Greg-

A hearty pre-welcome to the USA.

I live and play in Charlottesville. Cville has a lively music scene, and has had one for over 200 years. Check out the church on the corner of 10th St. and Grady Ave. on a Sunday morning. GREAT gospel.

The thing about Cville that few people appreciate is that Jefferson was the most musically literate member of his generation (http://www.johnhartford.com/fiddle/jefferson.htm), and he and his brother instituted an "underground" current of musical tradition that predates the founding of the Republic. Music is a part of the fabric of everyday life here as in few other places. There aren't a lot of venues, but the ones that exist are of good to excellent quality.

The Prism Coffeehouse (www.theprism.org) has some great players from time to time (Mike Seeger is a regular). A new coffeehouse called "Rapunzel's" just opened in Lovingston, Va. (30 miles south of Cville) and has some of the best local flavor in terms of music.

The clubs in Cville (Starr Hill Music Hall, The Outback) have "big name" and small name acts from all over the country, and some are actually good for all the hype. There are many smaller venues that host jazz, blues, folky and otherwise. A place called Miller's is the local cornerstone.

We play at a place called Escafe (Downtown Cville) on Sunday nights. We're called The Hogwaller Ramblers, and we're currently the oldest continous Cville band. We're a "blendy" band (bluegrass, jazz, classical, rock, blues, whatever...we just like to play American music). Hope to see ya!

That's my Cville/shameless self-plug. Bring your guitar and I'll hook you up with some great players.