Texan here: this is correct. I remember last year when Tim Carman declared Hill Country "as good as Franklin's" and the shockwave from my jaw hitting the floor registered 7.3 on the Richter scale.
For DC, I swear only Federalist Pig actually uses smoke on their meat. I've asked for a tour of the smoker at DCity Smokehouse and Hill country. No surprise: they use natural gas cookers. Federalist Pig has the only cooker I've seen which incorporates anything larger than wood chips to add smoke flavor. Make no mistake, BBQ=smoke. Accept no substitutes.
And just for the record, here is the Texas Monthly article, written by the country's only full time BBQ editor. He literally wrote the book on Texas BBQ, which is, well, see this map for details.
For Texas, go by the Texas Monthly List it is the gold standard. Daniel Vaughn is their editor and knows his shit. His book catalogues the majority of places you should hit. He also goes in depth about the different regions of TX BBQ. Central TX is the most famous, but is hardly the only version of TX BBQ.
Right now, my favorite places are (no order):
Personally, I'm waiting for The Prophets of Smoked Meat to come out.
Skip the rubs/spices. Salt and pepper are the best. Check this book out: https://www.amazon.com/Prophets-Smoked-Meat-Journey-Barbecue/dp/0062202928.