Celebrate 30 years of the OA.
With original work from Imani Perry, Kristen Arnett, Diane Roberts, and so many others, our Spring Issue honors our past and looks into our expansive future.
With original work from Imani Perry, Kristen Arnett, Diane Roberts, and so many others, our Spring Issue honors our past and looks into our expansive future.
“It would be impossible to put out a comprehensive issue on Southern music, so that is not what we have tried to do here… The hope is that we have succeeded in reminding you that there is much to the subject; much to consider; much to return to; much to learn.” — Editor’s Box
Feature on the King of Bluegrass by Tom Piazza. Essays by Rosanne Cash, Steve Yarbrough, Robert Palmer, Corey Harris, and Steve Harvey.
Soundbites by Rick Clark, Jimbo Mathus, Robert Gordon, and others. Also includes work by Nick Tosches, Robert Gordon, Frye Gaillard, JoBeth Britton, Peter Guralnick, John Morthland, Cynthia Shearer, and more.
TRUE ADVENTURES WITH THE KING OF BLUEGRASS
Would having Jimmy Martin on the Grand Ole Opry be like uncorking corn liquor at a polite wine tasting?
by Tom Piazza
GUITAR LESSONS
Learning more than music in the Delta
by Steve Yarbrough
WHY I WEAR MY MOJO HAND
How to counter the chaos of the blues?
by Robert Palmer
THE MOST HUMAN SOUND
A winter memory echoes forever
by Rosanne Cash
WHY I SING THE BLUES
A young bluesman remembers his roots
by Corey Harris
MOUNTAIN MINOR
The travails of making your own banjo
by Steven Harvey
CASSANDRA WILSON
The youngest jazz diva
by Marc Woodworth
DIONNE FARRIS
Life after Arrested Development
by Marc Woodworth
LUCINDA WILLIAMS
The White House poet's daughter
by Marc Woodworth
KATE CAMPBELL
Mississippi on her mind
by Marc Woodworth
AL GREEN'S CALLING
Finding solace in the master's soul
by Sid Evans
LATE NIGHT WITH SAM & DAVE
The legendary producer steals the show
by Robert Gordon
OLD-FASHIONED NOTIONS OF LOVE AND MUSIC
Are the Squirrel Nut Zippers the South's hottest band?
by Frye Gaillard
MAN LOST, SONGS FOUND
The Troubled life and lasting music of Ted Hawkins
by Francis Davis
WOMAN WITH AN AXE
Was Sister Rosetta Tharpe the mother of rock guitar?
by JoBeth Briton
LOUIS PRIMA
New Orleans' other trumpet-playing Louis sang of food and females
by Will Friedwald
NATURAL BORN ELVIS
To his thousands of fans, Bill Haney was Elvis
by Tom Graves
WHOSE SKIP JAMES IS THIS?
Trying to give the great Delta bluesman his due
by Peter Guralnick
A CONVERSATION WITH CARL PERKINS
The rockabilly legend on bad breaks, big hits, and lifelong friends
by Jospeh Tidwell
JIM DICKINSON
This producer pushes clients off cliffs
by John Lewis
DANCIN' WITH DADDY G!
The holy jazz of a controversial church
by John Morthland
THE FIRST FAMILY OF ZYDECO
A short history of a unique Louisiana sound
by Michale Tisserland
WILLIE MITCHELL
The mastermind of Memphis r&b
by John Lewis
GET DOWN, MOSES
The many masks of minstrelsy
by Nick Tosches
BARBERSHOP DUET
Searching for Janis Joplin in Port Arthur, TX
by Cynthia Shearer
THE METERS
The great New Orleans funksters
by Rick Clark
ROSETTA AND ME
Growing up with Charley Patton's daughter
by Jimbo Mathus
PHINEAS NEWBORN JR.
Memphis's unforgotten jazz genius
by Robert Gordon
BLUE MOUNTAIN
Mississippi's newest sensation
by Jimmy Pitts
STEVE FORBERT
Light in the shadow of Jimmie Rodgers
by Bill Friskics-Warren
CHARLIE RICH
Another Sun Studios superstar
by Rick Clark
CAJUN HOEDOWN
Dancing Louisiana-style
by Bern Keating
EDITOR'S BOX
by Marc Smirnoff
DEALER'S CHOICE
by Hal Crowther
COMICS
by P. Revess
GONE OFF UP NORTH
by Roy Blount Jr.
SOUTHERN SCENES
by Michael Donato