Spotify has curated playlists reflecting the local flavor of each stop on HuffPost’s “Listen to America” tour using location-based data to find out what people are really listening to in 20-plus cities. Check back for more from Sept. 12 through Oct. 30.
Nebraska’s capital city might not be its largest, but this Great Plains spot still boasts a pretty impressive ― and growing ― music scene of its own. Here is where the folk singer-songwriter Joshua James spends half his time (Utah claims the rest), crafting music Rolling Stone likened to “Bright Eyes reimagined for the Americana set.” The Christian rock group VOTA hails from Lincoln, as well as the post-punk band For Against and one-hit wonder duo Zager and Evans, whose post-apocalyptic “In the Year 2025″ topped charts in the late ’60s. Nearby Omaha claims some other big names in music: Fred Astaire was born here and, nearly a century later, the aforementioned Bright Eyes.
More than other places around the U.S., people in this corner of Nebraska are partial to country singer-songwriters, Thomas Rhett, Eastin Corbin, Shania Twain and Toby Keith being particular favorites along with Jillian Jacqueline and Aaron Watson. A name for the hip-hop history books stands out, too: DJ Kool, instrumental in the genre’s Bronx beginnings.
A few Top 40 songs popular here complete the list, which you can hear below:
Spotify playlists for the “Listen to America” campaign were created by looking at each location’s most popular songs (streaming in the highest numbers at time of publication), distinctive songs (currently being streamed more in this city compared to all other cities in the world) and tracks from local artists. While many picks are data-driven, some songs are handpicked from data lists to assure the playlists reflect a variety of genres and decades, as well as a healthy gender balance.
