South Carolina is one of the Southern United States and has produced a number of renowned performers of jazz, rock, blues, R&B, country, bluegrass and other popular styles.
South Carolina is noted for being the birthplace of beach music, an offshoot of early R&B and rock 'n' roll that featured a shuffling beat which spawned the dance called The Shag. This Myrtle Beach-area dance is the official State Dance, although South Carolina has also contributed to two other famous dances, the Charleston in the 1920s, and the Big Apple in the 1930s.
South Carolina also has two official state songs: "Carolina", composed in 1911 with words by Henry Timrod and music by Anne Custis Burgess, and "South Carolina on My Mind", written in 1985 by Buzz Arledge and Hank Martin. The State also has an "official music", Negro spirituals, sacred Christian songs originally developed in the 19th century.
Perhaps the best known rock band to hail from South Carolina is Columbia's Hootie & the Blowfish, but other groups such as Spartanburg's The Marshall Tucker Band, The Swinging Medallions, Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs, alternative metal band Crossfade from Columbia, Charleston's indie Band of Horses, Southern rock band Needtobreathe, and Blue Dogs also hail from the Palmetto State.