Tennessee's most famous contribution to American culture is surely the status of Nashville as the long-time capital of country music. By the 1950s, the city's record labels dominated the genre with slick pop-country (Nashville sound). Performers reacting against the Nashville sound formed their own scenes in Lubbock, Texas and Bakersfield, California, the latter of which (Bakersfield sound) became the most popular type of country by the late 1960s, led by Merle Haggard. Nashville's predominance in county music was regained by the early 1980s, when Dwight Yoakam and other neo-traditionalists entered the charts.
Punk rock
Punk rock was never strongly embraced in Tennessee, a highly conservative state. A few hardcore punk bands gained a following, including Committee for Public Safety (Nashville) and STD (Knoxville).
References
Blush, Steven. American Hardcore: A Tribal History. Feral House. 2001. ISBN 0-922915-717-7
