Pardon the geographical pun, but besides Texas, our neighbor to the east may be the most musical state in these United States. And in terms of per capita, Louisiana, which ranks 25th in population to Texas' second, is probably second to none.

Outside Nashville's Grand Ole Opry, the program most responsible for spreading country music throughout the South in the mid-20th century was the Shreveport-based Louisiana Hayride. Everyone pretty much agrees that jazz was invented in New Orleans, of course, but that city also has as good a pedigree as the birthplace of rock and roll as its neighbor up Highway 61, Memphis, and has been bouncing back and forth with Houston and Atlanta as the capital of Southern rap for a solid decade now.

To wit: Louis Armstrong, Fats Domino, Professor Longhair, Allen Toussaint, Faron Young, Jerry Lee Lewis, Slim Harpo, Dr. John, Wynton Marsalis, Terence Blanchard, Lucinda Williams, Sonny Landreth, Juvenile, Lil Wayne... get the picture? Curiously enough, though - and also like Texas - Louisiana seems to specialize in solo artists; Pelican State groups that have had a similar amount of impact as the aforementioned performers are relatively few and far between.