Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Music
Florida's musical heritage is as rich and satisfyingly diverse as its cuisine. Folk and blues
are deep-running currents in Florida music, and pioneers Ray Charles and Cannonball Ad-
derley both hailed from the state. For folk, visit the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park
( www.musicliveshere.com ) , near Suwannee River State Park, while Tallahassee has a notable
blues scene.
Florida's state song, 'Old Folks at Home,' was written by Stephen Foster in 1851. Best
known for the refrain 'Waaaay down upon the Suwanee River…,' it is, on the one hand, a
lament of an exile for his home - but on the other hand it is, quite explicitly, a nostalgic
missive by a slave who longs for his old plantation. In recent decades, Florida has sought
to modernize the lyrics so that the song's sentimental paean to Old Florida is sanitized of
its inherent racism, but some argue it should be retired nonetheless.
Florida definitely knows how to rock. Bo Diddley, after helping define rock and roll,
settled near Gainesville for the second half of his life. North Florida is one of the wombs
of that particularly American sub-genre of the musical catalog: Southern rock. The style is
characterized by roots-laden references to old-school honky tonk overlaid with sometimes
folksy, sometimes rowdy lyrics. Tom Petty, Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers form
Florida's holy Southern-rock trio.
In more recent years, bands like Matchbox Twenty, Dashboard Confessional, Radical
Face and Iron & Wine have gotten their start in Florida. Indie-rock sounds are strong
across the state, from the expected college towns like Gainesville to the perhaps unexpec-
ted Latin streetscape of Miami.
The popular musician who most often defines Florida is Jimmy Buffett, whose heart
lives in Key West, wherever his band may roam. His fans, known as Parrotheads, are a
particularly faithful (some might say obsessed) bunch. If you've never heard Buffet's mu-
sic, it's basically crowd-pleasing beach tunes with a gentle, anti-authoritarian bent - an-
archy via sandals and piña coladas, if you will. In a state where musical tastes tend to di-
vide along sharp cultural fault lines, Buffet's easy-going guitar riffs are a bridge between
camps. The more conservative side of the state appreciates his yacht-y swagger, while lib-
erals like his gentle advocacy for environmentalism.
Orlando (by way of mogul and now jailbird Lou Pearlman) bestowed upon the world a
special genre of music: the boy bands of 'N Sync and Backstreet Boys. In fact, in many
ways Orlando via Disney is responsible for shaping the soundscape of much of the world's
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