In a recent article published by Austin’s Daily Digital Magazine, CultureMap, Asheville ranks as one of the cities considered to be the “next Austin.” Here’s what they had to say:

Like Austin, Asheville is a live music Mecca featuring troves of young white men dressing like their grandfathers. But instead of finding collections of synths and Moogs strewn across the land, Asheville musicians find themselves drowning in a sea of mandolins and banjos. One can often hear hipsters comparing who has the largest upright bass in coffee shops. There is always Nashville, New Orleans or Austin, but the inexpensive bluegrass capital of the world has slowly been earning it’s place as the Southeast’s hipster hangout.

This town of only 82,000 has been a popular go-to place for performers such as Cat Power, M. Ward, The Mountain Goats, Broken Social Scene, The Avett Brothers and Band of Horses, with the latter two having recorded albums here. And if Asheville doesn’t do the trick, you can always make the 5 hour+ drive down to Wilmington to search for an ear in a field and reenact your very own Blue Velvet.