivals include it.

Messenger-Inquirer article written by Keith Lawrence, 270-691-7301 [email protected]