You won't have to travel to Los Angeles or Nashville for good tunes; it looks like Dallas might just do the trick for anyone looking for a great music scene.
The travel company Expedia just named Dallas as the best destination for music lovers as part of their list of "hidden gems in America." The list is comprised of cities that travelers don't always think of going to, but should, says an Expedia spokesperson.
"If you're sick of the overly scene-y and over-crowded desert festival, Dallas area music events are the respite you've been waiting for," writes traveler Lily Rogers about the city's music scene.
There's a catch, though: Rogers, one of the Expedia staff writers tasked with finding hidden gem cities, visited Dallas back in 2014. The city has changed a fair amount since then (though, you could argue, it is even better for music fans than it was four years ago), with venues opening, closing and changing names throughout that time.
"We've always been seen as a business destination because of all the corporations that are headquartered here," says Phillip Jones, CEO of VisitDallas, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the city's destinations. "When visitors show up, they're always surprised at what a diverse and exciting destination Dallas is."
Rogers highlighted two D-FW music festivals, HomeGrown and Fortress, as two of the best festivals to look out for -- and we agree. She also pointed to some of the live music venues in Deep Ellum, like the Bomb Factory, as "any music lover's stomping grounds." Good Records, the popular Greenville Avenue record store, also got a shoutout for its music variety.
Dallas is one of two Texas cities on the list, the other being Corpus Christi. Other cities nationwide include Sioux Falls, Madison, Albuquerque and Detroit.
Though Expedia now considers the city to be a "hidden gem" for music, some think that Dallas has been a music hub for a while, especially for live music.
"Dallas is a live music town right now," says Brooke Humphries, who owns several bars that host live music or DJs in Dallas. She just opened Mama Tried Honky Tonk, a Deep Ellum music venue and bar with a country swing.
Humphries, who has worked in the entertainment industry in Dallas for more than two decades, says music lovers don't even seem to be finicky about ticket prices right now. "Live music is working," she says.
