Marc Smirnoff

One of the least forgettable artists to appear on an Oxford American CD of late was Karen Dalton of Enid, Oklahoma, who died in 1993, but not after etching her way into the consciousness of whoever heard her. Bob Dylan was one of the touched, and, in his 2004 autobiography, he wrote these now famous lines about his memories of Café Wha?, the Greenwich Village stomping ground for avant-garde and folkie talent: “My favorite singer in the place was Karen Dalton.... Karen had a voice like Billie Holiday and played guitar like Jimmy Reed.... I sang with her a couple of times.”

Lord, I have tried to keep this space clear of the vitriol I have been known to hurl, offsite, at an Oxford American competitor—the fancy “lifestyle”/Southern-culture magazine out of Charleston, South Carolina, called Garden & Gun. (GAG to its foes; G&G to its partisans.) Yes, invective has been uttered, here and there, but in print I have restrained myself—and I give praise unto that restraint because holding one’s caustic jabber in mixed company is a sure trait of manners, is it not?

Any piece of writing not edited with care and insight can be the equivalent of viewing an object through smudged glass. William Whitworth, editor emeritus of The Atlantic Monthly, and former writer and editor for The New Yorker, exemplifies the best in editorial subtlety, brainpower, and grace. On June 22, 2011, Mr. Whitworth joined OA editor Marc Smirnoff for an on-stage discussion at the debut of The Oxford American's Summit for Ambitious Writers.

If magazine editors contribute in some way to the dissemination of art, it's not only in their decisions about which writing to publish, but in the routes they open up for writing. I hope we are creating a little route in this issue with the debut of a department titled "Writers on Dating."

We came by the idea easy. After all, whose dating advice should we crave more than a writer's?

The Part-Time Voyeur Picks Ten Clips of the Month

Some of us will do anything to avoid criticism. At exaggerated levels, people will lie and steal and kill so as to avoid it. That’s how crazy the subject can be. Perhaps the rest of us just build moderate, safe lives in the hopes of escaping detection.

PART ONE, in which The Voyeur unveils his fave clips of Alabama musicians at play.

Music Issue 2010: Editor's Box by Marc Smirnoff.

Marc Smirnoff's review of a review of a review.

In tribute to Jimmy Pitts (1968–2010), we offer Marc Smirnoff's column from our Southern Art & Architecture Issue.

Jimmy Pitts (1968–2010).

Editor Marc Smirnoff remembers Barry Hannah.

Remembering Dale Hawkins.

Overseas, Larry Donn is big. In Europe, they rank him in the elite rockabilly class with Sonny Burgess and Billy Lee Riley. Since 1989, Donn has toured six times there. Everywhere he goes in England, Germany, Holland, Sweden, or Finland, they give him the keys to their cities, and their hearts, they name their children after him (the she-babes they call Donna), damsels rush him (he, happily married, demurs), the crowds jump when he jumps, they quiver when he sings. Not for a moment do they doubt his greatness.