''Living Blues: The Magazine of the African American Blues Tradition'' is a bi-monthly

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

focused on

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

music, and America's oldest blues periodical. The magazine was founded as a quarterly in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1970 by

Jim O'Neal Jim O'Neal (born November 25, 1948, Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States) is an American blues expert, writer, record producer, and record company executive. He co-founded America's first blues magazine, ''Living Blues'', in Chicago in 1970, and w ...

and

Amy van Singel Amelia ("Amy") van Singel (October 11, 1949 – September 19, 2016) was an American blues journalist and radio host. She co-founded ''Living Blues'' magazine with her then husband, Jim O'Neal, and was posthumously inducted to the Blues Hall ...

as editors, and five others as writers. Among them were

Bruce Iglauer Bruce Iglauer (born July 10, 1947) is an American businessman and record producer who founded Alligator Records as an independent record label featuring blues music. Early life and career Iglauer was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States ...

and

Paul Garon Paul Arthur Garon (July 6, 1942 – July 26, 2022) was an American author, writer, and editor, noted for his meditations on surrealist works, and also a noted scholar on blues as a musical and cultural movement. Born in Louisville, Kentucky ...

. They sold the first copies at the 1970

Ann Arbor Blues Festival Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival is a music festival in Ann Arbor, Michigan, that started in 1972 from the Ann Arbor Blues Festival, which itself began in 1969. Although the festival has had a tumultuous history and suspended operations in 200 ...

. In 1983, O'Neal and van Singel sold publication rights to the

Center for the Study of Southern Culture The Center for the Study of Southern Culture (CSSC), located in Barnard Observatory on the University of Mississippi campus in Oxford, Mississippi, is an academic organization dedicated to the investigation, documentation, interpretation and teac ...

at the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment. ...

, and donated to the center their collection of blues records, photos, subject files, and memorabilia. At that time the magazine became a bi-monthly, with O'Neal still the editor. Peter Lee, who later founded

Fat Possum Records Fat Possum Records is an American independent record label based in Water Valley and Oxford, Mississippi. At first Fat Possum focused almost entirely on recording previously unknown Mississippi blues artists (typically from Oxford or Holly Sprin ...

, David Nelson and Scott Barretta followed as editors. The headquarters of the magazine moved to

Oxford, Mississippi Oxford is a city and college town in the U.S. state of Mississippi. Oxford lies 75 miles (121 km) south-southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, and is the county seat of Lafayette County. Founded in 1837, it was named after the British city of Oxf ...

. , the magazine was edited by Brett Bonner. The magazine stresses the position of blues as a living African American tradition. Each issue contains a variety of features, including artist interviews and profiles, record reviews, and a monthly Top 25 national blues radio chart. The annual Living Blues Awards have been presented since 1993 in multiple categories. The blues singer

Deitra Farr Deitra Farr (born August 1, 1957) is an American blues, soul and gospel singer-songwriter. Life and career She was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and Farr began singing in the mid-1970s with various soul bands. Deitra graduated fr ...

was a regular contributor.

References

External links

*
Living Blues
', magazine's official website *{{cite journal , archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20120309153604/http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/south/register/95/spring/l_blues.html , archivedate= 2012-03-09 , title=Living Blues Celebrates 25th Year , url=http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/south/register/95/spring/l_blues.html , journal=Southern Register , date= 1995 , author=Christy Keirn Bimonthly magazines published in the United States Music magazines published in the United States Blues music magazines Magazines established in 1970 Magazines published in Chicago Magazines published in Mississippi Quarterly magazines published in the United States