It started with an office argument over REM and the Allman Brothers Band. What sound best defines Southern music? As the argument spilled over to include rap standouts like OutKast and country legends like Johnny Cash, we realized that we should let the readers decide: Who is the greatest Southern musician of all time?

Arguably the birthplace of modern music, the South has been home to icons in every genre. We've created a head-to-head 64-team bracket, and you'll determine who emerges victorious. Over the next few weeks we need you to help us find the voice of the South. Vote for your favorites in every region -- and encourage your friends and family to vote -- because you're the only thing standing between us and a world where Three 6 Mafia emerges as the Southern champion. That's a lot of responsibility. Please don't screw it up.

Print The Ultimate Southern Music Bracket and follow along at home!

Rules:

The 64 entrants must have been born or raised in the South. We started with a list of 250 names and whittled our way down. (It took a lot of arguing, believe us.) Yes, for the purpose of this competition, Texas and Florida are in the South. We included Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. The Associated Press also includes Delaware, Maryland and Oklahoma as part of the "South." We left them out because that's ridiculous. The included artists must embrace Southern culture through music or have made inarguable contributions to culture as a whole. The field is made up of roughly 25 percent rock music, 25 country music, 25 percent hip-hop and 25 percent everything else. The seedings were divided by region based on how our final 64 artists fell on a map: Alabama-Georgia, Tennessee-Mississippi-Arkansas, Texas-Louisiana, and Florida-South Carolina-North Carolina-Virginia-Kentucky. That last region is a mouthful so we're just referring to it as the Seedings were determined by the compiling and averaging the rankings of seven AL.com writers. I didn't just make this up by myself, y'all. Some artist that you love didn't make the cut. Music is subjective, but the people on this list made big contributions to music even if they aren't your cup of tea.

Let's get right into it.

REGION 1: ALABAMA - GEORGIA (VOTING ENDS JUNE 25, 11:50 P.M.)

(1) Hank Williams vs. (16) Ludacris

Some of you are probably slack-jawed and bug-eyed that we'd dare mention Hank Williams in the same sentence as Ludacris. After all, Alabama native Hank Williams is one of most influential singers of the 20th century. He's the father of country music. He has influenced everyone from George Thorogood and Ray Charles to Elvis Presley and Conway Twitty. He had 11 No.-1 hits and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Yeah, but how many "Fast & Furious" movies did Hank ever appear in?

Christopher Bridges a.k.a. Ludacris is one of the most prolific and successful artists on the Southern rap scene, with a career that "goes back further than your father's hairline." He has one of the smartest, funniest flows in the game. Hank and Luda each provided insight into overlooked communities (poor, rural Alabama and inner-city Atlanta) through raw, provocative lyrics. If your only experience with Ludacris is "What's Your Fantasy?" check out "Runaway Love" for a gut-wrenching look at the lives of young girls living in poverty. It's no "I'm so Lonesome I could Cry," but it's a startling expression of some harsh realities of Southern life. -John Hammontree

(8) Gladys Knight vs. (9) Drive-By Truckers

There are some who would argue that this matchup is an all-Georgia affair; after all, the Drive-By Truckers are one of the best things to ever come out of Athens. But, like football championships, at the end of the day they belong to Alabama. "Southern Rock Opera" is like a brief history of the state and is one history's best Southern albums. It coined the phrase "duality of the Southern thang" that your college roommate put in his Twitter bio. In songwriters Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley and one-time band member Jason Isbell, the Truckers miraculously found the Southern equivalents to Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Neil Young all in the same band.

But, good Lord, Gladys Knight is the "Empress of Soul." She's got one of the most powerful voices you'll ever hear in any genre. From "Heard it Through the Grapevine" and "Midnight Train to Georgia" to "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me," Knight dominates the jukebox at your local Johnny Rockets. And I don't mean that as a bad thing. I love Johnny Rockets. -John Hammontree

(5) OutKast vs. (12) TLC

As the former darlings of Atlanta's LaFace Records, OutKast and TLC are no strangers to a little friendly competition.

Choosing between the two boils down to aesthetics. Do you represent for the independent women of the 1990s, or are you more inclined to get down and dirty with the fellas? For fans of the poetic, Andre and Big Boi present one of the more verbose and abstract approaches to lyricism in the lexicon of Southern emceeing. But T-Boz, Left Eye and Chilli's sultrier sound rivaled their labelmates, shaping the sound of urban pop while sneaking in poignant social themes.

Making matters even tougher, TLC's smash hit "Waterfalls" borrows production from longtime Outkast producers, Organized Noize. This one's a toss-up! -Jared Boyd

(4) Ray Charles vs. (13) Widespread Panic

Ray Charles and Widespread Panic's associations with the state of Georgia are strong. Charles' version of "Georgia on My Mind" is the state song, after all. Widespread Panic famously formed at the University of Georgia. But Charles, who was born in Albany, left the state as an infant. Conversely, Panic founders John Bell, Michael Houser and Dave Schools grew up elsewhere but moved to the state for school.

Regardless of their origin stories, the musicians share not only Georgian status, but an array of influences. Charles came by his genre hopping honestly; he counted jazz, blues, R&B and country among his influences. Panic's roots are more rock 'n' roll (with a dash of funk), but the subgenres are varied: Southern rock, blues, progressive rock.

There's a reason Charles is seeded much higher: It's hard to think of the state's music without humming "Georgia on My Mind"--and of course, that's only one of Charles' iconic songs. But Panic holds records at both Colorado's Red Rocks Amphitheatre and Atlanta's Phillips Arena for the most sold-out shows at the venues. (That's 48 and 20, respectively.) Could Spreadheads pull an upset? -Carla Jean Whitley

(6) Lionel Richie vs. (11) Jason Isbell

If you came of age during the '80s or '90s, there's a decent chance that you rounded second base to a Lionel Richie song, considering he wrote every love ballad in the book from "Endless Love" to "My Love" to "Hello." And then there's an even better chance you goofily danced to the Commodores' hit "Brick House" at your wedding years later. With more than 40 singles spanning from funk to soul to country, Lionel Richie is a national treasure.

But Jason Isbell, man, he is something else entirely. From his Drive-By Truckers days to his solo career, Isbell has somehow distilled Southern struggles, joys, fear and heartbreak into the best lyrics of a generation. Stop right now and go listen to "Speed Trap Town," "Children of Children" and "Elephant." Now wipe your tears and thank God for Jason Isbell. One of my favorite things about Jason Isbell is that if he learns about this bracket, he seems like the type of person who would actively campaign for Lionel Richie out of respect. He makes me want to be a better Alabamian. This should be a Sweet 16 match up. I can't handle it. -John Hammontree

(3) Otis Redding vs. (14) Indigo Girls

A Georgia songwriter takes on a pair of Georgia songwriters in this matchup. Macon's Otis Redding earned songwriting credits for a number of hits, including his posthumous No.-1 "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay" and "Respect," made even more popular by Aretha Franklin. (Did you know "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay" was the first posthumous No.-1 in the United States? He died in a plane crash three days after recording the song.) Redding's soulful sounds initially drew African-American crowds as he toured the South on the "chitlin circuit," but his music ultimately transcended the racial divide. That applies to both audience and those he influenced. Redding died at 26, but released six studio albums before he did.

Decatur's Indigo Girls are similarly prolific, with 14 studio albums as a group and a plethora of side projects. Emily Saliers and Amy Ray have performed together since high school, and the folk duo is also known for advocating for gay rights. Ray has released a number of solo albums and Saliers is a restaurant co-owner, spreading their influence into a number of different areas. It'll be interesting to see whether that career-long reach or Redding's short but significant body of work will prevail in this first-round matchup. -Carla Jean Whitley

(7) Alabama vs. (10) Alabama Shakes

Alabama has a proud musical tradition. Whether it's Father of the Blues W.C. Handy or today's crop of roots musicians, we love to brag on our homegrown acts.

And we love when their very names bring positive attention to the state. That makes the matchup between Alabama and Alabama Shakes especially interesting; they're indelibly associated with this place.

Sonically, the bands couldn't be much more different. Traditional country music takes center stage whenever Alabama steps up to microphones, although hints of Southern rock broadened the band's appeal. That was a success; in the 1980s, the band racked up 27 No.-1 hits. Alabama Shakes, too, like to bend genre labels. But the rockers take more cues from legends like Led Zeppelin and David Bowie than, say, Merle Haggard.

But both bands hail from beautiful but quieter cities--Alabama from Fort Payne and Alabama Shakes from Athens--evidence that relative isolation still spurs creativity. And although Alabama's track record establishes it as the higher-ranked seed, the Shakes' upward trajectory make this a showdown to watch. -Carla Jean Whitley

(2) REM vs. (15) Black Crowes

It's interesting how much time has forgotten R.E.M. and displaced their prominence in the South. During the '80s, the band was a huge presence among creative teens and 20-somethings here thanks to jangly, clever songs like "Radio Free Europe" that helped define alternative rock. R.E.M.'s hometown, Athens, Georgia, became a musical hotbed. After the underground group moved on to major label Warner Brothers, they exploded. "Losing My Religion" became a mandolin-propelled sensation. We had to endure the regrettable "Shiny Happy People" before R.E.M. veered back to artiness.

The Black Crowes took flight down the road in Atlanta during the late-80s, first as an R.E.M-inspired combo called Mr. Crowe's Garden. The Robinson brothers-led band changed its name after morphing into Humble Pie-style boogie rockers, and released immediately classic-sounding songs like "Jealous Again" and raucous Otis Redding cover "Hard to Handle." The Crowes soon crystallized its sound on tunes like wake-and-bake ballad "Thorn in My Pride" and highway anthem "Wiser Time." If the band had played the music-biz game, they might have become Rolling Stones level superstars, but instead they delighted in being the world's biggest cult band before breaking up (for good this time, we think) in 2015. -Matt Wake

Listen to the Alabama-Georgia nominees: