I'm from VA. Several years ago, my then boyfriend and I went to Tennessee to visit his family. Everywhere we went, we were greeted with "Hi. How ya'll doin'?" and big, friendly smiles. I kept asking him if he knew these people. He just laughed and said that's how people are in Tennessee. No one is a stranger. :-)
When the Olympics were in Atlanta in 1995, my sister and I drove downtown, and I would say "Hi, Ya'll" to everyone. My sister was so very embarrassed.
There's a difference between a Southern country accent and a Southern cultured accent. I'm working on the cultured thing, but it's hard to say "Hi, ya'll" and sound cultured.
I was stationed at Nellis, in Las Vegas, NV - and that used to tick my now ex-wife and ex-sister-in-law off something fierce. We'd be walking along Las Vegas Blvd, and I'd be nodding and saying Howdy to folks. If I saw a car with Tennessee plates, I'd walk up and start talking - and they'd hang back all embarassed - funniest part was when the Tennesseeans I was talking to would see them hanging back and acting embarassed and would ask "They're not from back home, are they?"