Jon Dolan
View all posts by Jon Dolan July 3, 2026
Illustration by Matthew Cooley Happy birthday, America! To celebrate our nation’s semiquincentennial, the editors of Rolling Stone got together and selected one song for every state. Some of these tunes are by homegrown heroes; other picks are just great songs that mention a state or happen to be set there or that evoke the place in some special way. Our list has rock classics, hip-hop anthems, country gems, and more, and it covers decades of great American music. Think of it as our playlist love letter to the U.S. of A.
Photographs in Illustration:
Rick Diamond/Getty Images; Raymond Boyd/Getty Images, 2; CBS/Getty Images; Blair Caldwell; George Rose/Getty Images; Fotos International/Getty Images; Griffin Lotz
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Alabama: Drive-By Truckers, ‘Let There Be Rock’ (2001)
Image Credit: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images On this three-guitar haymaker of an anthem, Muscle Shoals native Patterson Hood sings about growing up doing “crazy stupid shit” in high school, and seeing just about every big Seventies rock band that comes through the state — except Lynyrd Skynyrd, whose plane goes down right before he gets the chance. It’s the centerpiece of the Truckers’ excellent 2001 album, Southern Rock Opera. If you’ve ever been pulled over in Rogersville, Alabama, with a half ounce of weed and a case of Sterling big mouths, this one’s for you.
Honorable mention: Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Sweet Home Alabama”
