I’m Todd L. Burns, and welcome to Music Journalism Insider, a newsletter about music journalism. I highlight some of the best stuff I hear, read, and watch every week; publish news about the industry; and interview writers, scholars, and editors about their work. My goal is to share knowledge, celebrate great work, and expand the idea of what music journalism is—and where it happens. Questions, comments, concerns? You can reach me anytime at music.journalism.insider@gmail.com.

Today in the newsletter: A new Notes On Process with Philip Sherburne and an interview with Melissa A. Weber. But first…

Yeah… Yeah!

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Programming Note

This will be the final edition of Music Journalism Insider. I started this thing in 2019 and it’s been an incredibly fulfilling project. But it’s time to bring it to an end so I can pursue something other than evenings on my computer. Thank you to everyone who has shared their wisdom in interviews and features. Thank you to all the folks who wrote music documentary reviews. Thank you to all the folks who have helped out behind the scenes with various projects.

A huge thank you to Laurent Fintoni, without whom this newsletter would not have been possible on a practical level. And, finally, the biggest thank you to my wife, Andrea Gyorody, without whom this newsletter would not have been possible on a personal or practical level. She’s the best writer, editor, and human that I know.

If you've enjoyed the newsletter and want to say thank you, the best way would be for you to buy me a coffee. If you're an Insider paid subscriber, I’ll be sending out an email later this week about your subscription.

Now, without further ado, let’s get into it!

Music Archives & Historical Resources

As you may have seen in this newsletter, Laurent Fintoni has put together an incredible Google Doc compiling music archives and other historical resources. Laurent has now transformed that Google Doc into a full-fledged website. Laurent is passionately devoted to the preservation of music history, and I’m happy to have played a small role in making this resource into a reality.

Reading List

Pitchfork celebrated the best music books of the year
Complex highlighted the best music writing of the year
Jake and Em discussed the Chinese TV show The Big Band
Caryn Rose talked about bag policies at concert venues
Lauren Ancona solved an X-Files music mystery
Kurt Stream reported on Bob Dylan’s time in Madison, Wisconsin
Sam Hockley-Smith reviewed the new book from Sasha Frere-Jones
Elle Hunt explored the world of celebrity trainers
Amy Phillips revealed the philosophy behind Pitchfork’s year-end picks
Zachary Lipez explained why Creem is celebrating Lester Bangs

Lede Of The Week

“Lester Bangs was a self-determined savant, so destined for genius that he invented entire constellations where a man of the reasonable talents it takes to be the Best Rock Writer Ever might be a star.” - Zachary Lipez

Notes on Process: Philip Sherburne

As part of this final newsletter, I wanted to include a special Notes On Process with Philip Sherburne, one of the finest writers on electronic music of the past few decades. He’s been a consistent inspiration to me as a writer, editor, and friend. Philip has been a contributing editor at Pitchfork since 2014, and we decided to shine a light on his work through his 2018 profile of DJ Koze.

If you’ve missed out on previous editions of Notes On Process, they're all right here.

Gonna Be A Rather Big Sign, But Yes

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Real Scenes, Pt. 1

Daryl Worthington and bird song
Ian Chainey and heavy metal and football
Andy Beta on Haruomi Hosono
Ben Cardew on progressive house
Elda Cantú on corridos tumbados

Podcasts!

Joe Coscarelli joined The Daily to explain the YSL case
The Crossed Channels podcast recently launched
The Wind went deep on an infamous metal band’s court trial
Rock That Doesn't Roll concluded its excellent first season
Lou Reed’s tai-chi practice was memorialized by The Kitchen Sisters
The Culture Journalist talked with Marine Snow founder Tony Lashley

Stuff You Gotta Watch

Stuff You Gotta Watch celebrates music journalism in video form. This final column is by Garth Cartwright.

The Everly Brothers were among the most successful and revered of the early rock 'n' rollers. A determining influence on the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, and the Beach Boys, they brought the ethereal harmonies of the Appalachian Mountains to the wild mix of rock 'n' roll, and enjoyed great chart success before bitterly splitting in 1973. After Phil and Don’s solo careers failed to ignite, the duo reformed in 1983, and this 95-minute documentary chronicles the reunion while documenting their remarkable career.

Revisiting their Kentucky coal mining roots and reuniting with family members, old friends, master musician Chet Atkins, and songwriters Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, this is an intimate film about a duo who made beautiful music yet found themselves trapped by their mutual dislike. Directed by Anthony Wall, the noted BBC documentarian, Songs of Innocence and Experience highlights both the cost and the beauty of succeeding in popular music.

Real Scenes, Pt. 2

Patrick St. Michel on J-pop
Erin Osmon on the Mellow Mafia
Kieran Press-Reynolds on sigilkore
Lez Henry on dub poetry
Philip Sherburne on shoegaze nostalgia

Trivia Time

The Musical Messenger ran from 1886 to 1891, and is considered the first Black music magazine. Who was its founder and editor?

Pivoting To Video

MTV reminisced about Yo! MTV Raps, Cribs, and more
Loudwire showed what happens when rock stars surprise their fans
Channel 4 explained how metalheads and classical fans are actually the same
Polyphonic explained why the guitar solo has died
Spectrum Pulse took stock of bro-country

Q&A: Melissa A. Weber

Melissa A. Weber is an artist-scholar and music historian whose areas of interest and expertise include 20th-century Black popular music; the music and culture of her native New Orleans; go-go music and culture of Washington, D.C.; the history of Parliament-Funkadelic; and archives. She’s the curator of the Hogan Archive of New Orleans Music and New Orleans Jazz, a unit of Tulane University Special Collections, in addition to serving as an adjunct professor at Loyola University New Orleans. Weber has written for countless publications, and DJs under the name DJ Soul Sister. In this excerpt from our interview, Melissa explains the influence of Nelson George on her work.

I never had a direct mentor. But I was in high school in the early 1990s when I discovered and read Nelson George's The Death of Rhythm & Blues. It was the first time I'd read non-fiction about Black popular music that made me want to read more. And it was the first time I'd experienced someone writing about Black popular music, and not just its top stars, in a serious way. And it inspired me to want to write to reach and teach others in an educational way that was also engaging. I wound up meeting him some years later, and he remains not only accessible to all younger writers and thinkers, but also inspiring as he's parlayed his music journalism career into filmmaking and other writing. He also is, for me, the role model for documenting events whether or not someone else is co-signing it. Because people are going to catch up to the topic in the future, and they're going to seek first-hand accounts from people who were there.

Anything you want to plug?

If anyone is interested in or has questions about using and researching with primary source materials from the Hogan Archive of New Orleans Music and New Orleans Jazz at Tulane University Special Collections, I'd love to hear from them at mweber3@tulane.edu. And from digitized Hogan Archive collections, I'd like to plug some of my favorites that can be enjoyed from the comfort of your home, such as The Legend of the Dew Drop Inn documentary interviews with Julia Dorn, the Vernon "Dr. Daddy-O" Winslow broadcast recordings, and Laurraine Goreau interviews and recordings related to Mahalia Jackson.

Read the full interview here.

Bits, Bobs

Josh Svetz launched a new blog
Ray Philp has launched a newsletter
Datpiff is uploading its archives to Archive.org
The National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards have been announced
Tina Edwards is looking for Tokyo-based music journalists who write in English
Ana Leorne has a new book out about The Doors
Richard Kingsmill has left Triple J
Patta has launched its latest edition
Applications are open for the Knight-Wallace Arts Journalism Fellowship

This Tracks

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Academic Stuff

New issues: Music and Letters, Journal of Sound and Music in Games, Acta Musicologica, and Latin American Music Review
Call for Proposals: MUSE 5th Annual Conference [Deadline: December 23]
Call for Papers: The Ninth International Conference on Music and Minimalism [Deadline January 15, 2024]
Call for Articles: Music Research Forum [Deadline: January 18, 2024]
Call for Papers: Popular Music Education in Europe [Deadline: September 1, 2024]
Call for Papers: Music Criticism and Racial Discourses [Deadline: March 24, 2024]

The Closing Credits

Thanks for reading! In case you’ve missed any special features over the past few years, you can check out all of that here. There are articles about music journalism history, what music journalism will be like in 2221, and much more.

I also did a recurring column in the newsletter called Notes On Process. The premise is simple: I share a Google Doc with a music journalist where we go into depth on one of their pieces. It hopefully provides an insight into how music writers do their work. You can check out all editions of Notes On Process here.

Trivia Time Answer

Amelia Tilghman was founder and editor of The Musical Messenger, with Lucy Bragg Adams as associate editor.

Some Final Notes

Thanks for reading! And thanks to James Lamont for their Trivia Time question. I make playlists every single week. Check them here! And full disclosure: my day job is at uDiscover Music, a branded content online magazine owned by Universal Music. This newsletter is not affiliated or sponsored in any way by Universal, and any links that relate to the work of my department will be clearly marked.

Feel free to reach out to me via email at music.journalism.insider@gmail.com. On X, it’s @JournalismMusic.