Oxford American # 50, Summer 2005

COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS

Editor’s Box
by Marc Smirnoff

Gone Off Up North:
Ray Charles (1930–2004)
by Roy Blount, Jr.

Sidebar:
A Warning to Parents
by Jeff Baker

Sidebar:
Jimmy Martin (1927–2005)
by Tom Piazza

Southern Scenes:
Children with Zora Neale Hurston
Eatonville, Florida, June 1935

FEATURES

Coal Miner Mother
More than a movie.
by J.T. LeRoy

Grand Ambition
For some prodigies, all roads lead to a man in Athens.
by Justin Heckert

POETRY

Murmur R.E.M.
by James Harms

Elvis Sings "Unchained Melody," June 1977
by Jeff Fallis

1967
by Billy Collins

CD LINER NOTES

Dale Hawkins
by Lauren Wilcox

Howard Tate
by Anthony Doerr

Ricky Skaggs
by John McManus

Johnnie Lee Willis
by David Stricklin

Zora Neale Hurston
by Paul Reyes

Lightnin' Hopkins
by Sven Birkerts, Joe Sacco, & Michael Perry

Jim Ford
by Barney Hoskyns

Red Allen
by David Gates

Bubble Puppy
by Brett Milano

Johnny Winter
by Andrew Hudgins & Michael Parker

Cowboy Jack Clement
by Matt Dellinger

The DeZurik Sisters
by John Biguenet

Moondog
by Daniel Alarcón

Bessie Smith
by Carol Ann Fitzgerald

Helen Humes
by Lisa Tucker

Nat King Cole
by Kevin Canty

Erykah Badu
by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Erma Franklin
by Arthur Kempton

The Wilburn Brothers
by Warren Zanes

Sammi Smith
by David Cantwell

Blind Willie McTell
by William Gay

Joe Tex
by Charles D’Ambrosio

Al Green
by Susan Straight & Jeff Sharlet

The Pilgrim Travelers
by Robert Darden

Atomic Boogie
by Lindsey Millar

Elvis Presley
by Alan Light

Buddy Holly
by Don McLeese



Cover: Photograph of Elvis by Virgil Apger