Two blocks east of 6th Street's tourist bars, you enter a corridor built on rougher, more independent sounds. While 6th Street developed around country, blues, and tourist-friendly rock, Red River cultivated something rougher and more independent. Stubb's Amphitheater — named for C.B. 'Stubb' Stubblefield, a legendary Lubbock barbecue pitmaster who moved to Austin and became a beloved host of informal music gatherings — became one of the city's most iconic outdoor stages, hosting acts from Willie Nelson to Radiohead against the backdrop of a 2,000-year-old creek.
Emo's and Mohawk brought punk, hardcore, and indie rock to audiences who didn't want tourist-bar atmosphere. When South by Southwest expanded from its original conference-and-showcase format into a global cultural event, Red River became its unofficial headquarters. Austin City Limits Music Festival uses the corridor too.
The neighborhood has gentrified since its gritty 1990s peak — the scrappy venues now compete with luxury apartment buildings — but Red River remains the place Austin's musicians go when they want to play for other musicians. It is the city's creative id, equal parts ambition and noise.