The Oxford American: Hot music for a cool Christmas

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

We all know that the media world is sinking at a sickening rapid pace, but as Christmas approaches there’s still one small cause for celebration—the return of the Oxford American’s 10th annual Southern Music issue. The magazine, which has struggled mightily in recent years, has managed to stay afloat long enough to produce yet another spectacular issue, full of absorbing and entertaining essays about great Southern music.

But the real reason to buy the magazine isn’t just the writing. As OA habitués know, the best part of the music issue is that it comes with a CD allowing you to listen to all the great tunes its writers are paying tribute to, with an introduction by Morgan Freeman, a longtime Oxford American supporter. (Hint, hint: Imagine how much fun it would be if our weekly awards magazine, The Envelope, came with a DVD with scenes from all the Oscar contenders we were writing about.)

This year’s music issue offers a bonus—a second CD that compiles the best material from the past decade of Southern Music issues. If you go to the magazine’s website, you can find highlights from the current issue, as well as other Web extras, information about subscriptions, back issues and local newsstand locations, so you can go out and buy yourself a musical Christmas gift.

As always, the issue is full of great writing, starting with a colorful essay on Jerry Lee Lewis by the incomparable Peter Guralnick, whose latest book, a biography of Sam Cooke, is a must-read. It also features Alan Light on Little Walter (the Chicago blues harmonica great who’s featured in “Cadillac Records”), Greil Marcus on Neko Case, Walton Muyumba on Ella Fitzgerald (who’s represented on the CD with a jazzy big-band version of “Sunshine of Your Love”), Chet Flippo on Clarence (Gatemouth) Brown, William Gay on Delta bluesman Furry Lewis and Brian James Barr on Bobby Charles, one of the South’s greatest unknown songwriters, whose admirers include Neil Young, Dr. John, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan and Fats Domino. (Signed to Chess Records when he was 15 after Leonard Chess heard his first bluesy demos, Charles took the train to Chicago and walked into Leonard’s office, who took one look at him and, after spewing a few choice expletives, bellowed, “You mean to tell me you’re not black?”)

The CD with songs from past issues is a keeper. It captures the amazing breadth of Southern music, which spans every culture and social stratum imaginable. Highlights include: “Going Away,” a great Delta-style gospel track by the Staples Singers; Blind Willie McTell’s hypnotic “Travelin’ Blues”; Mose Allison’s silky-smooth “Foolkiller”; “Righteously,” a great moody ballad from Lucinda Williams; Eartha Kitt’s sultry (could she be anything but) take on Cole Porter’s “My Heart Belongs to Daddy”; and Jerry Lee Lewis himself, with the Stax Records rhythm section, making Sam and Dave’s “Hold On, I’m Coming” all his own.

With Hanukkah and Christmas both on the way, you should treat yourself to some wonderfully distinctive writing and music, all rolled up in one magazine, the way it should. In an era where great writing (not to mention music) is under economic siege, it’s a blessing to still have the Oxford American around to enjoy. Or as Jerry Lee Lewis put it, when once asked by a reporter if there ever would be anyone like him again, “I certainly hope so.” “Why?” asked the reporter. “Well,” the singer replied, “just think what a dull world this would be without a Jerry Lee Lewis in it.”

Here’s Jerry Lee in his prime, on ‘American Bandstand,’ with blond curls and no socks, singing ‘Great Balls of Fire’: