New Opportunities for Bands and Musicians in the Tyler Area

Patriot Commons is near the University of Texas campus, and is currently growing by leaps and bounds. With about 3500 new residents each year, Tyler is a fast growing city, and the opening of Patriot Commons earlier this year is now paying off with new bars and restaurants.

Republic Icehouse is one of the newest additions, and they are currently seeking bands. They also plan on having an Open Mic night.

UC Sports Bar, which also features live music, recently opened at Patriot Commons. Restaurants round out the attractions with a Steak n Shake, Scooter’s Coffee and Yogurt, and Boba-Loompia. Fedex and UPS are also setting up locations here, so with all of this going on, I expect a lot of traffic and firmly believe Patriot Commons will be a huge boon to Tyler, and to Tyler musicians and bands.

Opportunities for East Texas Songwriters

I happened onto an article that mentioned the Nashville Songwriters Association International meeting monthly in Tyler, TX and decided it was time to pull together as much info as I could for songwriters in East Texas.

Depending on where exactly you draw the boundaries, East Texas has about 6 million people. I'm a pro at searching Google, so with this many people and Google at my fingertips, this should be easy, right? Wrong. I'm completely underwhelmed by what I find. How can this be? East Texas has produced a fair share of famous singer-songwriters, so why can't I find more love for songwriters in East Texas?

Ok, I'll quit whining and just share what I did manage to find. If you know of anything, ANYTHING, that needs to be added - songwriters workshops, venues that feature songwriters, anything that other East Texas Songwriters would be interested, please share in the comments.

The Nashville Songwriters Association International meets monthly at Brady's Coffee in Tyler, Texas. The NSAI East Texas Chapter's Facebook page can be found here https://www.facebook.com/pages/NSAI-East-Texas/537942732911704

The American Christian Songwriters Association apparently has a chapter in Longview, but I am unable to find details. From the Associations website http://christiansongwriter.org/chapter-meetings/, I tried the Longview link, but it said "protected content - log in to view". Wow. Really? Not sure how they expect to gain members that way.

The Forge in Ben Wheeler, TX (southeast of Canton) doesn't mention regular meetings or associations, but appears to be very fond of Texas singer/songwriters, so it might be worth checking them out.

The Blue Frog Grill in Marshall, TX, is another venue that appears to be supportive of singer/songwriters but doesn't mention this on their website.