Music of Indiana

The music of Indiana was strongly influenced by a large number of German and Irish immigrants who arrived in the 1830s.

Indiana was one of the first places where jazz music became popular outside of New Orleans and Chicago. In the late 1910s and through the 1920s the state had numerous bands of young musicians playing the new style for dancing.

Richmond, Indiana was home to the Gennett Records, known for recording a wealth of jazz, blues, and country music in the 1920s.

Indiana-born musicians and composers include John Mellencamp, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Kenneth 'Babyface' Edmonds, John Hiatt, Harry Von Tilzer, Rich Mullins, Kris Roe, the Bill Gaither Trio, Albert Von Tilzer, Bobwheat Long, Cole Porter, J. Russell Robinson, Eddie Condon, Hoagy Carmichael, Wes Montgomery, J. J. Johnson, Henry Lee Summer, Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin, David Lee Roth, Shannon Hoon, Calvin Crabtree, Carrie Newcomer, Janie Fricke, Lonnie Mack and David Baker.

Though born in Oklahoma, gospel singer Sandi Patty began her musical career in Indiana at Anderson University.

Country music is very thick in Southern Indiana, an area considered part of the Upland South.