Who is on your state's Mt. Rushmore of musicians?

Cafe Society
#1

Ground rules:

  1. Your selection must be an individual, not a group.

  2. We can be fairly flexible about which state may claim a musician. S/he may be born in Tupelo but raised in Memphis; I’d be OK with both Mississippi and Tennessee claiming him/her. (someone who moved to Hollywood as an adult, however, may not claim Californ-i-ay as their homeland).

  3. If you are not from the U.S., you may claim your entire country as an entry. Exception: If you are from Liverpool you must use only your town. I’m confident you can come up with four suitable Liverpudlians).

  4. Have fun, and hey…HEY!!!..Let’s be careful out there!
    mmm

#2

I’ll start us out.

Michigan

Stevie Wonder (born in Saginaw)
Eminem (raised in Warren)
Bob Seger (born in Dearborn)
Jack White (born in Detroit)

Damn solid group, no?
mmm

#3

Wisconsin would have Les Paul for sure

Liberace?

Brian

#4

Blind Lemon Jefferson, T-Bone Walker, Charlie Christian, Freddy King

#5

Indiana:

Michael Jackson
John Mellencamp
Axl Rose (despite the way he’s fallen off the sane side of the radar recently, the impact he and Guns N Roses had on hard rock/heavy metal cannot be denied)
Cole Porter

Honorable mentions to Shannon Hoon, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, John Hiatt, Henry Lee Summer, Crystal Gayle, David Lee Roth, and Hoagy Carmichael.

#6

Too many from California, but my personal four would be:

Mike Watt
Sly Stone
Brian Wilson
Beck

#7

Arizona.

Linda Ronstadt
Alice Cooper
Stevie Nicks
Rex Allen

#8

My California foursome:

Jerry Garcia
Brian Wilson
Eddie Van Halen
Harry Nilsson

#9

I’m not from Liverpool, but I’ll take a stab at it.

Billy J. Kramer
Aynsley Dunbar
Tony Sheridan
Cilia Black

How’d I do? :smiley:

#10

Alabama:
W.C. Handy
Hank Williams
Sun Ra
Wilson Pickett

#11

My state is thin in the ground for good musicians, but I would have to pick

Ann Wilson
Layne Staley
Chris Cornell
Kurt Cobain

#12

After careful consideration, I’ve decided I need a few extra heads on my California Rushmore. Either that, or maybe a secondary,alternate location like Crazy Horse in the Black Hills with a gigantic likeness of Country Dick Montana.

#13

Eddie Vedder
Muddy Waters (or Buddy Guy)
Kanye West
Billy Corgan

Certainly quibbling room.

#14

For Texas…

Bob Wills
Van Cliburn
Willie Nelson
Buddy Holly

#15

New York
Leonard Bernstein
Georges Gershwin
Billy Joel
Paul Simon

#16

It’s hard to choose in Tennessee, but here goes:

Elvis (also from the all around list)
Dolly Parton (again from the general list)
W.C. Handy
Mother Maybelle Carter (yes, I know, originally from Virginia, but she made her name in Tennessee)

If we wanted to do all of the Tennessee Smokies, we could add a whole bunch more.

#17

I’m not that up on musicians from my adopted state of Maryland, but here goes:

Frank Zappa
David Byrne
Root Boy Slim
Eubie Blake

From my birth state, Tennessee:

The King
Steve Cropper
Brownie McGhee
Memphis Minnie

#18

That’s pretty damn good.

#19

Yeah, we’re gonna need a bigger mountain in Texas. I can’t imagine leaving off Stevie Ray Vaughan. You could make a case for Waylon Jennings, Jerry Jeff Walker, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Lyle Lovett, Robert Earl Keen, George Strait, Johnny Copeland, Freddie King, Albert Collins, T-Bone Walker, Big Mama Thornton, Blind Lemon Jefferson, etc. And while she’s not thought of as a “Texas” musician, Janis Joplin was born in Port Arthur.

If I had to limit it to four:

SRV
Willie Nelson
Townes Van Zandt
T-Bone Walker

#20

It could be better. Any of these three: Madonna, Aretha Franklin, or Dianna Ross belong on the list.

My list:

Stevie Wonder
Eminem
Madonna
Dianna Ross