Kentucky, officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Kentucky borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the northeast, Virginia to the east, Tennessee to the south, and Missouri to the west. Its northern border is defined by the Ohio River. Its capital is Frankfort and its largest city is Louisville. As of 2020, the population was approximately 4.5 million.
William Smith Monroe was an American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter, and created the bluegrass music genre. Because of this, he is often called the "Father of Bluegrass".
Illinois, including Chicago has a wide musical heritage. Chicago is most famously associated with the development of electric blues music. Chicago was also a center of development for early jazz and later for house music, and includes a vibrant hip hop scene and R&B. Chicago also has a thriving rock scene that spans the breadth of the rock genre, from huge stadium-filling arena-rock bands to small local indie bands. Chicago has had a significant historical impact on the development of many rock subgenres including power pop, punk rock, indie rock, emo rock, pop punk, and alternative rock.
The U.S. state of New Jersey is located in the Northeastern United States and is part of the Mid-Atlantic region.
Virginia's musical contribution to American culture has been diverse, and includes Piedmont blues, jazz, folk, brass, hip-hop, and rock and roll bands, as well as the founding origins of country music in the Bristol sessions by Appalachian Virginians.
The story of Tennessee's contribution to American music is essentially the story of three cities: Nashville, Memphis, and Bristol. While Nashville is most famous for its status as the long-time capital of country music, Bristol is recognized as the "Birthplace of Country Music". Memphis musicians have had an enormous influence on blues, early rock and roll, R&B, and soul music, as well as an increasing presence in rap.
Alabama has played a central role in the development of both blues and country music. Appalachian folk music, fiddle music, gospel, spirituals, and polka have had local scenes in parts of Alabama. The Tuskegee Institute's School of Music, especially the Tuskegee Choir, is an internationally renowned institution. There are three major modern orchestras, the Mobile Symphony, the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra; the last is the oldest continuously operating professional orchestra in the state, giving its first performance in 1955.
Jackie Keith Whitley was an American country music singer and songwriter. During his career, he released only two albums but charted 12 singles on the Billboard country charts, and 7 more after his death.
Georgia's musical history is diverse and substantial; the state's musicians include Southern rap groups such as Outkast and Goodie Mob, as well as a wide variety of rock, pop, blues, and country artists such as the late Ray Charles, Otis Redding, James Brown, and The Allman Brothers Band. The music of Athens, Georgia is especially well known for a kind of quirky college rock that has included such well-known bands as R.E.M., The B-52's, and Pylon.
Bruce Randall Hornsby is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. His music draws from folk rock, jazz, bluegrass, folk, Southern rock, country rock, jam band, rock, heartland rock, and blues rock musical traditions.
South Carolina is one of the Southern United States and has produced a number of renowned performers of jazz, rock, blues, R&B, country, bluegrass and other popular styles.
The state of Maine is located in the New England region of the northeastern United States. Its musical traditions extend back thousands of years to the music of the first peoples of Maine, the Penobscot Passamaquoddy, Wabanaki and other related Indigenous cultures.
Charles Samuel Bush is an American mandolinist who is considered an originator of progressive bluegrass music. In 2020, he was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame as a member of New Grass Revival. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame a second time in 2023 as a solo artist.
The Ichthus Festival is a Christian music festival in Wilmore, Kentucky. Held 44 times from 1970 to 2015, the event was originally a Christian-music answer to Woodstock but developed into both the longest-running Christian music festival and a Christian ministry serving tens of thousands of attendees annually. With financial difficulties in the 2010s, the festival left Wilmore after 2012 and put on one last event in 2015 at the Kentucky Horse Park in nearby Lexington, Kentucky. In 2021, the festival was revived in Wilmore.
U.S. Route 60 (US 60) is a major U.S. Highway in the American state of Kentucky. In the early days of the U.S. Highway System, US 60 was originally to be numbered as US 62. Following extensive lobbying and complaints filed by Kentucky governor William J. Fields to the American Association of State Highway Officials, the route was re-designated as US 60 before the system was finalized. In Kentucky, US 60 parallels the Ohio River. US 60 enters Kentucky from Cairo, Illinois, traveling northeast to Louisville, then takes a direct eastward route to rejoin the Ohio River in downtown Ashland, Kentucky. Both US 60 and US 23 run concurrently from Ashland to Catlettsburg where US 60 turns east and enters Kenova, West Virginia. US 60 is the longest route in Kentucky, running 495 miles (797 km) across the width of the state, passing through 22 of Kentucky's counties and through the cities of Paducah, Henderson, Owensboro, Louisville, the state capital of Frankfort, and Lexington.
Although the culture of Kentucky is considered to be firmly Southern, it is also influenced by Southern Appalachia, blending with the native upper Southern culture in certain areas of the state. The state is known for bourbon and whiskey distilling, tobacco, horse racing, and college basketball.
Christopher Alvin Stapleton is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and the husband of Morgane Stapleton. He was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and grew up in Staffordsville, Kentucky. In 2001, Stapleton moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to get an engineering degree from Vanderbilt University but dropped out to pursue his career in music. Subsequently, Stapleton signed a contract with Sea Gayle Music to write and publish his music.
John Sturgill Simpson is an American country music singer-songwriter and actor. As of February 2022, he has released seven albums as a solo artist. Simpson's style has been met with critical favor and frequent comparisons to outlaw country.
Timothy Tyler Childers is an American singer and songwriter. His music is a mix of neotraditional country, bluegrass, and folk. He released his breakout studio album Purgatory in August 2017. Childers has released six studio albums as well as many EPs and singles.
