Features

 

TIME DONE BEEN WON’T BE NO MORE 
(BUT SEE THAT MY GRAVE IS KEPT CLEAN)
Harry Smith’s folk music anthology inspired and revealed a hidden America.
by William Gay

MISSISSIPPI: THE STATE OF THE BLUES
Are the blues surviving the changing South?
by Matt Dellinger

JIM WHITE'S YELLOW MIND
A Florida native has invented his own genre: hick-hop.
by Lee Durkee

ROBERT JOHNSON AND THE TRANSFORMATIVE NATURE OF ART
Robert Johnson’s music is as powerful now as when he recorded it. Was the Devil in the deal?
by Peter Guralnick

THAT SAME LONESOME BLOOD
Steve Young’s formidable style of country music helped make life more livable for one man.
by David Eason

 

---

 

Columns & Departments

 

Ancestors

 

MISSISSIPPI FRED MCDOWELL
He remains the most influential hill country guitarists.
by Heather Heilman

WHEN JESUS CALLS, HOW DO WE ANSWER HIM?
There’s a thin line between the blues on Saturday night and gospel on Sunday.
by Kevin Canty

BILL NETTLES
What makes an artist obscure?
by Bill Friskics-Warren

CANRAY FONTENOT
The feed-store fiddler was an encyclopedia of Creole music.
by Cynthia Shearer

CHARLEY PATTON
The father of the blues had a voice like no other.
by Tom Piazza

 

Collaborators

 

BOB DYLAN AND RALPH STANLEY
Two legends return to the Lonesome River.
by Alan Light

DOC CHEATHAM AND NICHOLAS PAYTON
New Orleans jazz closes the generation gap.
by Joseph Hooper

 

Departures

 

SCOTT DIDLAKE
The resurrection of the African precursor to American banjos.
by Edward Cohen

 

Elvisania

 

WHAT’D YOU DO, SON?
Was there one song that told the King’s real life story?
by Calvert Morgan

POEMS FOR PRESLEY
by Philip Stephens

 

JAMES DICKERSON’S COLONEL TOM PARKER
by Ron Carlson

 

Forum

 

Gregg Allman, Irma Thomas, Hank Williams Jr., Rosanne Cash, Harry Connick Jr., and others on their favorite Southern tunes, performers, and records.

Icon

 

EMMYLOU HARRIS
Perhaps her greatest talent is finding it in others.
by Geoffrey Himes

 

EARL SCRUGGS
The revolutionary banjo picker is back.
by Marty Stuart

Innovators

 

JESSIE FRAZIER
In some hands, found objects equal found music.
by Phillip Ratliff

Pioneers

 

GOLDEN GATE QUARTET
The Virginia foursome sang gospel with soul.
by Roy Kasten

THE DELTA RHYTHM BOYS
The brank of “vocalese” took them all over the world and to the silver screen.
by David Sanjek

Rockers

 

THE GANTS
Mississippi’s answer to the Fab Four.
by James Hughes

LYNYRD SKYNYRD
Our Love/hate relationship with “Sweet Home Alabama.”
by Diane Roberts

Southern Gallery

 

BILL CLINTON
by Jessi Renfroe and Marc Smirnoff

BILLY BOB THORNTON
by Rick Clark

TRICIA WALKER
by Mary Jane Lupenheimer

Southern Series

 

ANN PEEBLES
A stormy night in Memphis made her a star.
by Andria Lisle

THE TWENTY-SEVENTH RAIN
Different ways to look at weather.
by Ron Carlson

LINDA LYNDELL
The one-hit wonder who helped save Stax.
by Robert Bowman

DEBORAH ALLEN
The amorphous career of a former beauty queen.
by David Cantwell

Troubadours

 

KEVIN GORDON
Rock ‘n’ roll is a way of life, not a job.
by Grant Alden

THOSE ODD THINGS WITH MELODY
A musician explains his art.
by Kevin Gordon

VICTORIA WILLIAMS
Her Louisiana upbringing and Christian faith contribute to her unique sound.
by John Lewis

Wanderers

 

TINY TIM
The Laugh In mainstay’s  last visit to the South.
by Ned Oldham

TOOTS HIBBERT
Recording a reggae star in Memphis.
by Jim Dickinson

 

Book Views
BATTLE OF THE BLUES
by Dave Marsh

 

Dealer’s Choice
THE O BROTHERHOOD
by Hal Crowther

 

Gone Off Up North
TENNIS-SHOE TONGUE IN HIS HEAD
by Roy Blount Jr.

 

Local Fare
LESTER MADDOX AND BOBBY LEE FEARS
by John T. Edge

 

MUSIC NOTES
R.E.M., The Morning 40 Federation, the Autumn Defense, Steve Forbert, and Lucinda Williams

 

OFF THE SHELF
New books on Levon Helm, Josh White, the Neville Brothers, and the founders of country rock. Plus a conversation with William F. Buckley Jr.

 

Poetry
HIGH LONESOME
by Anthony Walton

 

COMICS
by C. Ware

 

Southern Scene
HARRY SMITH IN ALLEN GINSBERG'S NEW YORK APARTMENT, 1987
photograph by Brian Graham

 

---

Cover: Photograph of Alisha Murray by Jim Herrington. Trombone courtesy of Tony Mario