Music of Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia's musical history is diverse and substantial; the state's musicians include Southern rap groups such as Outkast and Goodie Mob, as well as a wide variety of rock, pop, blues, and country artists such as Ray Charles, Otis Redding, James Brown, The Allman Brothers Band, Ray Stevens, Bill Anderson, Thomas Rhett, Jason Aldean, Wet Willie, Chuck Leavell, Cole Swindell, Little Richard, Charles Kelley & Dave Haywood (Lady A) & Buddy Greene, Alan Jackson, Jennifer Nettles & Kristian Bush (Sugarland) & many others.

The music of Athens, Georgia is especially well known for a kind of quirky college rock that has included such well-known bands as R.E.M., The B-52's, and Pylon.

The ring shout tradition is rare in the modern Southern United States, but it still found in McIntosh County, Georgia, where black communities have kept the style alive.

The Freedom Singers are a group that formed in 1962 in Albany to educate communities about issues related to the Civil Rights Movement through song.

Multi-instrumentalist Abner Jay, born in Fitzgerald, performed eccentric blues-infused folk music as a one-man band.

The Sacred Harp system uses notes represented by different shapes according to scale degree, intended to make it easy for people to learn to sight-read music and perform complex pieces without a lot of training.

[6] Hugh McGraw of Bremen, Georgia, served as the company's executive secretary from 1958 to 2002 and helped encourage Sacred Harp's recent resurgence in popularity.

[8] Folksinger/songwriter Hedy West, active in the American folk music revival and famous for her song "500 Miles", was born in Cartersville.

Country music superstars Alan Jackson, Trisha Yearwood, and Travis Tritt are natives of Georgia.

Other successful country music acts from Georgia include Norman Blake, Jerry Reed, Brenda Lee (who had two #1 Hot 100 hits with "I'm Sorry" in 1960 and "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree"), Billy Currington, Cyndi Thomson, Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland, Daryle Singletary, Doug Stone, John Berry, Rhett Akins, Mark Wills, the Zac Brown Band, and Lady Antebellum, as well as up and coming stars Jason Aldean, Daniel Antopolsky, Brantley Gilbert, Luke Bryan, Thomas Rhett, Cole Swindell (attended Georgia Southern University), Kip Moore, Lauren Alaina, and Jessie James.

Stride pianist and composer Mary Lou Williams, avant-garde jazz alto saxophonist Marion Brown, and singer Jean Carne were born in Atlanta.

The jazz fusion group Aquarium Rescue Unit founded by Bruce Hampton was started in Atlanta.

Augusta native James Brown (d.2006) and Macon native Little Richard (d.2020) "The Architect of Rock and Roll" started performing in Georgia clubs on the Chitlin' Circuit, fused gospel with blues and boogie-woogie to lay the foundations for rock & roll and soul music, and rank among the most iconic musicians of the 20th century.

In the 1960s, Atlanta native Gladys Knight proved one of the most popular Motown recording artists, while Otis Redding, born in the small town of Dawson but raised in Macon, defined the grittier Southern soul sound of Memphis-based Stax Records.

Lowery would later work with the likes of Billy Joe Royal, Mac Davis, Dennis Yost & The Classics IV, and The Atlanta Rhythm Section, giving Atlanta national relevance with his Lowery Music group of publishing companies, one of the world's biggest music publishers.

Noted session and touring drummer, Michael Huey, started his career at Bill Lowery studios.

Walden's Macon-based Capricorn Records, spearheaded the rise of Southern rock, and the success of the Allman Brothers paved the way for other Southern rock bands, including Atlanta Rhythm Section, South Carolina-based Marshall Tucker Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd, also founded in Jacksonville.

Notable bands from Athens include R.E.M., The B-52's, Widespread Panic, Drive-By Truckers, Cartel, Of Montreal, and Dead Confederate.

Athens is also home to the Elephant 6 Recording Company, an indie collective whose members include The Apples in Stereo and Neutral Milk Hotel.

Along with Louisiana and the rest of the Southern area, there is a strong heavy metal music scene in Georgia, with bands such as Mastodon (had a #6 album on the Billboard 200 in 2014), Baroness, Collective Soul, Royal Thunder, Black Tusk, Kylesa, Withered, Sevendust, ISSUES, Norma Jean, and Attila.

The city also hosts the EDM Imagine Festival at Atlanta Speedway, as well as the SweetWater 420 Fest in Centennial Olympic Park.

Atlanta-based OutKast proved one of the first commercially successful hip hop groups from outside of New York or Los Angeles.

Artists like Lloyd (had a #2 album on Billboard 200 in 2007), T.I., TLC, Monica, Usher, 112, Ludacris, YoungBloodZ, OutKast, Goodie Mob (Gnarls Barkley with CeeLo Green had a #4 album on Billboard 200 in 2006), and producers such as Organized Noize, L.A. Reid, and Jermaine Dupri, the last of whom founded the successful record labels LaFace and So So Def, have blurred musical boundaries by blending R&B singing with hip hop production.

There have been several Billboard Hot 100 #1 singles in the genre: Kris Kross ("Jump" in 1992), TLC (4 #1s on the Billboard Hot 100, such as "Waterfalls" in 1995), Silk ("Freak Me"), Monica (3 #1s, such as "Angel of Mine" in 1999), Usher (9 #1s), Outkast (3 #1s), Ludacris (5 #1s, including "Stand Up" in 2003), Ciara ("Goodies" in 2004), D4L ("Laffy Taffy" in 2005), Soulja Boy ("Crank That (Soulja Boy)" in 2007), T.I.

("Nothin' on You" in 2009), Migos ("Bad and Boujee" in 2016), Childish Gambino ("This Is America" in 2018), and Lil Nas X (3 #1s like "Old Town Road" in 2019, the longest running #1 song of all time).

(There It Is)" '93 by hip hop and Miami bass duo Tag Team, "My Boo" '96 by R&B and Miami bass group Ghost Town DJs, "Da' Dip" '97 by hip hop and Miami bass rapper Freak Nasty, "Bring It All to Me" '99 by R&B girl group Blaque, "Don't Think I'm Not" '00 by r&b singer Kandi (who was in Xscape), "Where the Party At" '01 by hip hop soul group Jagged Edge, "Don't Mess with My Man" '02 by R&B singer Nivea from Savannah, "Georgia" '05 by Southern hip hop group Field Mob, "Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)" by Silento in 2015, "Crush" '98 by pop singer Jennifer Paige, "Lullaby" '98 by pop rock singer Shawn Mullins, "Crazy for This Girl" 2000 by pop rock twin brothers Evan and Jaron, "People Are Crazy" '09 by country singer Billy Currington from Savannah, Hey!

Lyricist Johnny Mercer, whose works include the Academy Award-winning song "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" and other entries in the Great American Songbook of pop music (like "Moon River") standards, is a native of Savannah and buried there.