Guy Lombardo and Freeport, Long Island.
Imo the artist has to be big for the pairing to be strong. So:
Björk & Iceland
Beach Boys & California
The Velvet Underground & New York
Nirvana & Seattle
Elvis & Memphis
The Clash & London
When I lived in Colorado in the 1970s people there did associate John Denver with the state.
Nobody’s mentioned ABBA & Sweden? You cannot be more associated with a place then they were.
And Andrew Lloyd Webber IS London’s West End.
For rock bands, I first think of the MC5 (=Motor City 5). And of Motown, which of course is a whole label, and then of Aretha Franklin (who of course was not on Motown and is also associated with Memphis). Oh, and Mitch Ryder (and the Detroit Wheels).
ETA: also often associated with Detroit, but rooted in Ann Arbor: Iggy and the Stooges.
Some more from Britain:
Joe Cocker: Sheffield (he had an album called Sheffield Steel)
Black Sabbath: Birmingham
Van Morrison: Belfast (one of his nick names is “Belfast Cowboy”)
More than the Beatles and Liverpool or Bruce and New Jersey?
Likewise I think KISS has a special connection to Detroit as well, despite none of them being from there.
And I also think of Suzi Quatro, although she made her career in Europe produced in England. I think the thread so far shows that Detroit is music city #1 :).
ETA: (sorry Memphis, New Orleans, Nashville, …)
Also Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah, the ones who sang about the pretty blue lights along Lake Shore Drive.
Clash: Notting Hill
Pistols: Kings Road
Bowie: Brixton / Beckenham
Queen: Ken High St
Squeeze: Deptford
The Damned: Croydon
Adelle: Tottenham / BRIT school
Amy: Camden / BRIT school
Who: Shepherds Bush
R. Stones: Twickenham/Richmond
etc
The OP didn’t mention that as a qualification, just whether the artist/band and the place are “closely tied together.”
Regardless of where they’re actually from, I’m sure the place most people would associate with Skynyrd is (Sweet Home) Alabama.
The flip side of this is that a lot of pairings have been mentioned in this thread where I’m going, “I had no idea where this artist/band was from, so either I’m odd man out here, or the band and the place aren’t particularly closely tied together.”
First thing that popped into my head:
so I watched the sun come rising from that little Minnesota town, from that little Minnesota town. - “Went To See the Gypsy”
“Girl from the North Country,” of course. And several other Dylan songs reference Minnesota or particular places there, e.g. Duluth in “Something There Is About You” from Planet Waves.
Missed the edit window, but wanted to add that the Dylan/NYC link is mostly about his rise to folkie fame in the early 1960s. But after that, not so much. It’s hard to think of a Dylan song after that period that’s set in NYC. (Oddly enough, I can think of two set in NJ: “Hurricane” and “Tweeter and the Monkeyman.”)
plus The Smiths, Oasis, and Joy Division/New Order.
Another vote for Dropkick Murphys. And I’ll submit Good Charlotte and Maryland for this thread in general.
Bringing the thread full circle: “Tweeter and the Monkeyman” (a Traveling Wilburys song) is pretty clearly a Springsteen tribute, as the lyrics contain numerous references to Springsteen’s songs (as well as the New Jersey setting).
Same. Most of the artists mentioned, I recognize but wouldn’t think “Ah yes, the music of [Place]” or that they’re defining.