♥️ Read about how “I Can't Make You Love Me” became a modern standard in the essay "Lost in Love" by Annie Zaleski.

The 2023 annual music issue and CD celebrates ballads as a vessel for Southern storytelling and sentimentality.

Our 25th annual Southern Music Issue is devoted to ballads of all genres and origins. We investigate the slow-building progression from hyperlocal story songs to contemporary slow jams, while simultaneously celebrating myriad stylistic iterations in between: Appalachian folk, character-driven blues, tear-jerking country, down-tempo Southern rock, and more.

In our pages, contributors explore what ballads reveal about the past, present, and future of Southern storytelling through personal essays, profiles, visual art, experimental narratives, short stories, and more, offering fresh takes on the songs that make private feelings public, tug our heartstrings, and soundtrack our slow dances.

The Ballads Issue includes a free companion CD and a selection of specially curated Spotify playlists.