The level of friendliness comes as a surprise, too. “I know we got fried pork tenderloins in Iowa,” says Whitters, “but fried okra was kind of strange to me.” There are differences, of course, beginning with some of the food choices. It provides a music community that’s unlike anything they would have experienced at home, the winters are much easier, and Nashville’s values are mostly familiar. The reality is that most country artists need to go to Nashville to find their way, and the city generally feels comfortable to Midwestern transplants. They didn’t need to be from Texas to write some of the best country songs this genre has ever seen.” “Talk to Bob Dylan or John Prine or Porter Wagoner. “You want three chords and the truth?” Smith asks rhetorically. The volume isn’t quite what one might find in the South, but it’s still a quality list. Ohio: David Allan Coe, Diamond Rio’s Marty Roe and Dana Williams, Johnny Paycheck, Rascal Flatts’ Jay DeMarcus and Gary LeVox.Michigan: Nate Barnes, Frankie Ballard, Harlan Howard and Jesse Frasure.Indiana: Janie Fricke, Connie Smith, Steve Wariner.Illinois: Brett Eldredge, Alison Krauss, David Lee Murphy, John Prine, Gretchen Wilson.Missouri: Ashton, Sara Evans, Porter Wagoner, Chely Wright, David Nail.Kansas: Martina McBride, songwriter Nicolle Galyon.Nebraska: Tompall & the Glaser Brothers.Among the artists and songwriters who were born in the 12-state region, as defined by the U.S. The Midwestern work ethic has influenced country music, even if the region hasn’t been as prolific as the South. ’ They’re just like, ‘Yeah, we can our own vegetables and we hunt our own deer and we process our own meat. They’re not going out and showing anybody, ‘Well, this is my way of doing. They’re shy and to themselves, so the reputation kind of makes sense to me. “My grandma’s family is huge: nine brothers and sisters. “People just forget this big chunk in the middle, and it’s kind of what their personality is,” suggests Ashton. Farmers in Kansas and Illinois felt overlooked by the establishment even before Jason Aldean recorded a song titled “Fly Over States.” And folks from Missouri and Indiana are intrinsically unlikely to call attention to themselves. If people need to be reminded of the region, well, that goes with the turf, rich and black as it is. “It’s a little more cornfields and ball caps than red dirt and cowboy hats,” Whitters says of the Midwest, “but we’re still very country up there.” 4, celebrates back roads romance without a tailgate party and a keg. And Missourian Kassi Ashton‘s sultry “Dates in Pickup Trucks,” which Interscope/MCA Nashville released Feb. Minnesotan Caitlyn Smith name-checks Duluth native Bob Dylan and Iowa-born John Wayne in the opening strains of her ebullient single “Downtown Baby,” released by Monument to country radio on March 4. Three women birthing new music are a stark reminder of the Midwest’s relevance in country: Hailey Whitters’ Raised album, released March 18 by Songs & Daughters, is an album Natalie Maines might make if she hailed from Eastern Iowa, the black dirt and wide open spaces all referenced amid tales of small-town innocence and feistiness. “Iowa’s one of the countriest states ever,” Georgian Rhett Akins noted in 2011. Even the Southern country artists see a lot of familiarity when they tour America’s heartland.