Before they were soldiers, they were family. Before they were legends, they were heroes. Before there was a nation, there was a fight for freedom.

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, ...

In mid-September of last year, as the light was streaking gold and the prairie air smelled of yellow, I had the pleasure of visiting Badlands ...