The new issue in the wild at our local Whole Foods.
Oxford American Magazine's 18th annual music issue, Visions of the Blues is on stands now. With this issue, Oxford American is celebrating one of the South’s greatest cultural exports: blues music. For the second year in a row, the music for the accompanying CD was mastered (along with some restoration for some of the old 78 sources) here at Osiris Studio.
The 23-song CD features classic blues (Charley Patton, Allen Toussaint, Big Mama Thornton) alongside contemporary artists reinterpreting the genre (Alabama Shakes, Bassekou Kouyaté, Regina Carter), plus rare recordings (including a never-before-released vintage CeDell Davis track). The magazine contains new work by some of the best music writers of our time (Greil Marcus, Daphne A. Brooks, Elijah Wald, John Jeremiah Sullivan) and essays by first-time Oxford American contributors (Jeffery Renard Allen, Rashod Ollison, Sarah Bryan, Zandria F. Robinson), as well as stories from OA regulars (Amanda Petrusich, Jewly Hight, Cynthia Shearer, David Ramsey).
The issue comes in multiple covers, showcasing three generations of blues artists: John Lee Hooker, Bonnie Raitt, and Adia Victoria.
