REO Speedwagon’s legendary guitarist Gary Richrath, a native of my hometown of Peoria, passed away on September 13 at age 65, which is a ripe old age for a rock star. His death marks an end to a musical era—I encourage you to skip the schlocky ballads of the band’s latter years and listen to the high-intensity, guitar-jamming madness of “157 Riverside Avenue” to get a true measure of his prodigious talent. His passing, and his band’s demise, is emblematic of a larger societal change as well: the increasing irrelevance of flyover country to the cultural world at large, and the growing chasm between red and blue America.

Forty years ago a talented band could be based in central Illinois, tour regularly along the Interstate 74 corridor​—​with an occasional foray into Chicago or St. Louis​—​and have a real chance of being discovered by a major label. This was precisely the path REO Speedwagon followed, and they weren’t the only 1970s band to go from Peoria to stardom: Rockford band Cheap Trick and Head East, hailing from south-central Illinois, also rode the central Illinois circuit to stardom, and several other bands from that milieu secured major label contracts.