This year marks the 40th anniversary of Living Blues magazine, and this issue kicks off our celebration. The plan is to take one decade per issue and explore the magazine as well as the blues during those years, culminating with a special issue where we catch up with a sampling of artists we have featured over the decades. This issue will cover the formative 1970s. During this decade LB took shape even as the commercial blues world around it took a dramatic change from the hard-driving urban sounds of the previous 20 years to a smoother, soul-influenced sound. For the editors and contributors to the young magazine, the blues world was rife with stories that needed to be covered. And that is just what the staff set out to do—document the living tradition of the blues.
Forty years later we are still doing just that, with cover artist John Primer whose career is in its third decade, southern soul artist Ms. Jody who carries on the soul-influenced tradition in African American blues, and Marquise Knox, a young and upcoming artist determined to keep the blues alive.
With the continued expansion of interest in vinyl, we are launching a new column in LB. In The Groove will take a look at the surge in new vinyl releases, digging up gems you can now find in LP and, yes, even 45 r.p.m. format. For some it will be a nostalgic look back at the good old days of “real” albums, and for others it offers a chance to discover the wonderful world of analog sound.
Check out page 88 for our annual presentation of the top 50 airplay releases from the Living Blues radio charts. It is interesting to compare this current list to Jim DeKoster’s top blues albums of the 1970s on pages 30-31. A lot has changed in 40 years, but it is encouraging to see so many labels still at it, and even several artists from back then still releasing new albums.
I invite our readers to write in and share your experiences with LB through the past 40 years. Send your stories and thoughts to: Living Blues, Letters to the Editor, POB 1848, 1111 Jackson Ave. W., University, MS 38677, or e-mail me at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Brett J. Bonner
Editor
