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.
Magazine
Issue 95, Winter 2016
Our 18th annual Southern Music issue: “Visions of the Blues.” Across the 160-page magazine and 23-song CD compilation, we’re celebrating one of the South’s greatest cultural exports: blues music.
The issue comes in multiple covers, celebrating three generations of blues masters: John Lee Hooker, Bonnie Raitt, and Adia Victoria.Visions of the Blues
Notes on the songs, including
Banning Eyre on Bassekou Kouyaté
Greil Marcus on John Lee Hooker
Ann Powers on Alabama Shakes
Points South
Play Me Down Home, by Rashod Ollison
Gayle Wald digs the living blues of Rhiannon Giddens
Jay Jennings searches for Robert Palmer
Picking Up the Piedmont Blues, by Benjamin Hedin
Elijah Wald remembers Bob Dylan’s forgotten album
Sip Slow, a story by Regina N. Bradley
That Winsome Moan, by Ian S. Port
Cynthia Shearer listens to Big Mama
Unearthly Laments, by Christopher C. King
Sarah Bryan on the eccentric songster of Elm City
How Prince freed Crystal Wilkinson
David Ramsey bears witness to CeDell Davis
That Look in His Eyes at 4:05, by Nathan Salsburg
Features
LISTENING FOR THE COUNTRY
The shape of Daddy’s hurt
by Zandria F. Robinson
BABY BOY BORN BIRTHPLACE BLUES
A hometown history
by John Jeremiah Sullivan
SWEET BITTER BLUES
Encounters in Tokyo
by Amanda Petrusich
SEE MY FACE FROM THE OTHER SIDE
Freedom is a blueswoman’s prerogative
by Daphne A. Brooks
HEADS
a story by Jeffery Renard Allen
Poetry
When Lucille Bogan Sings “Shave ’Em Dry”
by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Making Love to Buddy Guy
by Patricia Smith
Art by Chris Sikich, Deborah Feingold, Lawrence N. Shustak, Joseph Desler Costa, Michael Abramson, Magdalena Solé, David Katzenstein, Danielle Osfalg, Augusta Palmer, Hongsun Yoon, Tim Duffy, Abetz & Drescher, Fahamu Pecou, Steve Miller, Cathey Miller, Carolyn Carr, Louviere + Vanessa, Danny McLean, Allen Beaulieu, Matt White, Hiraki Sawa, David Driskell, Eleanor Davis, Art Streiber, Delita Martin, Kelsey Dake
There are three different covers for this year’s Southern Music issue:
Adia Victoria (Photo by Chris Sikich)
Bonnie Raitt (Photo courtesy of Deborah Feingold / Corbis Premium Historial / Getty Images)
John Lee Hooker (Photo by Lawrence N. Shustak)