I remember meeting a guy years ago with a VERY strong southern accent.
I asked him “Where are you from?”
He said “Cleveland.”
I said “Wow. I didn’t think people talked like that in Cleveland!”
And he said “I’m from Cleveland, Tennesseee, damnit!”
For a while there in the early 70s Cleveland, Ohio had a modest influx of “Appalachian-Americans.” They fit right in.
Ha!
I’ve also met people born and bred in TN who speak without a Southern accent at all—and are insulted if you think they should be such a rube as to talk like that.