In Praise of The Fretboard Journal

Readers of this site likely are aware of the flood of music magazines on the market. No matter what styles you enjoy, there's a good chance of finding a publication catering to your taste. Locating printed material about the collection of roots (and non-roots) styles we like to call Americana certainly isn't difficult. The best of them is the fine No Depression, which somehow manages to get too much and too little credit for the "Americana" and "alt-country" tags we hang on this music. There's also Harp, which covers some roots music but leans toward indie and mainstream rock. Paste has some overlap with No Depression but skews even harder toward indie rock than Harp. It also devotes many of its pages each month to film, television and other aspects of culture, meaning that over time there has been less space for the music. You also can opt for even more narrowly focused publications such as Bluegrass Unlimited or Living Blues if they better suit your fancy.

If you favor the hard-to-define blend of styles that falls under the Americana heading, there's a relatively new magazine worth checking out. It's called The Fretboard Journal, and since it began quarterly publication in December 2005 it has run many articles about artists frequently mentioned at this site and others like it.

The Fretboard Journal's first five cover stories have been a goldmine for Americana fans. The magazine has featured, in order, trailblazing mandolinist David Grisman, alt-country chanteuse Neko Case, singer-songwriter/luthier Guy Clark, songwriter/old-time musician/riverboat captain John Hartford and flatpicker extraordinaire Tony Rice. If that weren't enough, FJ rounds out its quarterly package with features about builders of stringed instruments, bits of history well-known and obscure and pertinent reviews of music and books. As an added bonus, the magazine contains relatively few ads.

The oversized, glossy publication, which bills itself as "The Magazine for Musical Instrument Players, Collectors and Builders," is more than a collection of personality pieces. I checked out the first issue, which contained the Grisman piece, an interview with Country Music Hall of Famer Charlie Louvin that was conducted by Neko Case, a tribute to the Reverend Gary Davis and much more, but passed on it because of the $9.95 cover price. No. 2, which had Case on the cover with some of her tenor guitars, was equally intriguing. By the time I got on board, when my father started my subscription with issue No. 3 and its cover story about Guy Clark's guitar building, I was hooked. Unfortunately, the debut issue was long since sold out. It wasn't long before No. 2 and No. 3 were gone, too.

The Fretboard Journal's cover price has increased to $12.95, but the magazine is well worth that amount. Subscriptions sell for $40 a year, but you get an awful lot per issue for your $10. No. 5, on the shelves now, features Tony Rice and his famous 1935 Martin D-28 that previously was owned by Clarence White. Much has been written about Rice, White and the Martin, but The Fretboard Journal gives a history of the instrument that is not only informative but also at times humorous (the part about White shooting the guitar with a pellet gun) and heartbreaking (the time that the D-28 spent two hours underwater after a flood struck Rice's home). Packaged with stunning photography, the feature tells a remarkable story about a mind-boggling player and a magical instrument. The current issue also includes features on bluesman Taj Mahal, King of Dieselbilly Bill Kirchen and luthiers Stefan Sobell and Michael Gurian.

Unless somebody in your house builds guitars, Sobell and Gurian aren't household names. Nor is the viola da gamba, a cello-like instrument that fell out of favor in Europe more than 200 years ago but still has its devotees today, according to another feature in issue No. 5. That's the appeal of The Fretboard Journal; it's like getting a really interesting, well-designed book about stringed instruments every three months. As a bonus to Americana fans, it has been chock full of features on giants of the genre. Try finding that in Rolling Stone.