One answer to an oft-asked question.

The question "How do you hear of new music?" appears regularly in the AG Forum.

In the early-mid 1960’s it was for me (and most others) of course on AM radio. Then in 1967 Tom Donahue pioneered FM Rock radio on his KMPX station in San Francisco, which moved to KSAN the following year. That station (and similar stations throughout the U.S.A.) played not 45RPM singles, but rather album cuts, songs that would never be played on "3 minute singles only" radio. Hendrix, Cream, etc.

In the mid-70’s a similar thing occurred in the print coverage of music: the emergence of the Fanzine. Small amateur mags devoted to covering either the likes of the emerging Punk scene, or genre-specific coverage of cult audience artists and bands. These provided an alternative to Rolling Stone, which was still stuck in the 60’s. Much better pro-magazines were Creem and Crawdaddy.

My favorite was Bomp Magazine, founded by Rock ’n’ Roll historian Greg Shaw (who also wrote liner notes for LP releases, as well as acting as The Flamin’ Groovies manager). It was in Bomp that I learned of The Nerves (the Power Pop trio that consisted of Peter Case---later leader of The Plimsouls, Paul Collins---later leader of The Beat, and Jack Lee---writer of "Hanging On The Telephone"), The Dwight Twilley Band (though they had enjoyed a hit single in 1975---"I’m On Fire", I wasn’t listening to radio and never heard it until I got their debut album Sincerely. WOW!), Dave Edmunds (Dave had an AM radio hit back in 1970 ("I Hear You Knocking", but I hadn’t heard it), Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, Marshall Crenshaw, Squeeze, and dozens more.

When the Alt-Country movement got underway in the mid-to-late 1980’s, the magazine No Depression showed up, and was invaluable for those interested in "Roots" music. You name a band or artist of the genre, and you’ll find stories about him/her/they in it. It was a real loss when the mag stopped publishing print copies. But another great mag---Mojo---continued publishing, and remains a great source of info on artists/bands, new and old.

But then the internet appeared, and vast quantities of info on every imaginable subject became available. I have a number of favorite YouTube music channels I watch regularly, including that of Bob Bradley, who resides in the Louisville Kentucky area. He is an audiophile (with a Thorens TD-124), a music lover, and a musician (with an impressive vintage guitar collection). Here he is in a video with his good friend Jefferey Lee Puckett (great name!): They have made a bunch of others. Though Bob’s musical taste and mine intersect only somewhat (he’s really into Jazz, for instance), I enjoy his videos immensely.