Maverick Country

About me:

About Maverick the UK's premier
country / roots music magazine.

AAG Publishing launched Maverick, a new monthly country and roots music magazine in July 2002. The past few of years has seen a surge of interest in the UK of acoustic-based, rootsy music that encompasses country, singer/songwriter, hillbilly, gospel, western swing, bluegrass, blues, folk, boogie and Appalachia. Though this has been driven by the amazing success of the O' Brother film soundtrack, the movement can be traced further back to UK touring by such acts as Alison Krauss & Union Station, Kathy Mattea, Nanci Griffith, Hal Ketchum, Suzy Bogguss, Kevin Montgomery, Mary Chapin Carpenter, etc, all demonstrating that beneath the country mainstream surface, there is a whole groundswell of musical innovation to be enjoyed.

Maverick is breaking the mould of how country music is perceived in the UK. The emphasis is firmly on music - no linedancing, an absence of MOR pap, glitter, belly buttons and other clutter that gets in the way of the music. The focus is on today's music in the firm knowledge that all music has to continually evolve, move forwards, without ever losing sight of the roots.

There is an extensive album review section and features on performers, songwriters, musicians, etc. who are on the cutting edge. You are likely to find such diverse musical practitioners as Willie Nelson, Ryan Adams, Gram Parsons, Alan Jackson, Tony Rice, Tim McGraw, The Dixie Chicks, Jimmie Rodgers, Raul Malo, Webb Pierce, Merle Haggard, Tracy Lawrence, Lee Roy Parnell, Nickel Creek, Alana Levandoski, Beth Nielsen Chapman all sharing space in the magazine. In many ways, all of these acts have approached the music and their careers in a kind of maverick way, refusing to be tied down to the confines of how the men in suits think the music should be produced and marketed.

The writing team is led by editor Alan Cackett, who was previously the senior writer for Country Music International. Prior to that, for 20 years, he was one of the main contributors to Country Music People, authored the Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Country Music, and recently wrote the artist biographies on the BBC Radio 2 Country Music website.

The first issue of Maverick was published in late June 2002 with a July cover date, and was initially only available by subscription or through selected retail outfits, but due to the excellent reception Maverick was receiving it was decided to distribute the magazine onto the high street and is now available from all good news agents.

In addition, subscribers are welcomed, and those who have email, are offered the opportunity to receive regular news updates of tours, CD releases and other relevant news items. When, and if, a major news story breaks, then that will be emailed immediately we have it.

A shopping cart has recently been added to the Maverick website and you may subscribe or order back issues using this method.

For the latest information about Maverick Please visit www.maverick-country.com