Nearest Distant Shore: Oxford American Returns!

Six or seven years ago I was in Barnes and Noble trying to feed my voracious magazine junkie habit and ran across this issue of the Oxford American. I was blown away by the quality of the writing, and fascinated with the photo essay on the issue's topic, "Is the South Still Gothic?" I immediately subscribed and waited anxiously for my first issue to arrive. Somehow I missed #15, but when I got my hands on #16 it totally exceeded expectations. Their first-ever music issue, it not only featured outstanding writing from folks like Roseanne Cash (the amazingly gifted singer/songwriter daughter of Johnny Cash) and Peter Guralnick (who wrote the definitive two-volume Elvis biography, Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love), but music ranging from Lucinda Williams to Skip James, Blue Mountain to Squirrel Nut Zippers, Steve Forbert to Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

Every year brought a music issue that celebrated the best of Southern music old and new; songs I knew by heart, like Billy Joe Shaver's Georgia on a Fast Train or Ring of Fire (this version with the incomparable Earl Scruggs backing up Billy Bob Thornton), and songs that I'd never heard of (before or since). There were trips down memory lane, like Dusty Springfield's Breakfast in Bed, which sent me to dig through the stacks of CDs here to find my neglected copy of Dusty in Memphis. Alison Krauss's incandescent Down in the River to Pray remains one of my favorite songs from O Brother, Where Art Thou? and I heard it first on the CD that accompanied the 4th annual music issue.

As joyously received as those issues were, the OA was ever so much more than music. The magazine was billed as "The Southern Magazine of Good Writing," but that's too modest. Good writing was expected; great writing was the norm and outstanding writing was the standard as often as not. Tony Early, Rick Bragg, Bobbie Ann Mason, the late Tim McLaurin, Donna Tartt and dozens more of the absolute cream of the crop wrote on subjects ranging from religion to college football (although in many parts of the south, football is religion, of course). One of my absolute favorites is the issue on southern women, which includes an article by one of my favorite guys, Steve Earle on one-third of my personal Holy Trinity, Emmylou Harris. There are tributes to Eudora Welty and Willie Morris on the occasions of their deaths, an issue devoted to Faulkner and pages and pages of beautifully written fiction. Hal Crowther wrote a regular column, and "Music Notes" and "Off the Shelf" had thoughtful reviews of the latest in notable Southern music, literature and non-fiction.

I was crushed to learn that the OA had gone under, and thrilled when they found new backers, although I do admit some trepidation over the news that the magazine had moved from Oxford to Little Rock. I know that I was not alone in thinking that the magazine's quality definitely suffered, but I was still very glad that the OA was alive, and had high hopes for its continued improvement. Sadly, the reprieve was short-lived and publication was suspended after only a handful of issues.

But God love Marc Smirnoff, the founder, editor and Little Engine that Could of the OA. He's performed a Lazarus-style miracle, this time setting the OA up as a non-profit organization affiliated with the University of Central Arkansas. I wish Marc and his staff the all the best as they move forward and can.not.wait. for my first issue of the new OA to arrive.

Meanwhile, those of you who were not lucky enough to be aware of this fabulous magazine before now need to hustle as fast as your mouse will click over to the OA's subscription page and order one for yourself and one for every one of your friends. Then read through the descriptions of the back issues and order as many as your credit card will allow. It will be the best money you spend this holiday seaon, I promise.