This, the premiere issue of Elmore Magazine, is a first for many of us here at the magazine, but more importantly, it’s a first for music lovers in America.

Elmore Magazine is dedicated to saving American music – roots, blues, country, and rock, the foundations of America’s musical heritage. Elmore promotes American music, and will tie the music and the music lover together by helping readers become more knowledgeable about what music is available,why it is worthwhile, and especially by enhancing the live music festival experience. That’s our mission.

Recorded music is to live music as photographs are to travel. Photographs allow us to view historical sites, suggest places we might want to visit, and document what we see once we travel there. Those pictures become precious to us, but a photograph of the Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls will never have the emotional, personal, and unforgettable impact of actually standing on the rim, hearing the roar of the water.

For those of us with a passion for music, the most memorable, exciting and life-changing musical experiences involve listening to live music. The studio can create a near-perfect product, but live music is a moment in time that can stay with us forever. Wherever music fans get together to discuss their favorite artists, their favorite cuts, the inevitable question arises: “Did you ever see them live?“

Today, as we listen to recordings of Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash or Janis Joplin, if we were lucky enough to see them perform even once, in our mind’s eye we see them again. Elmore is for those who seek out that experience, create those memories, and for those who choose to be a part of those exceptional moments of synergy which happen onstage and nowhere else.

Our readers are among the most well-informed and committed music fans in the country, and we look forward to serving readers’ enthusiasm and growing body of knowledge with in-depth articles enhancing, not just describing, the American music experience. Where did this music come from,where is it going,who’s playing it now,who’s playing it best, and where can we get a piece of it? Those are all questions we plan to answer, every single issue, accurately and entertainingly, month after month.

If you’re looking for transcendent, ever-changing, unexpected moments of real genius, innovation, humor, personality and triumph, extraordinary, awe-inspiring, moving,magnificent American music, you’ve come to the right place. And so has Elmore Magazine.

See you at a festival!