As we head into the Fourth of July weekend, a fun story in Billboard picks the top musical figure in each of the 50 states.

Appearing under the trade magazine's Chart Beat banner, the choices -- while skewed toward chart presence -- are subjective. The criteria are loose, as well. It's mostly, but by no means totally, based on state of birth, though some are where artists grew up or are most identified with.

For us here in Maryland: Hailing from Severn, Toni Braxton has enjoyed five No. 1s on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and 11 top 10s, including two No. 1s, on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

 

Rock artists are named tops in about half the states. Here's a list of those and a few others of interest:

 

Arizona - Stevie Nicks

Arkansas - Johnny Cash

California - The Beach BoysColorado - John Denver (via identification, he was born in New Mexico)

Connecticut - John MayerDelaware - George Thorogood

Georgia - Ray Charles (beat out R.E.M. and The B-52s)Indiana - Michael Jackson (with apologies to John Mellencamp)

Michigan - Madonna (They apologize to Bob Seger, but fail to even mentionAretha Franklin or Eminem, who was chosen to represent his birth state, Missouri, over rock and roll pioneer Chuck Berry, who's lived there for almost 90 years

Minnesota - Prince (with apologies to Bob Dylan, not to mention -- and they didn't -- The Replacements)

Montana - Jeff Ament, bassist of Pearl Jam (slim pickings in Montana, folks)

Nevada - The Killers

New Jersey - Bruce Springsteen

New Mexico - The Shins

New York - Billy Joel

Ohio - Chrissie Hynde

Vermont - Phish

Virginia - Bruce Hornsby (not sure how he beats out Dave Matthews Band, a far greater chart presence, and Virginia-based from the start, despite Dave being a native of South Africa)

Washington - Nirvana

Wisconsin - Les Paul (without whom...)

 

 

 

Amy Winehouse's father Mitch is so unhappy about the new documentary film about his daughter that he wants to make a competing movie to refute it.
The Daily Mirror reports that he and Amy's onetime fiancé Reg Traviss are considering teaming up to produce a feature-length film from their perspective. The paper cites a source that says, "Mitch and Reg are talking about doing something to correct all the wrongs and omissions in [Amy]. Their own take on Amy’s life is being discussed."
 

Amy opens in New York and Los Angeles this weekend and expands nationwide on July 10th.

 

 

A test pressing of Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks album, believed to be one of only five in existence, can be yours for a mere $12,000.

The West Coast record chain Amoeba recently purchased a collection of 4,000 vinyl albums from the family of someone in the record industry and found the rare disc among them. It is currently for sale Amoeba's Hollywood location, priced at $12,000.

"The New York Version" is different from the album that was released in 1975. It contains alternate takes of five songs, recorded in the Big Apple and then replaced by versions Dylan cut in Minnesota: "Tangled Up in Blue," "You're a Big Girl," "Idiot Wind," "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" and "If You See Her, Say Hello."

 

 

 

 

Chris Martin of Coldplay was the talk of social media in India Wednesday night after he did a surprise set at club in Delhi.
 

He's in the country doing charity work with Oxfam and Global Citizen and had gone to dinner with actress Freida Pinto and musician Vishal Dadlani. According to Dadlani, "We were at a dinner together, and he just went, 'Let's go play somewhere'! And, boom!" The set at the Summerhouse Cafe saw Martin do "Fix You," "Paradise" and "Viva la Vida." The celebs who were there posted pictures on Twitter and Instagram, which caused Martin's name to trend across India.

 

 

The Black Keys had a funny Twitter exchange with the world's most powerful music fan -- President Barack Obama.

During a Twitter Q-and-A the Commander in Chief held yesterday (Wednesday), someone asked his "favorite song of the moment," and the President responded that he'd been listening to "Lonely Boy" that morning.

A couple of hours later the band retweeted what the President wrote and added, "Can we use Air Force One for our upcoming gigs?"
Late Wednesday night the President delivered a great comeback -- "It's not mine; just a loaner. Maybe you can come play at the White House sometime instead?"

 

 

 

One by one, the holdouts against streaming services continue to give in, with Radiohead's Thom Yorke the latest to capitulate.

Despite having had major issues with the way artists have been compensated by streaming services in general and Spotify in particular, Yorke appears to have agreed to participate in the new Apple Music service.

His two solo efforts, the album by Atoms For Peace -- his side band that also includes Flea -- and Radiohead’s In Rainbows are all found on the service, according to Consequence of Sound, who point out that Apple compensates artists slightly above the rate paid by Spotify.

 

 

 

After doing two shows last weekend in Santa Clara, California at Levi's Stadium, the Grateful Dead will say goodbye this weekend with threeFare Thee Well 50th anniversary shows at Soldier Field in Chicago, site of the band's last show with Jerry Garcia on July 9th, 1995. He died a month later, August 9th, 1995 of a heart attack while in rehab.

 

The band's four core members -- Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmannand Mickey Hart -- will be joined by keyboardists Bruce Hornsby and Jeff Chimenti, along with Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio. And Jerry almost joined them as his daughter Trixie says, "We came very close to making the Jerry hologram. I met with people and was very interested in trying to make the Jerry hologram where he appears for a couple seconds -- like a rainbow... It just didn't work out. It was too much."

 

One of the hottest ticket of the summer, with some asking for nine-grand a ticket on StubHub, the best seat might be in your living room as it isavailable on Pay-Per-View, YouTube, as well as select movie theaters. And, if you want to wait, the Chicago shows will be released on CD, DVD, Blu-ray -- as well as digitally -- on November 20th.
 

The Pay-Per-View event is being hosted by former NBA great and literally the biggest Dead Head of them all, Bill Walton, who, when Sunday's show is over, will have seen his favorite band 859 times, which is 391 more Dead shows than NBA games he played in. He attended his first show in 1967, but he says if you think about it, "That’s less than 20 shows a year, so that’s nothing!"
 

Not only is the Dead taking over Soldier Field, but literally what may seem like all of Chicago as two official Grateful Dead trucks will be truckin' the streets, selling every kind of merchandise imaginable, including T-shirts, hats, hoodies, jewelry, tote bags, lacrosse equipment and more. Each truck will also be handing out a free map of the city dubbed The Official Dead Head's Guide to Chicago, which you can also download at Dead.net/Chicago.
 

Illinois State Representative Scott Drury drafted a resolution, which was presented to the General Assembly. In it he requested that the city "wish the Grateful Dead much success at its upcoming concerts...at Soldier Field and which the individual band members of the Grateful Dead much success in their future endeavors."
 

The question now remains, will these be the final shows for the Dead? Perhaps not, there are rumors of a fall tour with John Mayer on guitar.