The lyrics to John Denver's 'Take Me Home, Country Roads' reference landmarks that are mostly in western Virginia rather than West Virginia.

Watch Bruce Springsteen's 1985 performance of Woody Guthrie's 'This Land Is Your Land,' which he calls 'the greatest song ever written about America.'

According to its creators, Virginia's famous tourism slogan, 'Virginia Is for Lovers,' contains no salacious or subtle messages.

Explore a map of songs about places, including 'China Grove,' 'I Left My Heart in San Francisco,' and 'Stranger in Moscow.'

'Take Me Out to the Ballgame,' the song that's now a 7th inning tradition at every MLB game, was inspired by a billboard advertisement.

The music theory behind a lonesome country classic

Townes Van Zandt's "I'll Be Here in the Morning" might read like a clever inversion of a standard country music trope. But Cush, a musician in his own right, walks through the song's structure to show how its story is far more complicated than its lyrics suggest.

The US national anthem borrows its melody from 'The Anacreon Song,' a bawdy British tavern song that was popular in the 19th century.

'Blowin' in the Wind' became a rallying cry for the Civil Rights Movement

The song is based on a spiritual titled "Many Thousand Gone," whose melody Dylan reworked. The result was popularized by the folk trio Peter, Paul, and Mary and from there became an anthem for the growing Civil Rights Movement, culminating in Dylan's appearance at the March on Washington.

Woody Guthrie wrote 'This Land Is Your Land' as a sarcastic response to 'God Bless America.'

‘Hang On Sloopy,’ Ohio’s unofficial anthem

The McCoys' 1965 single "Hang On Sloopy" isn't technically about the Buckeye State, but it became a fan favorite after appearing in the Ohio State Marching Band repertoire.

Every city has a song: Music writers identify one tune that represents their hometown, from Chicago to Buenos Aires

Staffers from SPIN magazine wade into the contentious waters of official anthems, making the case for their chosen track, from Chicago's "Tonight, Tonight" by the Smashing Pumpkins to the Bobby Bare rendition of "The Streets of Baltimore."

Bob Dylan wrote and recorded songs that later became hits when they were covered by artists like Jimi Hendrix, Adele, and Guns N' Roses.

The Civil War turned the Continental Divide into an American symbol of identity

Historians argue that the boundary only became a celebrated American symbol in the 1860s, when Civil War-era leaders promoted a west-east geographic divide to replace the devastating north-south political divide, and that the term's use spiked after the transcontinental railroad crossed it in 1868.

Bob Dylan considered Woody Guthrie a foundational influence, a sentiment he immortalized in his 1962 recording 'Song to Woody.'

In the 1920s, country was often called 'hillbilly music'

The term was meant to describe the rural people who typically performed the Appalachian folk music. Though Black people were also making country music at the time, their records were categorized as “race music.”

Listen to Woody Guthrie's 'Columbia River Songs,' the government-commissioned album about Washington state's Columbia River.

Country music can be traced back to Colonial America

The genre begins with the folk music of the Colonial settlers, blending the area’s regional sounds, including gospel, African spirituals, and Anglo-Saxon, Scottish, and Celtic ballads.

Bluegrass, a subgenre of country music, allows every participant to take a solo

The music grew popular after World War II and, like country, was based on a combination of blues, spirituals and Celtic folk songs. Bluegrass has a "high, lonesome sound," as pioneered by Bill Monroe, and features breaks for every melody instrumentalist to take a solo.

The enduring relevance of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’

Some critics have argued that Key’s past as a slaveholder and his lyrics demeaning slaves mean the country should select a new national anthem. Mark Clague, a professor of musicology, understands that perspective, but suggests Key’s song, despite its warts, is still a fitting anthem.

The time Bob Dylan was accused of plagiarizing ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’

“Blowin’ in the Wind” is a defining song of the Civil Rights Movement, one that Dylan openly acknowledged was based on a traditional African spiritual. But when Newsweek accused Dylan of stealing the song in 1963, they weren’t talking about influence. They suggested he’d jacked the tune from a helpless high school student. This article breaks down the falsehood and why it was given so much attention while Dylan was becoming a household name.

Bob Dylan deeply admires Willie Nelson

The Nobel Prize-winning songwriter is a big fan of the country troubadour. When Dylan was asked for his thoughts on Nelson for a New Yorker profile, he offered a poetic monologue not unlike his lyrics, including a comparison to "the invisible air."

The 'Star-Spangled Banner' is based on a poem written by Francis Scott Key in 1814, while witnessing a battle during the War of 1812.

'The Star-Spangled Banner' became associated with sports at the 1918 World Series thanks to an impromptu rendition during the 7th inning stretch.

Daniel Johnston's home recordings have inspired countless rock legends

The singer-songwriter self-released cassettes in the early '80s that were not fit for the radio—their sound quality was poor, and the songs were often little more than an organ and Johnston's high-pitched voice, singing about things like Casper the Friendly Ghost. The tapes eventually found their way to alternative tastemakers, who lauded the songs' brilliance and inspired a cult following that has admired Johnston's music for decades.

Read an early piece of journalism on country music

This 1904 Harper’s Weekly article from Emma Bell Miles offers an early example of country music criticism. Miles traces the music’s roots to the mountaineers who pioneered it. It’s a famous piece for music writers: Miles saw a phenomenon building in the hills long before any major record label.

Springsteen says 'Born in the USA' is his 'most misunderstood' song

In 1984, Ronald Reagan was running for reelection and referenced Springsteen at a New Jersey event, saying, "America's future rests in the message of hope in the songs of a man so many young Americans admire — New Jersey's own, Bruce Springsteen." Days later, Springsteen would make his opposition to Reagan clear at a Pittsburgh show. Years later, he'd call the song "one of my greatest and most misunderstood pieces of music."

Dolly Parton's 'I Will Always Love You' was written as a goodbye for her musical collaborator, Porter Wagoner.

Three rock stars who made great country music

Steven Tyler, Tina Turner, and Darius Rucker all crossed into country. The author claims the trio shared a common trait: they weren't chasing a new audience. Instead, they were delving deeper into a sound already present in their work.

Poet Oliver Wendell wrote an unofficial fifth verse for the anthem

Francis Scott Key’s version features four verses, though only one is usually performed. American poet Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote an additional fifth verse during the Civil War, lamenting the country’s internal division.

Wales has had a massive influence on fantasy music, movies and books

Many of "The Lord of the Rings" settings and languages are rooted in the country's landscape and dialect. Studio Ghibli icon Hayao Miyazaki was inspired by Wales' countryside. Rock band Fleetwood Mac used Welsh myths as a basis for songs.

Dylan's raucous 1976 tour was one piece of an ongoing reinvention

In the mid-70s, Dylan assembled a ragtag group of musicians and poets—including Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, and Allen Ginsberg—he called the Rolling Thunder Revue. Rather than playing stadiums in major markets, they played smaller venues in smaller cities for a more intimate experience. The tour yielded some of the most exuberant versions of Dylan songs, captured in this 1976 performance in Fort Collins, which originally aired on NBC as “Hard Rain.”

Marvin Gaye's soulful take on 'The Star-Spangled Banner' at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game turned the national anthem into a slow jam.

King sets many of his stories in Maine

In the process, he has created a few fictional towns. This extensive travelogue by a superfan explores the writer's favorite haunts, pinpointing specific details from and inspirations for King's fiction. Helpfully, it also provides plenty of photos, allowing you to venture through King's haunted version of the state without ever leaving the comfort of your home.

North Carolina adopted 'First in Flight' license plates in 1982—to snarky reviews

Many locals surfaced the irony of enshrining the accomplishments of two men from Ohio on the license plates of North Carolinans. Nonetheless, the style endures to this day, alongside Ohio’s “Birthplace of Aviation.”

The first known mention of the term 'country' to describe music was in 1736

The November 26, 1736 issue of the Virginia Gazette described a fiddling contest for "country" musicians. While the musical style would go by many names over the next two centuries, "country" was the one that eventually stuck.

Yodeling wasn't intended to be music

Alpine herders originally used the technique to call cattle. When it made its way to the US, in the South and Appalachia, yodeling was a popular singing style in "hillbilly music," which eventually evolved into country.

Woody Guthrie emblazoned 'This machine kills fascists' on his guitar, a phrase he borrowed from war machinery.

Printers changed the national anthem's name from 'Defence of Fort M'Henry' to 'The Star-Spangled Banner.'

1982's ‘Nebraska’ was recorded alone at home, a rarity at the time for a major artist

“Born to Run” became a hit in part due to its massive sound, something that was only possible thanks to the magic of the studio. That continued with 1980’s “The River,” which gave Springsteen his first top 10 single. With “Nebraska,” though, Springsteen abandoned the studio, opting to release the spare recordings he made at home, by himself. At the time, such a decision was a rarity for a platinum artist.

Honky-tonk features a rollicking stomp

Widely considered the first honky-tonk song, Ernest Tubb’s "Walking the Floor Over You" is a perfect example of the subgenre's upbeat percussion, barroom piano, and chippy lyricism. The song is a country music classic, being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and preserved in the Library of Congress.

John Marshall invested in western land speculation

Like many Virginia elites of his era, Marshall invested in large tracts of western land, including holdings in Kentucky and the Ohio valley. His financial interests mirrored the broader post-Revolutionary pattern of land speculation among political leaders.

The song 'Hungry Heart' was written for punk icons the Ramones, but Bruce Springsteen's manager convinced the singer to record it himself.

A research study found that Springsteen's popularity is due to his lyrics' authenticity

The Penn State study compiled lyrics from 18 albums and analyzed the words that "convey genuineness and honesty" and those that suggest cognitive activity. They found that Springsteen's songs are often focused on the present and "tend to express positive emotion," which they believe might explain why his fans are so devoted.

The Dylan/Whitman connection

Even before his 2016 Nobel Prize, critics often wrote about Bob Dylan with a seriousness typically reserved for literary figures. In this critical analysis, Jones Hogsed continues the tradition, analyzing Dylan's vision of America alongside Walt Whitman's.

Dylan's political songs were often abstract

Dylan's protest songs weren't always explicit; sometimes, his dense lyrics only suggested political themes. "Hard Rain," for example, features Biblical allusions, charged images, and what would become generational axioms. It's a perfect encapsulation of what his early records could offer and a thrilling preview for what would come later.

Duke Ellington's 'Harlem' takes listeners on a stroll through the neighborhood

"Sir Duke" was one of the Harlem Renaissance's major musicians, recording several songs that would become jazz standards. 1950's "Harlem" is an ode to the neighborhood, alternating styles (including a Latin groove and a New Orleans funeral dirge) to pay homage to the diverse cultures that populate it.

'A Boy Named Sue,' made famous by Johnny Cash, was written by Shel Silverstein, a writer best known for his children's poetry.

Revisiting the milieu of the Greenwich Village music scene

Few neighborhoods of the world stand out as more productive of a robust music scene than New York City's Greenwich Village, the bohemian launchpad of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and other folk artists of the 1960s and '70s. Expert David Browne discusses why it became so significant in this episode of "Sound Opinions."

Listen to Woody Guthrie's 1940 concept album about agricultural and economic destruction, 'Dust Bowl Ballads.'

'Lift Every Voice and Sing' was written to celebrate Abraham Lincoln's birthday, but would go on to become the 'Black national anthem' and a Juneteenth tradition.

Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers' 'Islands in the Stream' was written by the Bee Gees.