“The South seems always ready to rise again, bringing with it the best of the fused forces that made it the first place where jazz came into being.” — Stanley Crouch in “Crescent City”
Steve Martin praises the banjo. Greil Marcus asks “Who was Geechie Wiley?” and Tom Freeland wonders “Where the Blues Was Born.”
Featuring John Jeremiah Sullivan, William Gay, Larry Brown, Willie Morris, and Karen A. Mann. Fiction by Madison Smartt Bell. Poetry by Michael Chitwood and Anthony Martin.
THE BACK DOOR FRONTMAN
by Tom Graves
Here is D. L. Menard, the musician who wrote the Cajun National Anthem.
BANJO
by Steve Martin
I wanted everyone in listening distance to understand that this was something very special, indeed.
STILL SMOKING
by John Lewis
One of rock & roll's founding fathers, Ike Turner, declines a quiet exit.
GONE TO JAZZ FEST
by Tom Piazza
New Orleans is filled with people who came for jazz fest and never left.
NO HIDING PLACE
by Dave Marsh and Daniel Wolff
Dorothy Love Coates is the greatest singer you've never heard.
SWEET SONGS NEVER LAST TOO LONG
by William Gay
Navigating the darker currents in the music of John Prine.
PERSPECTIVE
Transcending Sight
by Randall Curb
FAMILY LIFE
A Long Gone Daddy
by Connie May Fowler
Married to the King
by Carol Henderson
ARGUMENT
Crescent City Rising
by Stanley Crouch
Mozarts of the Sahara
by Phillip Ratliff
SCRAPBOOK
The Greatest Garage Band Ever
by Diane Roberts
Aerosmith in My Garage
by Wendy Brenner
They Were Our Heroes
by Willie Morris
DEPARTURES
The Queen of Blond Soul
by Jerry Wexler
Fishing with Charlie
by Larry Brown
Our Poet of Loss
by Douglas Brinkley
SOUTHERN GALLERY
June Carter Cash
by Holly George-Warren
Bobby Bland's Influential Voice
by Les Black
Nina Simone
by Kristine McKenna
Bill Wyman
The OA Interview
So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star?
Interview with Jason Morphew
SPOTLIGHT
Hold On! He's Comin'!
by Ron Carlson
Hot on the Heels of His Own Genius
by Alan Jacobs
Tell Your Mama, Tell Your Papa
by Scott Billington
Rough-Cut Diamond
by Jay Orr
West Coast Fiddler
by Grant Alden
Bob Dylan's Mississippi
by Andria Lisle
The Contrarian
by Bill Friskics-Warren
From Disney to Daemon
by Karen A. Mann
Doing It Right
by John Leventhal
It Ain't Over Till the Fat One Sings
by John Jeremiah Sullivan
SHORT STORY
Leadbelly in Paris
by Madison Smartt Bell
MYSTERY
Who Was Geechie Wiley
by Greil Marcus
Where the Blues Was Born
by Tom Freeland
POETRY
The Donated Organ
by Michael Chitwood
Blackface
by Anthony Walton
HISTORY
Introduction to Another World
by Robert Gordon
COMICS
Hunting for Old Records: A True Story
by R. Crumb
PRIVATE LESSONS
Flatpicking with a Gentleman
by Craig Havighurst
RECORD LABEL
In the Company of Soul
by John Morthland
CUISINE
Barbeque Swinger
by John T. Edge
BOOK REVIEW
The End of Elvis
by John Shelton Reed
MUSIC REVIEW
Rescued from Oblivion
by David Gates
INSTRUMENTAL
Devil's Box
by Philip Stevens
Dealer's Choice
DOC WATSON'S GIFTS
by Hal Crowther
Gone Off Up North
THE BLUES AND THE GRAY
by Roy Blount Jr.
On the cover: Collage by A. Newt Rayburn