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Issue 45, April 2003

Southern Music Issue Vol. VI

“[Willie Nelson] takes out a joint and passes it to me. I usually don’t partake, but to pass up a chance to inhale with Willie would be a sin.” — Jon Bon Jovi, from “Willie Stories”

Willie Nelson stories told by B. B. King, Jon Bon Jovi, Toby Keith, James Caan, Kris Kristofferson, and others. Essays on Blind Willie Johnson, Otis Blackwell, Tommy Thompson, R.L. Burnside, Chris Bell, Ester Phillips, and many more.

Contributors include John Jeremiah Sullivan, Billy Collins, Roy Blount Jr., Katy Vine, Lauren Wilcox, and more.

Columns & Departments

Editor's Box
by Marc Smirnoff

THE FRONT
Dispatches from around the South.

Sense of Place
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
photographs by Henry Horenstein

Essay
FATE AND A JUKEBOX
by Philip Stephens

In Virginia
THE COLLECTOR
by Eddie Dean

Essay
THE MECHANICAL MUSE
by T.R. Hummer

In Memorium: Otis Blackwell
THE MAN BEHIND THE SONGS YOU LOVE
by Tom Russell

In Memorium: Tommy Thompson
FATHER BANJO
by Hal Crowther

Southern Scenes
OTHAR TURNER (1907–2003)
photograph by Bill Steber

CD Liner Notes

JOHNNY DARRELL
Nashville Casualty
by John Schulian

SWAMP DOGG
Up From the Dirty South
by Bill Friskics-Warren

THE DEL McCOURY BAND
Leader of the Pack
by Grant Alden

ANN SAVOY & LINDA RONSTADT
Out of the Bayou
A conversation

KING PLEASURE
Messenger of Jazz
by Michael Perry

THE BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA
Amazing Grace
by Richard Smith

MY MORNING JACKET
I Think I'm Going to Hell
by William Bowers

NELLIE LUTCHER
Real Gone Gal
by Jonny Whiteside

THE COLLINS KIDS
Straight Into Compton
by Alex Halberstadt

ESTHER PHILLIPS
Tough Mother For You
by Lauren Wilcox

THE GOURDS
No Alternative
by Katy Vine

MARSHALL CHAPMAN
A Southern Belle Raisin' Hell
by Geoffrey Himes

LITTLE MILTON
That Old Cool
by Kevin Canty

MEMPHIS MINNIE
Her Own Blues
by Roy Blount, Jr.

R.L. BURNSIDE
Authenticity Be Damned!
by Will Blythe

BLIND WILLIE JOHNSON
Sounds of the Spirit
by Alan Light

P.J. PROBY
Buck Wild
by Mike Stax

THE DELMORE BROTHERS
Imitating Nobody
by William Hogeland

THE YO-YO’S
Fools For Love
by Ron Hall

CHRIS BELL
That Don't Get Him Back Again
by John Jeremiah Sullivan

WILLIE NELSON
Willie Stories
with Bobby Bare, Toby Keith, Marty Stuart, Steve Earle, Pam Tillis, Jon Bon Jovi, James Caan, Billy Joe Shaver, Essence, B.B. King, Robert Earl Keen, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Kris Kristofferson, Kevin Russell, John Taylor, Ringo Garza

MARILYN MONROE & JANE RUSSELL
Nothing Like the Real Thing
by Ron Carlson

WILL KIMBROUGH
Good Will
by Rick Cornell

Poetry

1955
by David Huddle

FOOL ME GOOD and MUSICAL CHAIRS
by Billy Collins

Cover: Esther Phillips