Headin' down south? (leaving the bubble)

Hey so I'm kicking the idea around about moving down south for a while, but I am wanting some alternative thoughts and ideas regarding personal experiences down there.

I'm basically looking at moving to Louisville, Nashville, New Orleans or Chattanooga. At least these are my preliminary ideas. I understand New Orleans is probably the furthest from any sort of decent climbing, but the allure to nearly all of these places is also a thriving music scene. Now I'm not trying to go make it as a big time musician, I just want to see A LOT of freaking music!

So any thoughts from the southern folks about suggestions or places to avoid? Approximate drive times to crags, even neighborhoods to look in?

Thanks in advance!!

Athens, GA. Good music, food and beer. Close (2-4 hours) to pretty much everything notable in the Southeast for your weekends. The local climbing gym is good, and there are a few cragging/bouldering options within 30 minutes to an hour drive for your after work/school fix. And like any small college town in the south, you can rent a palace for peanuts.

I lived in New Orleans for 40+ yrs. The music scene is quite awesome and so is the food, however no rock for at least a 7 hr drive. You can find local live music 7 days a week. I also played professionally for about 3 yrs. The culture there is very thick and hippie friendly in the French Quarter if that's what you're into. There's alot of hunting and fishing and water sports. There is also a decent climbing gym in Slidell which is just north of the city. If you are young, I say go for it. It will definitely be an experience for you.
whereyat.com
offbeat.com/

I'd say Nashville is the place you're looking for since it's the Hollywood of country music and 1-3 hrs from places like Obed and Chattanooga. It must be fairly close to the red as well.

I live in Atlanta and make the drive (2 hrs to Chatt plus 10 minutes for Sunset or 20 minutes for Foster falls/T Wall, Etc.) to crags outside Chattanooga 1-2 times a month. We also have a fantastic indoor gym in-town and several places in Metro Atlanta that offer great bouldering. The music scene is excellent here as well. We get all the big names, plus have hole in the wall venues that bring in the talent yet to be discovered. I remember 4-5 years ago going to see a local band, The Selmanaires, play at The Earl in East Atlanta Village. A little know band at the time was opening for them...it was Deer Hunter. The Selmanaires have disbanded while the front man for deer hunter has gone on to indy rock/hipster fame.

Going to see Rodrigo y Gabriela in Downtown ATL at the Tabernacle this sat and head up to Chattanooga on Sunday. Life is good right now.

Athens has great music too and a good bouldering field close by. It's also not far from places in North Ga, Tn, and NC.

Research Asheville, NC too.

If you want closer access to the Red and Obed goto Nashville. The music scene won't disappoint there either.

If you want more access to bouldering, various sport climbing and the best trad in the south Chattanooga is your best bet.

There is relatively low priced housing in Red Bank which is 5 minutes from downtown Chatt. From there you are 20 minutes from Stone Fort (LRC, Triple Crown Series) bouldering, Tennessee Wall (trad), Leda (roadside sport/trad), Sunset (trad), atleast 5 more bouldering spots. Within an hour you can be at Foster Falls (sport), Rocktown (SICK bouldering), Obed.

North Carolina is only a few hours away. Also, the Red and New are all within half day driving distance.

In addition to climbing, there is great mountain biking, hiking, kayaking, and pretty much every other outdoor activity in and around Chatt. The city is large enough to have all of your amenities, the surrounding suburban areas have multiple malls, and there are a couple gyms. The one thing we lack is a variety in gear shop but Rock/Creek is a local business with 3 outlets around town.

The music scene is picking up... in the summer there are plenty of small 'festivals' and on every friday about 2 blocks of downtown is closed for 'Night Fall' which is a motorcycle gathering with free entertainment, don't think that it is catered stictly to the bikers everyone goes and checks out this. Riverbend is couple week long music festival on the river front that has been severely over crowded the past 4 years but has some large attractions come through along with plenty of smaller bands... I think there are about 8 stages that have music playing simultaneously.

With all that said, Don't come to Chattanooga ;) The climbing scene has EXPLODED the past year and there are tons of people who are psyched! The aura around this place is definitely outdoor oriented.

If you have any questions about Chatt I can try to answer em!
Holla holla

you should check out Fayetteville, Arkansas. great climbing about 1-2 hours away. great rock and it seems not many people trad climb so any route is usually open. climbing/bolting along the Buffalo National river is now allowed. just be prepared for miserable summers if you move anywhere in the south.

I live in Nashville and it's a fantastic place for music. There are shows everywhere every night for every genre.
It's also a bomber location for climbing. It's 2 hours from Chattanooga, So. Ill and Rocktown, 3 from the Obed, HP40, Sandrock, and 4 from the Red River Gorge. There's also T- Wall near Chattanooga and for a quick day trip, King's Bluff in Clarksville is about 45 minutes away.

Yea, you don't want to move to Chatt. It's all chossy here. ;) Honestly, Chattanooga is amazing but the night life might leave something to be desired.