by state or province… name two most definitive musical artists...

I'm from Liverpool, so - as the OP only asked for two - I'll just drop Lennon and McCartney on you.

 

Massachusetts:

Boston
J Geils Band
Aerosmith
Johnny A
James Taylor
Extreme
Godsmack
Juliana Hatfield
Rob Zombie
The Fools
James Montgomery

 

That's because you don't understand the premise.

Getbent isn't asking you to name the most famous artists. He's asking for the artists who best represent or epitomize the music from your region.
U2 is the most famous band to come out of Ireland, but do they truly epitomize Irish music?

Heart is from Seattle, but they are hardly one of the definitive Seattle bands. Those might be Nirvana and Soundgarden. Or perhaps Temple of the Dog.

Some states, though, have a wide range of musical styles, so it would be hard to narrow it down to two artists. Who best epitomizes Texas: ZZ Top, Buddy Holly, Willie Nelson or Ernest Tubbs? Or is it best defined by smaller bands? Los Lonely Boys, Fabulous Thunderbirds?

I think many of the bigger bands stop being representative of a region's music, and grow beyond the region's influence to simply become their own sound. Do The Rolling Stones still sound like a London band, or are they simply The Stones, who happen to be from London? Lennon and McCartney stopped sounding like the rest of the Liverpool music scene when they released Rubber Soul. They were something entirely new.

Being FROM a region doesn't necessarily mean they are definitive of that region. Definitive also means quintessential.

 

Alaska:

Jewel
Portugal The Man

 

There are hundreds of famous musicians from Arizona, but that's not what the OP is asking for. If it's "most definitive" for the state, then I would go with Rex Allen whose moniker for his career was "The Arizona Cowboy", and many of his early songs and movies had "Arizona" in the title. He's not the most famous or most popular musician from the state, but there was no mistaking that he was an "Arizonan".

The second choice is tougher, could almost be a tie between 3 or 4, but I think I'm going with Alice Cooper, as a slight edge over Linda Ronstadt.
Alice went to highschool in Phoenix, and started his band there, became a big star traveled and lived all over, then moved back to Arizona and has become a big part of the state.
Linda Ronstadt is close, but I just always think of her as helping define the Southern California country/folk/rock scene, even though half of the "Stone Poneys" were from Tucson.

 

And that ignores the fact that the Brit scene in the early 60's, musicians were trying to sound like American bands.

A lot of areas, and sadly I'd say where I live is one of them, have no organic music. Lots of talented players and plenty of diversity, but could I point at a single band and say 'that's the Montana Sound?' Hell, no. There is no Montana Sound. I would imagine it's the same in a lot of places.

 

Boots Randolph
Dwight Yokam
Merle Travis
The Everly Brothers
String Bean
Crystal Gayle
The Judds
Patty Loveless
Loretta Lynn
The Osborne Brothers
Ricky Skaggs
Exile
Kentuck Head Hunters
Kentucky Thunder

 

So what TWO would you name as your definitive "Kentucky" sound?

 

I don't believe Kentucky has Two definitive sounds if it did it would have to be good and bad

 

Exactly. Nashville and L.A. are known for their "sound". Many other places just have famous or talented musicians who are from the area. I took the OP's question to mean, what musician/band is most identified with your area. I think most LI'ers would point to Billy Joel in that case, since his early band The Hassles were LI based and Joel has lived on and represented Long Island for most of his life. No doubt he's an Islander through and through. But is it the Long Island "Sound"? Pun intended. I don't think so. "Organic" music from this area would be hard rock/metal, Blue Oyster Cult and Zebra, Satriani, Vai and Petrucci who all heavily influenced each other and the numerous other LI bands in the '80s. And when did three guitarists of that caliber ever come from such a small area? But would those artists be as associated with LI as Billy Joel. Not in my mind.

I think states like Texas and California need to be broken down into cities and areas as well. The Bakersfield sound is a bit different from the Bay Area, no?

 

1. Bluegrass!
2. 'Billy music

 

For me Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, and California would be the hard ones to pick out just two. Then Louisiana, Texas, and CA have regions that are totally different from others, musically speaking.
For New Orleans the two that kind of define it for me would be Professor Longhair and Louis Armstrong. However I could go just as easy with The Meters and Louis Prima.
For the whole state of Louisiana, for my musical taste I would have to go with Jimmy C Newman and BeauSoleil. I can't listen to a single song from those two and not think Louisiana.

 

No, I think I do understand what the premise was supposed to be, then what it would inevitably morph into, but the second snip from you is what says it all.

Louis Armstrong is about New Orleans but he's equally just about America. You can go to festivals, live events here and hear Cajun, Gospel, music derived from Leadbelly, Ragtime, Country, Zydeco, Funk, Dixieland and several other kinds of jazz, Meters type grooves, just about any and everything except barbershop quartet. ALL locally grown. I got one choice left. That's nuts. There are many States of the Union, Provinces in Canada were Dr. John (Mac Rebennack) would be easy #1 if he was from there and here he might be # 20 or #50 or #100. I have personally met more musicians, basically pro class musicians in Louisiana than there are living musicians of any kind in say, North Dakota. So, it doesn't even matter if they're emblematic or popular, influential or just mind blowingly talented, there's no balance here. Its a total wash out.

I mean, they can mechanize the Port; run it on a tiny skeleton staff. Once you do that, then if you subtract food, hospitality and music, and the Saints; and guess what? Nothing remains. That's all we got; we had darned well better be serious about that.

 

I'll play!

I'll take famous baseball players from Long Island for $1000 Alex.

Who are Craig Biggio (from my hometown) and Carl Yastrzemski (my birthday)?

 

Il play too! I'll take famous Hockey players from Quebec. Maurice Richard, Guy Lafleur, and about a 100 more.

 

technically are the Allmans a Georgia act? Werent both brothers from Florida, and I believe that the Allman Brothers band was actually born out of something called "the jacksonville jam"

 

A few selections from the MS Hall of Fame.

Blues
Willie Dixon - Vicksburg, MS
Mississippi John Hurt - Teoc, MS
Robert Johnson - Hazlehurst, MS
Tommy Johnson, Terry, MS
B. B. King - Itta Bena, MS
Charlie Patton - Edwards, MS
Muddy Waters - Rolling Fork, MS
Sonny Boy Williamson II - Glendora, MS
Howlin Wolf - White Station, MS
Pinetop Perkins - Belzoni, MS
Albert King - Indianola


Country
Hank Cochran - Greenville, MS
Charles Feathers - Holly Springs, MS
Faith Hill - Ridgeland, MS
Carl Jackson - Louisville, MS
O. B. McCinton - Senatobia, MS
Elsie McWilliams - Meridian, MS
Ben Peters - Greenville, MS
Charley Pride - Sledge, MS
Jimmie Rodgers - Meridian, MS
Mississippi Sheiks - Bolton, MS
Conway Twitty - Friars Point, MS
Tammy Wynette - Tremont, MS
LeAnn Rimes - Pearl, MS

Gospel/Religious
James Blackwood/The Blackwood Brothers - Ackerman, MS
Blind Boys of Mississippi - Piney Woods School
Canton Spirituals - Canton, MS
C. L. Franklin - Sunflower County, MS
Jackson Southernaires - Jackson, MS
Mississippi Mass Choir/Frank D. Williams - Jackson, MS
Pop Staples/Staples Singers - Winona, MS
Rev. Cleophus Robinson, Canton, MS
Williams Brothers - Smithdale, MS

Jazz
Mose Allison - Tallahatchie County, MS
Teddy Edwards - Jackson, MS
Milt Hinton - Vicksburg, MS
International Sweethearts of Rhythm - Piney Woods School
Hank Jones - Vicksburg, MS
Jimmie Lunceford - Fulton, MS
Freddie Waits - Jackson, MS
Cassandra Wilson - Jackson, MS
Gerald Stanley Wilson - Shelby, MS
Lester Young - Woodville, MS
Ace Cannon - Grenada, MS

Multi-talented
Marty Stuart - Philadelphia, MS

Popular
Lance Bass - Laurel/Clinton, MS
Guy Hovis - Tupelo, MS
Van Dyke Parks - Hattiesburg, MS
Nanette Workman - Jackson, MS
Production/Recording/Promotion[edit]
Blackberry Records - Summit, MS
Delta Records/Jimmie Ammons - Jackson, MS
Marty Gamblin - Philadelphia, MS
Malaco Records - Jackson, MS
Willard and Lillian McMurry - Jackson, MS
Peavey Electronics/Hartley Peavey - Meridian, MS
H. C. Speir - Jackson, MS
Johnny Vincent (John Imbragulio) - Laurel, MS
Chris Ethridge - Meridian, MS
Rhythm and Blues[edit]
Prentiss Barnes - Maglolia, MS
Jerry Butler - Sunflower County
Little Milton Campbell - Inverness, MS
Sam Cooke - Clarksdale, MS
Bo Diddley - McComb, MS
John Lee Hooker - Clarksdale, MS
Dorothy Moore - Jackson, MS
Junior Parker - Clarksdale, MS
Jimmy Reed - Dunleith, MS
David Ruffin - Meridian, MS
Rogers Stevens - West Point, MS
Blind Roosevelt Graves and the Mississippi Jook Band, Hattiesburg, MS
Jackie Brenston - Clarksdale, MS
Jimmy Buffett - Pascagoula, MS
Rick's Continentals Band - Meridian, MS
Paul Davis - Meridian, MS
Steve Forbert - Meridian, MS
Jerry Lee Lewis - Nesbit, MS
Elvis Presley - Tupelo, MS
Warren Smith - Louise, MS
Ike Turner - Clarksdale, MS
Mary Wilson - Greenville, MS
David and the Giants - Laurel, MS

 

No contest. You win. I don't think our European brothers could even contend with that. Is there one region in Russia or elsewhere that has spawned as many greats as Quebec? I don't know.

But we are mighty proud of our hometown born and bred Chris Higgins and neighboring Mike Komisarek.

 

TLDNR version:

Willie Dixon
Mississippi John Hurt
Robert Johnson
B. B. King
Charlie Patton
Muddy Waters
Sonny Boy Williamson II
Howlin Wolf
Albert King
Charley Pride
Jimmie Rodgers
Conway Twitty
Tammy Wynette
Mose Allison
Marty Stuart
Sam Cooke
Bo Diddley
John Lee Hooker
Jimmy Reed
Jimmy Buffett
Jerry Lee Lewis
Elvis Presley
Ike Turner

Plus several other guys like Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside, the North Mississippi All-Stars - list goes on and one. Music is one of the things we do right.