Missouri
Country Music

Missouri has two distinct country music identities. Branson in the Ozarks is an entertainment destination unlike anything else in the country: over 100 live show venues operating nightly, roughly 8 million visitors per year, and a concentration of country entertainment infrastructure that predates Nashville's tourism apparatus in certain respects. The Silver Dollar City theme park, the Branson strip of dedicated theater venues, and the surrounding resort economy make it the closest thing America has to a country music resort town. Porter Wagoner was born in West Plains, just south of Branson, and helped define the showman tradition that Branson later institutionalized.

The Kansas City and St. Louis markets add touring infrastructure. Sheryl Crow from Kennett, Missouri, occupies the country-rock crossover territory that was significant in the 1990s. The Missouri State Fair in Sedalia books country headliners. Outside of Branson and the two major metros, the rural Ozarks and agricultural regions of the state have strong country radio and small-venue bar culture.

If you move to Branson or the surrounding Table Rock Lake area, country music is literally the local industry. If you move to Kansas City or St. Louis, you're in solid touring-act territory with arenas and amphitheaters that pull regular country shows. If you move to rural Missouri, the Ozarks country culture is genuine and deep; it just doesn't produce many Nashville-bound artists. The state's country identity is more about experience and entertainment than about the recording business.

Branson, Missouri is one of the most concentrated live country music destinations in the United States — over 100 live shows nightly in season, drawing 8 million visitors per year. Porter Wagoner (West Plains) and Sheryl Crow (Kennett) both come from Missouri.

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