Well folks they’re dropping like flies. After the crappy news that No Depression would bite it after the May/June issue I’ve recently discovered that Harp magazine will pull the plug after the March/April issue, the one with Dave Grohl on the cover. Harp has been rock and alt.country friendly since the start and might have picked up some of the slack from ND going down but, well, there you go. I guess it’s all up to you now Blender! Just kiddin…
Harp started in the fall of 2001 and featured a cover story on Alejandro Escovedo. Among the artists who subsequently graced the cover of Harp during the last 7 years were Grohl, Cat Power, Ryan Adams, Wilco, Bright Eyes, Nick Cave, The Stooges, Drive-By Truckers, My Morning Jacket, Liz Phair, Tom Waits, The Roots, Tom Petty, Neil Young, Neko Case, Modest Mouse, Jay Farrar, Mars Volta, Devendra Banhart, Steve Earle, Pete Yorn, and Howe Gelb.
Yeah, blogs like your truly might address 1/100th of what was covered in these magazines but there was a legitimacy that ND and Harp had established through editorial excellence and championing the great unwashed underdogs and howling back-woods diamonds in the rough. As I’ve said before it was ND that brought country music that was still cool to my radar and caused me to waste time doing this for going on two years. As much as it blows to watch the grandfathers of genre’s media go down, I believe that the seeds are planted all over the world (like those of a wanton 70’s honky-tonker) that will allows the artists and fans to plan a world takeover…or at least an open mic night at Tootsies.