Those hometown artists that stayed hometown, maybe because they never got the break, maybe because the world just isn’t ready for them, or whatever. Who have you got?
Prediction: you’ll get a lot of answers along the lines of “me,” or “my friend,” or “this person I know.”
(I have what I think are strong answers in two of those three categories, but I feel like sharing them is a waste of time. Sorry if this is a threadshit.)
There is this guy in Portland who calls himself “Pontifex vonHummer”. He looks like this and sounds like this.
Like the notes say, he sounds like a cross between Cat Stevens and Jethro Tull. All of his music is original. I especially like his Christmas album, “Open Fire On A Roasting Chestnut”.
Here are a few that come to mind from my Midwestern vantage point:
Hawks (blues)
The Blue Band (blues - originals and covers)
The Hollowmen/Voodoo Gearshift (Overlap WRT band members) - alternative
The Sundogs (reggae)
Drasbury (alternative)
Devastation Wagon (see footnote)
Frixis (hard rock)
I’m sure I can mine my memory for a few dozen others. None of the above were really Top 40 material, but they had some good songs played by talented musicians.
Footnote: My sister dated one of the guys in Devastation Wagon a couple years after R.E.M. scouted them, ca. 1990, as an opening act on their next tour, which turned out not to happen until several years later, by which time DW had long since broken up. The band flew them to Athens first-class and put them up in a 5-star hotel, and kept them fed and “watered” 
while they were there. He said they were all very nice people, and all of them highly intelligent. That’s about all I remember right now.
There’s a local magazine that puts on an award show for local Sacramento area musicians, the “Sammies”. This reminded me of how they had to make a rule that the awards had to go to someone who hasn’t already won previously. Before that, Cake, the one Sacramento band that did make it big, just kept winning in their category every year.
But to answer your actual question: Technically Tom Rigney is a San Francisco musician, but he performs at lots of Sacramento music festivals where he enjoys a lot of popularity so I’m going to count him. I mean Cajun fiddle music isn’t really what most people want to listen to so of course he’s never going to be as popular as the top pop stars. Of course this begs the question, what counts as “making it big”? He’s not a household name, but he has released albums, regularly performs at small venues, does local music festivals, and seems to be at least making a living playing music.
There was another band called Odlid! (the exclamation point was part of the band’s name) that was big enough to get their CDs into Walmart stores, at the same time that some of them were refusing to stock a Goo Goo Dolls CD because someone thought the blackberry jelly on the baby’s face was dried blood.
If you don’t “get” why this might have been an issue, spell the band’s name backwards.
Some of this opinion turns on the definition of ‘local’ and ‘make it big’, but for Atlanta bands I vote for The Producers and Mother’s Finest. MF may be a little too close to “made it big” but I think they should have been bigger.
The McKrells/Keven McKrill. Celtic rock/folk group. Great music. Their "All of the Hard Days Are Gone" was recorded by the Kingston Trio a few years ago, but they never got a recording contract.
Hair of the Dog was similar in style. Their version of “Whiskey in a Jar” was included on a fundraising album featuring U2.
San Francisco Bay area and Santa Cruz in the 80s: Eddie and the Tide. My GF at the time and I saw them a few times. They were good but never made it big. Surprisingly, there are some vids of them on YouTube. I think Eddie Rice is still in the music business in Nashville.
Back in the late 60s/early 70s there was a local rock band called the Legends. They were good. Real good. Wrote their own music. Opened for all the big acts that came to play the local arenas. But while the Legends never made it big, one member of the band did: Dan Hartman. He became lead guitarist for the Edgar Winter group, and wrote their hit single “Free Ride.” He later became a solo artist (big hit: “I Can Dream About You”) and a producer (among his many creations: “Living in America” by James Brown.) He died at a relatively young age (AIDS-related supposedly). Don’t know what the rest of the Legends are doing nowadays except for one guy who was a friend of mine, who still plays drums professionally and is a record producer.
Another Celtic rock group was local (NYC) heroes Black 47. They’re now officially retired, but they had a long run.
And maybe Newfoundland’s Great Big Sea, while we’re on the subject of Celtic rockers? For a band from Newfoundland, they did pretty well, but I’m not sure they could be said to have “made it big.”
The closest to your definition I can think of is the Michael Stanley Band. They were very popular regionally, but never quite made it onto the national stage.
Alex Bevan is another one.
There’s also the Easy Street Band, which disbanded for a long while, but has recently come back together to do some gigs in the area. My high school boyfriend’s brother was/is in this band (he became an x-ray technician to pay the bills when it became clear they were never going to hit it big), and I remember seeing them play New Year’s Eve at the Agora around 1981 or so. They also did the college circuit and they came to our campus in that same time period.
San Francisco Bay Area: I became a fan of a prog band called Enchant after seeing them a couple of times as an opening act. I bought their debut album directly from the guitarist the second time I saw them. Been a fan ever since.
Their singer also now sings for Spock’s Beard, who is quite a bit more well known… though I’ll wager most of you probably haven’t heard of them, either. 
There was a band in West Texas in the 1980s called Eddie Beethoven and the Sons of Fun. They were pretty good rock 'n rollers. Always felt they should have made it to the big time.
I have a cassette from some local performer who I think played all his instruments and recorded his own stuff. I really like it. Trouble is, the name on the cassette was unreadable. So I have no idea if he ever made it big.
The last couple of times we’ve been to the PNW, we’ve managed to catch the Dusty 45s. Americana/rockabilly with a lead singer who clearly worships at the altar of Buddy Holly, and who likes to end a show by standing on the upright bass and setting the bell of his trumpet on fire. Don’t know if they ever had a shot at “making it,” but they seem to work steady in the Seattle area, and they are a hell of a lot of fun.
I’ve thought about starting a thread like this before, because yeah, I can go on all night about it.
(Warning: Contains Country-Rock)
Yeah, it does depend on what your definition of “making it big” is. I have a friend from college that I was in a band with for a minute or two. He actually worked pretty hard, and I do hear him on the radio sometimes. He’s big enough to have his own Wiki page, so maybe I’ve underestimated how big he made it.
Either way, everything he puts out is quality stuff. My favorite is still Centro-matic. Blisters May Come is a pretty good example of them doing a rocker.
Another set of guys that I knew that were awesome but never got huge (but huge enough to have a Wiki page, too), is Slobberbone. Lazy Guy is one of my favorites, and Pinball Song is the most beautiful song about fucking up a friendship, ever. I Can Tell Your Love Is Waning is easily in my top three country murder ballads, if not #1.* Brent Best writes great songs, hands down.
Fuck it, I won’t damn it with faint praise. It’s THE BEST COUNTRY MURDER BALLAD, EVER! I still tear up when listening to the last regretful line. Seven minutes of beauty.
So, maybe those guys “made it”, but I would debate it. There were certainly a few day jobs worked while those records were being released. There’s nothing wrong with that, it keeps you honest and makes you able to decide whether you want to take a particular deal. Nobody got rich, but they kept body and soul together and made great music.
(only minimal Country-Rock after this point)
(Warning: Contains Art-Rock Explosion, and the links will auto play the rest of the CD)
Now, John Freeman was the singer of one of the first bands I was in. I saw him performing this amazing, eccentric one-man show, and I approached him afterward to say “Hey, if you ever want a band, I know plenty of folks, we’ll get one together. You’re fucking amazing!” He didn’t contact me, but he contacted my friend, who’d made the same offer but was obviously more convincing, who quickly recruited me since I had things like guitars and equipment and had already worked with him in bands that pretty much went nowhere. John was a bit of a musical savant at the time. If you threw an instrument at him, he could make entertaining music with it shortly. When I met him, he couldn’t tune a guitar, but if you tuned it to a chord for him, he was kind of an astounding guitarist. When he figured out how to tune it to a chord himself, he took off. He had an amazing voice, his lyrics were gorgeous and transgressive as the day is long, and he was a born front man. You’ve never heard such between song patter or seen rock antics like this. I think I’ve told the heckler story on here before, and I’m pretty sure that was a spur of the moment thing.
He wrote “Chewbacca, you’re my lover” a beautiful song that I can still recite from heart. My wife and I spontaneously sang it in honor of Peter Mayhew’s death - it was required. I can’t even remember where that one was immortalized, John put out a LOT of cassettes. He came over to my apartment one afternoon with Cooze: A Rock Opera Loosely Based on the Life of Ernst Borgnine. He had apparently written it, recorded it, and created the cover art overnight. It was amazing. It actually did have some content about Ernst Borgnine, but the best songs weren’t directly about him at all. That kind of seemed to be the point. All the copies of that tape I know of are long gone, eaten by mine and other’s tape decks. If I could find any copy of it, I would pay to just listen to it again once. I’d pay handsomely to own a copy again.
Long story made nowhere short enough: that band went on for a bit, and he attracted much better musicians (UNT in Denton has a very good music school). He was in about 5 bands by the time he figured out that any of the groups he had accumulated could perform the material he was sending our way, so we were the weakest link. He rightfully lost interest in us, and we fizzled out. Of his very many projects, my favorite was a contemporary of ours - The Dooms UK! (yes, they were from Denton, TX. Why do you ask?). I can’t find their first record on Youtube, so I should probably just upload it, I have a copy. From their second record, I give you: The Abominable Dr. Phibes (ice rink horror rock), Karate 2000 (faux Prince obsessed with violence and performing METAL (dayum, had to listen to that one twice, then several more times)).
Seriously, those lyrics are gorgeous. It’s technically a copyright violation, but mods, I swear that I know the guy, they aren’t printed elsewhere, and no one is going to come after you for me copying them in full here. I don’t believe there is money to be had in it. I apologize in advance if you are required by duty to edit this post.
Karate 2000
Performed by Dooms UK!
Lyrics by John T Freeman.
All mistakes by scabicker, the transcriber.
- Hey I know karate
I’m gonna try some out on you
When you touch me motherfucker,
Last thing you’ll ever do!
You’re gonna feel my iron fist
If you ever get me pissed
I’m gonna knock out all your teeth
Have a hard time when you eat!
If you get in my way,
I’m gonna be your funeral day!
Hey what’s your sign?
I’m GEMINI!
Yeah, yeah, yeah!
Hey I know karate,
might even know kung-fu!
When you try to steal my dance step,
I’m gonna step all over you.
I’ve got long and silky hair,
bikini underwear!
You look at my girlfriend,
you gonna meet your bloody end.
MY HOROSCOPE SAID YES!
I’M GONNA KICK YOUR FUCKIN’ ASS.
Hey what’s your sign?
I’m GEMINI!
*
Yeah, it’s a joke song. I firmly believe that John had the ability to turn the joke song into fine art. That was what attracted me to his music in the first place.
And then there was the song that when they were opening on a tour for Tripping Daisy, they were asked to stop playing it. Golden Shower. It wasn’t totally obvious what this nice mellow, slow song was about for most of it, but when John would shriek “WE’RE GONNA BATHE IN PISS”, it was like Hendrix before the Monkees, and folks would leave the show.
Either way, probably less than 1/10th of John’s musical legacy is out there on the internet. He’s still what I aspire to when I write a song. I try to make it half as exciting as one of his songs. It doesn’t matter if his brand of exciting isn’t radio friendly. I loves it.
And yeah, I really can go on like this all night. I’ve seen a lot of great bands that performed only once, and dozens more that never really “made it”. This only scratches the surface of the people I’ve actually known.
*This is my favorite mix of the song. Yeah, I’m on that compilation. I like me, I’m local. Yep, still a musician. But still got a day job, and I’m not even in the top 100 of my favorite local musicians who never made it. Go have some fun and watch a band perform some originals you’ve never heard before this weekend. If your metro area has 200K folks, I’m sure there’s some of that going on. One of them’s probably better than anyone I’ve ever seen. You might get lucky and see them.
I’m a big fan! Lead guy Billy Joel Huels and guitarist Jerry Battista are top-notch and tons of fun.
I’ve actually heard of Black 47 (and heard more than a little of their music), though I attribute a good part of that to the fact that their singer, Larry Kirwin, has hosted a Celtic music show (Celtic Crush) on SiriusXM for many years.
Long ago while listening to the local college radio station I heard a cover of the Pogues’ song Haunted by “local group Amanda Jones”. It was lovely.
Searched high and low for a tape/CD/whatever. No luck. Eventually they had a web page with some other songs (but not Haunted) on it. Downloaded those. Very nice.
Finally, in recent years, I found the song on YouTube.
BTW: Haunted is my favorite song, period.
They won a Jenny Jones Show battle of the (ahem) girl bands. But that was it as far as national fame goes.
Given all the bands from around here that were played on college radio and made it big, this one stands out as disappointing.
Another group that unfortunately fizzled was Drag the River w/Michelle Malone. They just did a reunion thing.
One odd thing: for both groups there were other, unrelated, bands with the same name.