Discovering Hidden Gems

Travel Vlogger Highlights Off-the-Beaten-Path Destinations

Story by Katie Teems Norris

Gems exist in small towns all around you, but you might not know it. Take some time to explore interesting locales within a short drive or take a longer trip to make memories. YouTubers are traversing the country and taking audiences along for the ride—join them in uncovering the magic in places others may overlook.

Have Guitar, Will Travel

For over 3 years, country singer-songwriter David Bridwell was a self-described digital nomad—a remote worker with the flexibility to live anywhere. “I wanted to build up a community all across Texas,” he says. So, David got a vocal coach in Houston, a producer in Dallas, and a guitar teacher in Austin. Now he plays towns across Texas and chronicles his travels in his vlog, or video blog, on YouTube.

“The idea of really showing people what’s going on and highlighting and bringing to the surface what the music scene and culture is, I thought, is really interesting and something that musicians can uniquely do,” David says.

Real estate agents use YouTube to showcase their local areas, but David says, “They don’t talk so much about here’s the culture, here’s where the live music is, here’s where the fun things are happening.”

1 town with a strong and unique personality is New Braunfels, home of the Redbird Listening Room. “The whole place fills up with people who know each other, and they all support that culture, and they all support each other,” David says.

With a background in neuroscience and psychology, David notices how memories blur when people do the same things day after day, but unique experiences make distinct memories. “Going out there and experiencing different things is just going to give you more richness of memory,” he says.

Follow @DavidBridwellMusic on YouTube, and visit his website, davidbridwell.com, to see where he’s playing next.