Hank Williams – "Move It On Over" (1947)

She’s changed the lock on our front door

My door key don’t fit no more

The previous 2 or 3 lines listed the 20 states that the Musicoholics website ranked as having the least impact on American popular music.

#21

Today, we’re going to discuss the states that Musicoholics ranked #21 through #30 for their relative impact on pop music – in other words, the middle quintile of states.

Without further ado:

30.  Wisconsin

29.  Rhode Island

28.  Arizona

27.  Oregon

26.  Maryland

25.  South Carolina

24.  Kentucky

23.  Oklahoma

22.  North Carolina

21.  Alabama

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Arizona is the notable underachiever of these ten states – it’s 28th on the Musicoholics list, but ranks 14th in population.  As Musicoholics notes, Linda Ronstadt and the Meat Puppets hail from Arizona.  But it’s the Tubes – who Musicoholics failed to mention – that keeps Arizona from being ranked even lower.

The greatest overachiever on the list appears to be Rhode Island, which is only 44th among the states in population.  Its Musicoholics ranking rests largely on the shoulders of the Talking Heads – band members David Byrne, Chris Frantz, and Tina Weymouth met while they were student at the Rhode Island School of Design.  

But Musicoholics slept on the Cowsills, who were living in Newport, Rhode Island, when brothers Bill, Bob, and Barry formed the band.  They were joined later by their three younger siblings (John, Paul, and Susan), and their mother Barbara.  

The Cowsills

For some reason, Bob’s twin brother Richard was not a member of the band.  I wonder why not?

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If you ask me, Musicoholics gives way too much weight to where a musician is born – regardless of how long he or she lived there.

For example, South Carolina gets credit for James Brown.  But the “Godfather of Soul” moved to Georgia when he was a preschooler, and then on to New York.  

The most successful pop music group that was formed in South Carolina was Hootie & the Blowfish.  (Yecch.)

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South Carolina doesn’t compare to the states ranked just ahead of it when it comes to producing great musicians.  

For example, Kentucky produced bluegrass legend Bill Monroe and a number of country-western greats – including Loretta Lynn.

Oklahoma was home to Woody Guthrie, Wanda Jackson, the Flaming Lips, and especially Leon Russell – the most prominent member of the “Tulsa sound” group of musicians.  (I would rank Oklahoma higher solely because Leon Russell was from there.)

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If Hank Williams had been the only Alabaman to ever make a record, that state would deserve its relatively high Musicoholics ranking.  Williams was a giant (despite the fact that he died before he turned 30).

“Move It On Over,” which is my favorite Hank Williams record, was his first big hit.

Hank Williams

Bill Haley’s 1954 single, “Rock Around the Clock,” is considered by many to be the first true rock and roll record.  It sounds suspiciously similar to “Move It On Over,” which was released seven years earlier.

If it was possible for me to sing in a completely natural and unaffected fashion – forgetting everything I’ve been taught, and simply letting every ounce of my inner redneckness come out – I would sound exactly like Hank Williams singing “Move It On Over.”

Click here to listen to “Move It On Over.”

Click on the link below to buy the song from Amazon: