Paste Magazine Editorial - Making the Connection

Steve Earle once proclaimed, "Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world, and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that."

But there are others who would give that title to Earle. Or Leonard Cohen. Or Woody Guthrie. Or Johnny Cash. The list goes on, and everyone has his or her favorite. We get passionate about the men and women whose music speaks to us, moves us and changes us.

This issue covers some amazing songwriters - in addition to Steve Earle, we have Peter Case, Greg Brown, Aimee Mann, Ryan Adams, Ani DiFranco, David Baerwald and Emily Saliers. But we also have a tribute to one man whose music has affected me more than any other.

I've been boxed-in in the lowlands, in the canyons that think
I've been pushed to the brink of the precipice and dared not to blink
I've been confounded in the whirlwind of what-ifs and dreams
I've been burned by the turning of the wind back upon my own flames

As the music of Mark Heard filled our offices these last few weeks, I was struck again and again by a line or phrase that created a completely new image or a new twist on something as familiar as my shadow. It's the creativity, the originality that lifts a veil of jaded complacency and reminds me that Heard's longing and sense of urgency are also mine. It's much more than just an earnestness; there's a beauty, sadness and truth that come alive by the inspired use of language and melody. And I come alive.

Great art wakes us up to what we already know to be true as much as it teaches us new truths. But that moment of recognition is like oxygen, giving life an intensity and vitality. This is part of what we mean by our tag line, "Signs of Life in Music and Culture."

One of the great pleasures in creating this magazine is giving props (or even the occasional shout-out) to those whose art creates these connections. In this issue we begin looking beyond music to two seemingly disparate programs on the airwaves. Public Radio International and UPN draw from very different demographics, but This American Life and Buffy the Vampire Slayer both use inventive narratives to illuminate the shared experiences of humanity.

We've also expanded our reviews sections, adding books and more than doubling the number of album reviews. And we've searched for (and found) signs of life in our own backyard of Atlanta.

Oh, and we hope you like the redesign. We promise we won't completely change with every issue.

Josh Jackson, Editor of Paste Magazine ( Paste Magazine, VOL1 issue2, Q4 2002 )
Copyright © Paste Magazine 2002

You will find more Signs of Life in Music and Culture at PASTE Magazine.
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