COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS 

Editor’s Box
by Marc Smirnoff

Publisher’s Corner
by Ray Wittenberg

Gone Off Up North:
American Yawp
Doddley dew dee dowm woddle-y dee d’doodle yo day eedel-y doo doo
by Roy Blount, Jr.

Dealer’s Choice:
The Rhumba Man 
by Hal Crowther

Arkansas History:
The People's Singer 
by Jeff Sharlet

Meditations:
Family Song
by Philip Stephens

Writing on Writing:
Teenage Wasteland
by Mike Powell

After the Storm:
Don't Look Back
by Alex Rawls

After the Storm:
Why She Won't Leave
by Sheryl St. Germain

Photograph
by William Greiner

FICTION 

Voice of the Valley
A story by John Rolfe Gardiner

I Don't Think Nanci Griffith Is a Bitch Anymore
A story by Kevin Brown

FEATURES

Writers Who Rocked:
The Red Crayola
All they wanted to play was the crack-ball stuff
by Frederick Barthelme

Writers Who Rocked:
Annals of Learning: My First Degree 
by Warren Zanes

Writers Who Rocked:
Finding the Level 
by Sven Birkerts

Writers Who Rocked:
Classical Is a Period, Not an Adjective 
by Pia Z. Ehrhardt

Writers Who Rocked:
My Troubadour Career
by James Whorton, Jr.

Mystic Nights
The making of “Blonde on Blonde” in Nashville
by Sean Wilentz

Hype Machine
A North Carolina band navigates the ephemeral blogosphere
by Bill Wasik

CD LINER NOTES

Eldridge Holmes
by Ben Greenman

Hackensaw Boys
by Geoffrey Himes

The Clovers
by Bill Friskics-Warren

Sandy Posey
by Steve Klinge

Reverend Charlie Jackson
by John Uhl

Van Dyke Parks
by Robert Lloyd

Zakary Thaks
by Anthony Mariani

Karen Dalton
by Carol Ann Fitzgerald

Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks
by David Smay

Teddy Grace
by Derek Jenkins

Betty Davis
by Amanda Petrusich

Dwight Yoakam
by Holly Gleason

Amy LaVere
by Jim Ruland

Don Redman
by David French

Mayo Thompson
by William Bowers

The International Submarine Band
by Zeth Lundy

The Parchman Prison Band
by Scott Barretta

Joe Bennett & The Sparkletones
by Bruce Eder

Thelonious Monk
by Sam Stephenson

David Banner
by Nick Weidenfeld

Fred Neil
by Mike Powell

Betty Harris
by Devin McKinney

Percy Mayfield
by Aaron Cohen

Iris DeMent
by Kevin Brockmeier

Daniel Johnston
by Alex V. Cook

The Roches
by John Jeremiah Sullivan

Cover: Thelonious Monk, courtesy of Everett Collection