I am so happy to tell you that Issue 13 of Taproot, SONG, is now available! It's our first issue of this, our fourth year....and our first issue with Phoebe Wahl as our cover artist. Phoebe has been with us in every issue from the very beginning. While putting together SOIL, I was scouring art school websites looking for new artists to feature. I found Phoebe from RISD, and she's been with us ever since - as a supporter of Taproot, as a contributor, as a shaper of what we're doing in the pages, and as a friend. It's an honor to have her work move from inside the pages to the front of the pages with this issue. And would you look at all that COLOR! Such a treat for the eyes, and such a pleasure to embrace, especially this time of year.
Inside the pages, you'll see some familiar faces and names and plenty of fresh ones too. We're so thrilled that Natalie Merchant and Elizabeth Mitchell could join us for this issue, writing about their musical community in Hudson Valley. McKenzie E. Ditter shares instructions on how to make your on mbira (so incredibly cool -the kids and are going to do this soon!), and Jerome Sevilla shows us how to deconstruct and old sweater to upcycle the yarn. And of course .... so much more in the 96 pages of this issue. Colorful, fresh, and fun is how I'd certainly describe this issue. Maybe, hopefully, even a little bit funky?
We couldn't imagine creating an issue called SONG without there being any SOUND to accompany. And so we sent out SoulePapa and our friend at Gray Ghost Productions in search for just that. They found it, in the middle of the woods on an old blue bus. Yes, yes. There they joined past Taproot contributors and friends for a jam session. I'll let them do the rest of the talking....
A Blue Bus Session from Taproot Magazine on Vimeo.
It was a way to "find a way to get together with some friends and be creative and do something really wonderful, like sharing music." Yes, that!
Head on over to Taproot to check out more of the SONG issue. And thank you, as always, for your support of this adventure in ad-free, independent print publishing!