Country Music magazine Ceasing Publication

Date: 13 Jun 2003 02:55:32 GMT
Newsgroups: rec.music.country.western
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Apparently everyone at the magazine found out yesterday or Tuesday. There was
an article in the Tennessean about it today:
'Country Music' ends 30-year run
By JEANNE A.
NAUJECK
Staff Writer
Country Music
, the glossy bimonthly magazine that chronicled the genre for more than 30
years,
apparently has put its last issue to bed.
Senior Editor Michael McCall said he learned yesterday that the magazine had
ceased publication.
The August/September edition will contain an article on the death May 15 of
June
Carter Cash, an irony considering the first cover featured her husband, Johnny
Cash.
''That's so fitting,'' McCall said last night.
He and Assistant Editor Nancy Henderson are the only two full-time employees to
lose jobs, he said.
Attempts to reach Editor-in-Chief Neil Pond at work and at home were
unsuccessful last night. Officials at the magazine's owner and publisher, Boca
Raton, Fla.-based American Media Inc., also could not be reached.
American Media also publishes Country Weekly and tabloids National Enquirer,
Star and Weekly World News.
Country Music featured long profiles of hit makers such as Faith Hill, Keith
Urban and Trick Pony as well as a self-contained section called The Journal of
Traditional Country Music, which featured essays on the history of country
music and its legends.
Bill Friskics-Warren, music editor of The Scene, said Country Music went beyond
the typical industry- and personality-centered fare.
''There has been very little writing that qualifies as criticism in the way
that
there's criticism about rock and jazz music. Country Music historically has
made room for writing that expands the context in which we hear and understand
the music,'' he said.
Music Row fixture Hazel Smith, who wrote the magazine's widely read column
The Insider , said she was ''totally shocked,'' calling it one of few vehicles
for promoting new artists.
''You can put anything you want in Rolling Stone, in Vanity Fair, in Redbook.
It ain't gonna sell country records,'' Smith said. ''They're sold by Country
Music
magazine and Country Weekly. That's what the fans subscribe to.''
Smith said she had no hint the magazine was in trouble.
''Somebody's messed up somewhere, is all I can say about it,'' Smith said.