This past week, the mailman brought me a true and honest BOUNTY: my contributor copies of the Oxford American 10th Anniversary Southern Music issue. This thing is packed to and through the gills with goodies. The issue is oriented by TWO CDs of free music, boasting a whopping 28 tracks apiece. Some of them you may know very well; others you will be delighted and thrilled to discover. Pretty much every genre of music is represented, and the selections are impeccable. Inside the magazine itself, find stellar essays of all lengths and sizes about the artists on the CDs, plus new fiction by Clyde Edgerton and Matthew Pitt, Roy Blount Jr. on the documentary Shakespeare was a Big George Jones Fan: Cowboy Jack Clement’s Home Movies, and a whole lot more.

Greil Marcus AND Jack Pendarvis BOTH writing about Neko Case? — CHECK.

Humongous cover story on Jerry Lee Lewis, including badass picture of same? — CHECK.

Cousin Emmy, “the first hilllbilly to own a Cadillac,” written about by yours truly? — CHECK.

Long-lost Louisville, KY greaser-cum-hippie band Elysian Field? — CHECK.

Um, Richard Hell and Elvis and Lucinda Williams and Doc Boggs and Betty White (yes, that Betty White) and Kevin Brockmeier and Big Star and Blind Willie McTell and Thomas Beller and Eartha Kitt and Little Walter and The Residents and JESUS IT JUST KEEPS GOING ON–

Seriously, friends, it’s not just this issue either. Oxford American is one of the few magazines I eagerly await every month. Their recent Katrina issue was excellent, and before that their HOMES issue featured cats like Chris Bachelder and Karen Russell. Pendarvis is in there a lot. There’s fiction in every issue. These guys are more than just on the level- they are the level. Time to get with the program. Once more, all you have to do is call 1-800-CLICK-HERE. Operators are standing by.