I agree 100%! One of the reasons I moved to Athens was I wanted to live in a creative community in a part of the country I had never lived before. Now that I'm a parent I can't until we can travel again so my 4yo can experience some other cultures, here and abroad. There's too much tribalism, and when it comes down to it most of us want the same things[1]
What's funny is when we moved, we actually considered Asheville, too, but decided to go a little bigger. When we lived in Athens it was rare we'd visit Asheville and not run in to someone we knew, or saw that a friend's band from Athens was playing. There is (or was, at least) a lot of reciprocity between the two music scenes.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX5MHNvjw7o#t=6m36s