The New Year has always been the best excuse for a new beginning, a new experience, a new resolution and even a new you. For Elmore, it’s a chance to grow and reach a wider readership than ever before. With new staff members, new artists and new ideas, Elmore gears up for the next decade with an arsenal of tricks up our sleeve.

Trick one is carving out a new home for print media, which has never been in greater danger of being wiped off the face of the earth. If you ask us, this really is a crime against humanity, if for no other reason than you can’t take your computer to the bathroom (and even if you can, you probably shouldn’t). But before we all turn into cyborgs permanently plugged into our technologies, let’s celebrate the tangible: the vinyl and, yes, the print.

There is a happy marriage between the media, where digital and print co-exist, where they are both indispensible, each for the unique opportunities they offer. Our digital edition allows listeners to sample audio tracks from the albums we’ve reviewed. Festivalgoers can read and enjoy the print magazine in breaks between acts, or physically hand a gift to a friend. As the fundamental Elmore belief states, you don’t have to abandon the old in order to embrace the new.

The future of American music is at a precipitous point. Americana is about more than just words and melody. A song captures the culture, history and spirit of a given place and time, evoking a vital part of our heritage that cannot be captured in history books alone. But while we always have one eye on the past, the future of American music is squarely in our ever-expanding field of vision.

The same readers who understand the superiority of a vinyl record over a digital download also understand the value of a magazine. Vinyl, complete with artwork, sits heavy in your hand, almost letting you feel the music in it. Holding a magazine with real pictures in your hands, being able to fold it into your back pocket and take anywhere, any time, is invaluable. Most importantly, today, the best and most reliable in-depth reporting remains in print. The Internet has countless advantages that would be foolish to ignore, but there are tangible qualities to print magazines that can never be replaced.

We’re rapidly seeing a future beyond the wildest dreams of sci-fi predictions but, despite technology’s shortcuts, it’s still within our power to save American music.

P.S. After two years as Managing Editor, Ali Green is setting out for the great unknown. Perhaps the best use of the Web we’ve come up with so far is allowing her to continue her popular Pet Sounds column from the road, as she brings along the print edition to read and pass to others. Taking over as Managing Editor is talented Associate Editor Levi Davis, who will help deliver an Elmore that’s better than ever. Now you’re asking yourself, “Really, how could Elmore get any better?” Re-subscribe in 2010 and we’ll show you.