What would you include in The Rough Guide to the Music of the U.S.A.

hill sisters - happy birthday

Something by the Carter Family

and "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (S&G, naturally)

Oh, and don't forget Hawaiian music (but please avoid "Tiny Bubbles")

Not what you’re asking for, and apologies. But here’s one way of trying it:

1. Drive-By Truckers, “The Three Great Alabama Icons” (6:51) [Alabama]
2. U.S.E., “Emerald City” (4:05) [Washington]
3. The Meters, “Look-Ka Py Py” (3:20) [Louisiana]
4. Oh-OK, “Brother” (1:28) [Georgia]
5. Lifter Puller, “Plymouth Rock” (:49) [Minnesota]
6. The Thermals, “Keep Time” (2:45) [Oregon]
7. The Embarrassment, “(I’m a) Don Juan” (2:08) [Kansas]
8. Ramones, “Judy Is a Punk” (1:32) [New York]
9. Pere Ubu, “Non-Alignment Pact” (3:18) [Ohio]
10. Pixies, “Allison” (1:17) [Massachusetts]
11. The Beach Boys, “Fun, Fun, Fun” (2:07) [California]
12. Buddy Holly, “Midnight Shift” (2:13) [Texas]
13. Built to Spill, “Center of the Universe” (2:43) [Idaho]
14. Daryl Hall/John Oates, “Las Vegas Turnaround” (2:59) [Pennsylvania]
15. Petey Pablo, “Raise Up” (4:46) [North Carolina]
16. Nelly, “E.I.” (4:45) [Missouri]
17. Clipse, “Virginia” (3:57) [Virginia]
18. Dolly Parton, “Jolene” (2:42) [Tennessee]
19. George McCrae, “Rock Your Baby” (3:20) [Florida]
20. Bruce Springsteen, “I’m on Fire” (2:36) [New Jersey]
21. Rhythim Is Rhythim, “Strings of Life” (6:05) [Michigan]
22. John Lee Hooker, “Boogie Chillen” (3:10) [Mississippi]
23. Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys, “Blue Moon of Kentucky” (2:06) [Kentucky]
24. Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five, “I’m Not Rough” (3:00) [Illinois]

total time: 74:02

(throw a Lightning Bolt [Rhode Island] track in there if you want)

matos, there are more than 24 (or 25) states.

omg thanks!

Well, it might not be what I was looking for, but I'd much rather listen to it than what I was actually looking for.

That mix looks pretty good, but it also just looks like a bunch of songs Matos likes -- U.S.E., Lifter Puller, and McCrae gives it away.

oh darn, I knew I was doing something wrong by including a bunch of songs I like. wtf?

read the thread title again: there's a "you" in it.

I mean, aren't you fully expecting those of us who like doing this sort of thing to hew to every stereotype imaginable? I thought that was the joy of ILX!

Sorry! I knew that would be misinterpreted. Hmmm, I just mean I don't see how the songs/bands you've chosen are particularly representative of those states -- it struck me that all you did was make a mix of American artists you like that just happened to include no two bands from the same place. Which is a perfectly fine thing to do, and I'm sure the mix itself rules, but yeah.

Also, of course that's the joy of ILX -- this is why I have a spreadsheet. ;-)

haha I wasn't mad! just curious--come on, it's me, of course I'm going to do that, just like [pick your ILXor] is going to [pick your ILXor habit]. though I was actually trying to find representative songs/artists, or at least in a number of cases artists whose subject matter tended to be close to that of their home states/cities (thus U.S.E.'s ode to Seattle, f'rinstance). also it was done very quickly.

w/Kansas City AND St. Louis in the same state, or San Francisco AND Los Angeles AND San Diego, I narrowed down to "what's interesting that I can think of right off the top?" and "what would I have room for?" I also wanted to skew it recent, since a lot of Rough Guide comps do that.

You shoulda chose Gary Puckett and the Union Gap.

"Sufjan Stevens: "The Complete USA Recordings" - 3 CD Boxed Set"

(featuring "Michigan," "Illinoise," and a special bonus disc of outtakes from "Michigan")

-- chuck berry playing the declaration of independence
-- jimi hendrix playing chuck berry
-- bessie smith
-- banjos
-- dolly parton
-- captain beefheart playing scott joplin
-- scott joplin playing "carry on my wayward son"
-- aretha franklin dancing to tito puente
-- miles davis conspicuously ignoring courtney love
-- courtney love

needs more jazz but i'm not well versed in it ('cept for some of the more 'free' stuff), but here are some ideas:

crossroad blues - robert johnson
jail-house blues - bessie smith
sophisticated lady - duke ellington
in the pines - ledbelly
jail house rock - elvis presley
Midnight hour - wilson pickett
hard rain's gonna fall - bob dylan
let's live for today - the grass roots
heroin - velvet underground
8 miles high - the byrds
the star spangled banner - hendrix
let the sunshine in - woodstock audience recording
Pursuance - john coltrane
sloop john b - beach boys
go your own way - fleetwood mac
sonic reducer - the dead boys
chinese radiation - pere ubu
Forget - mission of burma
Aneurysm - nirvana
i like f---ing - bikini kill
911 is a joke - public enemy
F--- Tha Police - NWA
Toxic - Britney Spears
list of demands - saul williams

Generally pretty good but

sonic reducer - the dead boys
chinese radiation - pere ubu
Forget - mission of burma
Aneurysm - nirvana
i like f---ing - bikini kill

IMO too much punk, at least in the context of that list. I'd include

baby love - supremes
good times - chic
something from p-funk, and
losing my religion - r.e.m.

Gershwin to thread. So, "Summertime", I s'pose. You could go with Miles's version (or anything off of his Porgy and Bess) and kill two birds.

Stevie Wonder, "Livin' for the City"
Albert Ayler, "Ghosts"
Superchunk, "Slack Motherfucker"
The Dixie Cups, "Iko Iko"
Patsy Cline, "Crazy"
Prince, "1999"
Blind Willie johnson, "Dark Was the Night..."

van halen
dimebag and pantera
ozzy
g n r
greateful dead
tupac
phish
beasties
beetles
dave mathews

My turn:

Jimmie Rodgers, "When the Cactus is in Bloom"
Blind Lemon Jefferson, "Broke and Hungry"
Duke Ellington, Sophisticated Lady"
Charlie Parker, "Billie's Bounce"
Ray Charles, "I Got a Woman"
John Coltrane, "Locomotion"
The Beach Boys, "We'll Run Away"
Merle Haggard, "Tulare Dust"
The Stooges, "Penetration"
Alice Coltrane, "Blue Nile"
The Jackson Five, "I Want You Back"
Donna Summer, "I Need Love"
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, "The Message"
Deee-Lite, "Groove is in the Heart"
Crazy Frog, "Axel F"

Oh-OK is enough to enough to make one wish they were deaf. I'm sure Georgia is proud to be represented by them.