COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS

Editor's Box:
Hard to Handle
by Marc Smirnoff

Dealer's Choice
The soundtrack of the century.
by Hal Crowther

Southern Scenes
by Bryan Graham

Gone Off Up North:
Tennis-Shoe Tongue in His Head 
O Brother Dave, where art thou?
by Roy Blount Jr.

Ancestors: 
Mississippi Fred McDowell
He remains the most influential hill country guitarists.
by Heather Heilman

Ancestors:
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

Ancestors:
Bill Nettles
What makes an artist obscure?
by Bill Friskics-Warren

Ancestors:
Canray Fontenot
The feed-store fiddler was an encyclopedia of Creole music.
by Cynthia Shearer

Ancestors:
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

Collaborators:
Doc Cheatham and Nicholas Payton
New Orleans jazz closes the generation gap.
by Joseph Hooper

Departments: 
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

Elvisania:
Poems for Presley 
by Philip Stephens

Elvisania:
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

Icon:
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

Pioneers:
The Delta Rhythm Boys
The brank of “vocalese” took them all over the world and to the silver screen.
by David Sanjek

Rockers:
The Giants 
Mississippi’s answer to the Fab Four.
by James Hughes

Rockers:
Lynyrd Synyrd
Our Love/hate relationship with “Sweet Home Alabama.”
by Diane Roberts

Rockers:
The Beatles of the Delta 
The Gants 

Southern Gallery:
Bill Clinton
by Jessi Renfroe and Marc Smirnoff

Southern Gallery:
Billy Bob Thornton
by Rick Clark

Southern Gallery:
Tricia Walker
by Mary Jane Lupenheimer

Southern Series:
Ann Peebles
A stormy night in Memphis made her a star
by Andria Lisle

Southern Series:
The Twenty-Seventh Rain 
Different ways to look at weather
by Ron Carlson

Southern Series:
Linda Lyndell
The one-hit wonder who helped save Stax
by Robert Bowman

Southern Series:
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

Troubadours:
Those Odd Things with Melody
A musician explains his art.
by Kevin Gordon

Troubadours: 
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

Wanderers: 
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

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

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

Rober 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

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