Austin Travel Guide
Austin Live Music Guide
How to actually find good music in the Live Music Capital of the World — which districts do what, the dance-hall night not to miss, ACL tapings, festival survival and how to choose a room any night of the week.
Austin calls itself the Live Music Capital of the World, and on most nights the claim holds up: there is more live music per block here than almost anywhere in America, much of it free or cheap, ranging from country and blues to indie rock, hip-hop, jazz and Tejano. The challenge for visitors is not finding music but finding the right music, because the scene is spread across very different districts. This guide sorts them.
Sixth Street: the famous one. East Sixth Street between Congress Avenue and the interstate — "Dirty Sixth" to locals — is the strip everyone has heard of: blocks of bars, many with live bands, shot specials and a party crowd that peaks after ten on weekends, when the street closes to traffic and fills with people. It is loud, fun and sometimes rowdy; the music is mostly cover bands and good-time rock, with exceptions. West Sixth, beyond Congress, is a more grown-up bar district. Go once for the spectacle, early in the evening if you prefer to hear the bands, and keep belongings close in the crowds.
Red River: where the bands are. A few blocks east, the Red River Cultural District is the heart of Austin's original-music scene: a cluster of clubs, indoor and outdoor stages and dive bars where touring indie acts, local bands and up-and-comers play most nights. This is where South by Southwest showcases pack the sidewalks every March and where many Austin bands earned their followings. Shows here usually carry a cover or ticket; check the venue calendars, buy ahead for touring acts and expect a late start. If you care about new music, spend at least one night here.
ACL Live and the Austin City Limits taping. The Moody Theater on West Second Street is the modern home of Austin City Limits, the public-television music series that began in 1974 in a studio on the University of Texas campus and became the longest-running music program in American television history. ACL Live hosts touring concerts year-round, and a statue of Willie Nelson stands outside. The tapings themselves are a special case: tickets are not sold but given away in limited numbers through ticket giveaways announced shortly before each taping, so watch the official channels if your dates line up. For any other concert there, buy through the venue.
South Congress and the Continental Club. Across the river, South Congress Avenue is for music with history and neighborhood character. The Continental Club, open since the 1950s, is a small, red-lit room with a long bar and a deep roster of roots rock, rockabilly, country and soul; its regular early-evening residencies are a local institution and the late shows can be legendary. Up and down the avenue, coffee shops and hotel patios host free acoustic sets — the patio at Jo's Coffee by the Hotel San José among them. A South Austin music night can start with tacos, move to the Continental Club and end at the Broken Spoke.
The dance hall: the Broken Spoke. If you only do one music night in Austin, many locals will tell you to make it this one. The Broken Spoke on South Lamar has been a country dance hall since 1964, run by the White family, with live bands in a low-ceilinged back room and beginners' two-step lessons early in the evening Wednesday through Saturday. Nobody needs boots or skill; you will be dancing within an hour. It is open Tuesday through Saturday, and the restaurant up front serves chicken-fried steak before the music starts. For a deeper dance-hall day, Hill Country towns like Luckenbach keep picking-circle and dance traditions alive, and the Hill Country day tour stops there.
Blues, jazz and the rest. Antone's, the blues club founded in the 1970s that helped launch Stevie Ray Vaughan and hosted generations of blues legends, carries on downtown. Hotel stages are surprisingly good: the Driskill Bar and Geraldine's at the Hotel Van Zandt both program live music, the latter including songwriter showcases. Rainey Street's bungalow bars lean more toward DJs and patios than bands. Check local listings for the week of your visit — the city's weekly papers and venue calendars are the best guides.
The festivals. South by Southwest in March turns the whole downtown into a showcase circuit of hundreds of acts; many day parties are free with RSVP, while official showcases need a badge or wristband. The festival has been adapting its footprint as the downtown convention center undergoes a major rebuild, so check the current format. The Austin City Limits Music Festival fills Zilker Park over two consecutive October weekends with big-name lineups; passes sell fast and hotel prices soar. Both are thrilling and exhausting; if you want the city's everyday music without the crowds, come another week.
How to choose a room. Decide what you want before you go out: dancing (Broken Spoke), roots and history (Continental Club), new bands (Red River), a big concert (ACL Live), or a party (Sixth Street, Rainey). Bring cash for covers and tips — bands in small rooms live on them. Weeknights are excellent and cheaper. And remember the most Austin rule of all: the band you have never heard of in a small room on a Tuesday is often the best thing you will see.