Points South

Christine Cooper Spindel remembers the birth of WDIA

The 50,000 Watt Quartet, by David Henry

Claudia Perry imagines the original Fisk Jubilee Singers

Bill Bentley seeks the spirit of O. V. Wright

Robert Gordon shares the magic of Stax

Jewly Hight joins a gospel drag show

The Page Turner, a story by William Caverlee

Connie Smith’s haunted heart, by John Swenson

Laura Cantrell sits down with the Grand Ladies of the Opry 

Tennessee Pastoral, by John Grammer

Holly George-Warren on the muse of Memphis

Scenes from the Chocolate Orchid Piano Bar, by Andy Zax

The McCrary Sisters’ gospel journey, by Larry Nager

Holly Gleason on the daughter of Music Row

Eliza Borné circles to the left

Daniel Brook visits the Highlander Folk School

Features

LONG WAY HOME
by Rosanne Cash

DEAR CHARLIE
by Joe Hagan

THAT CHOP ON THE UPBEAT
by John Jeremiah Sullivan

EVERYBODY KNOWS YOU WHEN YOU’RE DOWN AND OUT
by Amanda Petrusich

WORLD BOOGIE IS COMING
by Joe Nick Patoski

THE SEARCH FOR BLIND LEMON
by Jim Dickinson

CAN YOU BLAME GUS CANNON?
by Dom Flemons

WE HAD IT ALL
by Norbert Putnam

THE MUSIC OF TENNESSEE
by Rick Clark

CARL THE RAPING GOAT SAVES CHRISTMAS
a story by Lucy Alibar

PROTESTANT WORSHIPPER IN ST. JOSEPH’S CATHEDRAL, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS
a poem by Jamie Quatro

Art by Leigh Wiener, Bob Williams, Ernest Withers, Steve Jones, Jared Small, Benny Andrews, Sam Fentress, Tammy Mercure, Bill Steber, Greg Miller, William Eggleston, Wayne White, O. Rufus Lovett, Tamara Reynolds, Thomas Hart Benton, Michael M. Koehler, Jim Herrington, Nathanael Roney, Bob Bayne, Lamar Sorrento, Ben Shahn, Matt Henry, Joe Spake, Alan Ulmer, Jon Henry, RB, David Redfern, Gregg Roth, Henry Horenstein, Robert W. Kelley, Dave Brainard, Benny Joseph, Jamie Harmon, Ian Johnson, Jim Marshall, Eleanor Davis

Cover Photograph: “Johnny Cash, Los Angeles, CA, August 1960” by Leigh Wiener