Have you ever heard live music in a Taco Bell?

I’m not talking about that one guy in the corner at 2 a.m. In the corner booth, slurring the words to “Friends in Low Places” while he picks pieces of cheese off his shirt and eats them. I mean an actual musician, on a stage with a guitar, a voice, and a tip bucket.

I have, and it was in a place that shook my worldview of live music to the core – Nashville.

Previously in this blog I’ve rambled on about the music scene in Austin and its magical live music reputation. I love it. The city’s stages are full of texceptional musicians from legendary touring headliners to the hardworking regional artists that fill more than a dozen historic clubs and bars across the city most nights.

Austin has Austin City Limits, The ACL Festival, SXSW, and historic venues like Antone’s, Broken Spoke, theCarousel Lounge, and The Continental Club.

With that in mind, what I’m about to say is going to ruffle some local feathers, but those who unequivocally crown Austin as the Live Music Capital of the World haven’t been drenched in the sights and sounds of Nashville. 

This is not about taking a shot at Austin, it is merely recognizing that the competition is stiff and maybe Austin needs to up its game a bit if it’s uncomfortable with the debate about the crown.

“But Mike, Nashville is already nicknamed Music City.”

Indeed it is, which makes perfect sense, until you visit and witness its live music scene. 

“Mike, Nashville is just about country music. It’s not even the same.”

Austin’s live music roots are in country music, the best country music even, but let’s not pretend that Central Texas doesn’t have a pedigree of its own that can be traced to the country music family tree. 

The argument doesn’t hold water anyway, because during my brief stay in Nashville, I heard some outstanding jazz, a few varieties of rock and roll, and yes, some of the best Outlaw Country and bluegrass that made my soul happy. Hell, we spent two hours in the rooftop bar of Blake Shelton’s Ole Red listening to a handful of old school hip hop DJs competing for some love. 

The truth is, Nashville has more live music going every single day than I thought one city could put on a stage. Every bar and restaurant on Broadway had multiple floors, with a different band on every floor.

With more than 20 bars and honky-tonks on Broadway – from the historic Robert’s Western World and Acme Feed & Seed, to Jelly Roll’s Goodnight Nashville – there could be as many as 40 bands at a time on stage from noon until closing every day. And these are entertaining, engaging bands we could have listened to for hours.

Then consider the complementary music history in Nashville, from the Grand Ole Opry and Country Music Hall of Fame, to the Johnny Cash Museum and the National Museum of African American Music, and you’ve added a layer that Austin is sorely missing. Music City? Absolutely. The Live Music Capital? Could be.

Austin is a very special place for live music, but as I sat in Taco Bell listening to some classic country over a crunchy taco, I couldn’t help but wonder if Nashville couldn’t leave some Texas “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” with its own claim to the title.