Houston Declared Cultural Capital of South

[groovamos]

Originally Posted by Snapper_head

Nashville bills itself as the country music capital.

False. Anyone really think they do that?

Originally Posted by Snapper_head

I’ve heard all the hype.

Kinda like contributor believes the hype put forth - by the media that is. Because it sure doesnt' come from the economic developenment community up in Tennessee or Nashville. Teh residents up there are sick of the hype coming out of the national media.

[3shipguy]

How can Houston be the cultural capitol of the South when it isn’t even unanimously considered part of the South?

[DavePa]

Originally Posted by Snapper_head

. Nashville bills itself as the country music capital.

Originally Posted by groovamos

False. Anyone really think they do that?

You're wrong to deny the above. Though Nashville uses "Music City USA". Over just Country. All should know the "Grand Ole Opry" is the Country music Cathedral.

Nashville is seen as the Country Music Capital.
- Its Hall of Fame,
- the Grand Ole Opry,
- Music Row and all the honky tonk bars on Lower Broadway.
- when the TV show “Nashville” premiered; it was a show about the country capital of the world.

Smack in the middle of downtown Nashville, you can find rows and rows of these honky tonks, which is why it’s commonly referred to as the Honky Tonk Highway. Most of these establishments on Lower Broadway are pumping live country music from as early as 10am to as early as 3am. Sleep is overrated on the Honky Tonk Highway.

USA Country and Western Music

From link:
- Today, nearly every major international recording company has a Nashville studio.
- That's why they call it "The Country Music Capitol of the World" and "Music City".

* Why Is Nashville Called Music City?

https://theculturetrip.com/north-ame...ed-music-city/

From link:
- while Nashville might be most known for country music—its Ryman Auditorium is known as the Mother Church of country music,
- today, it is a hub for a wide range of musical genres. Nashville is home to roughly 200 recording studios, including RCA Studio B—which has recorded songs by Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson, and Dolly Parton.
- Ocean Way, a Los Angeles and Nashville-based label whose Nashville location has recorded an eclectic mix of artists including Beyonce, No Doubt, and Yo-Yo Ma.
- Numerous independent record labels also operate out of Music City, including Third Man Records, founded by Jack White in 2001 (the label made history in July 2016 by playing a record in space).

Another link ........

https://www.nashvillescene.com/arts-...led-music-city

From link:
- WSM-AM announcer David Cobb christened Nashville “Music City U.S.A.” on the air in 1950.
- The moniker eventually became Nashville’s de facto trade name, but back when Cobb first coined the term, the city was hardly the exclusive haven of hillbilly singers many historians make it out to be. Just the opposite, Nashville was home to jumping blues, R&B, gospel and pop scenes as well.
- Over the years everyone from Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan to Yo La Tengo and India.Arie has recorded here.

[snackdog]

Austin is the Live Music Capitol.

[979Texan]

Originally Posted by snackdog

Austin is the Live Music Capitol.

And anyone who believes that is a moron. Nashville laughs at Austin’s music scene.

[Snapper_head]

Originally Posted by groovamos

False. Anyone really think they do that? Kinda like contributor believes the hype put forth - by the media that is. Because it sure doesnt' come from the economic developenment community up in Tennessee or Nashville. Teh residents up there are sick of the hype coming out of the national media.

I just went to the official Nashville Convention & Visitor’s website. “Welcome to Music City”. “Music is the Universal Language”. I see the word “music” or “Opryland” or a picture of musicians on every corner of the homepage.

[Snapper_head]

Originally Posted by 3shipguy

How can Houston be the cultural capitol of the South when it isn’t even unanimously considered part of the South?

For purposes of puff piece articles like that one, the South is anything vaguely on the southern half of the map of the continental U.S.

In terms of the spirit of “The South”, we could define it as anywhere the summer heat exceeds the winter cold in terms of length and oppressiveness. In other words, a place where people have to focus more on the summer heat than the winter cold.

And for places that have an almost perfect balance between the two, like places in Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Kansas, we can just omit those. (In the Civil War, they were mostly neutral.)

As for the West and far Southwest, it gets more complicated because the mountains and the ocean affect climate. So places like Flagstaff and Santa Fe may be at a relatively southern latitude, but their elevation means a cool climate and a harsh winter. California gets even more complicated because its coast has mild temperatures year-round because of the ocean. So many parts of Los Angeles never get the heat and humidity of places like New Orleans.

So that gets us to Houston. Yes, Texas was part of the Confederacy. Yes, many East Texans owned slaves. Yes, cotton was a notable crop in East Texas. Yes, Houston has traditionally shared many of the cultural aspects of the American South, from music to accent to dialect to religion to politics and on and on.

So while we could quibble over whether, say, Abilene or El Paso belonged in the “South” versus the “West” or “Southwest”, it’s hard to do that with Houston. By most any account, Houston is part of the “South”.

P.S. When we look at ecological zones, the Houston area is just at the very edge of the deciduous forest biome that stretches from East Texas to Florida to Maine to Illinois. Any naturalist or gardener could identify many of Houston’s native flora and fauna throughout this region. (The same can’t be said as one moves south and west of Houston, where the climate becomes much more arid.)

[kwr]

Originally Posted by Zoo2000

Miami is so unique--it's hard to compare with any other US city. Charlotte and Tampa are regional players. So between Houston, DFW, and Atlanta, I'd say it's a coin-toss. I'm from Houston, so I saw Houston. Objectively, I think Atlanta's prettier and older and big enough and has enough 'culture' to still take the distinction (by a hair) over Houston and DFW.

I am huge fan of Atlanta as a former resident. I once called Miami and DFW home as well. There is much more than a coin toss between Atlanta, Houston and DFW when it comes to culture. Atlanta (and Miami) simply can not match the diversity of Houston, let alone DFW. Diversity is a huge driver of culture. The fine arts (museums and theatres) scene in Houston is top three in the US. The food scene in Houston is better too and not surprising diversity is the driving factor.

[groovamos]

Originally Posted by Snapper_head

I just went to the official Nashville Convention & Visitor’s website. “Welcome to Music City”. “Music is the Universal Language”. I see the word “music” or “Opryland” or a picture of musicians on every corner of the homepage.

Oh OK I thought that I used the term "country music" in my comment.