Welcome to Volume 3, folks. Issue #11 marks the beginning of our third year of publishing No Depression — our second as a bimonthly, after coming out quarterly in our initial year.
Quite a bit has changed since those rather inauspicious beginnings in September 1995. Grant moved first to Los Angeles, and more recently to Nashville; I moved twice too, first about 20 feet north and more recently about eight blocks west. Original ad director Jenni Sperandeo left to go manage Whiskeytown; distribution director Kyla Fairchild picked up those duties and in effect became our linchpin on the business end of the operation.
This summer, the three of us made a commitment of sorts, apparently accepting that this magazine seems like it may be around for awhile. Let the record show that the papers were filed on July 28 for the official incorporation of No Depression.(Sorry, no stock options yet.)
Nevertheless, we haven’t yet completely forsaken our day job, such as they are. I’m still writing a weekly column for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and working there a couple days a week as a copy editor. Grant’s byline occasionally turns up in the pages of a few more highfalutin’ publications, as some of you may have noticed. If you’re ever in Seattle, drop by Hattie’s Hat and you’re apt to find co-owner Kyla making sure all is running smoothly at the coolest restaurant and bar on Ballard Avenue.
Which is to say, simply, that success is whatever you choose to call it. If we’ve grown faster and bigger than we expected when we started this thing two years ago, we ain’t exactly movin’ on up to the East Side. And maybe that’s not the goal. Sitting here in our production office (a.k.a. Grant’s living room) on a Sunday night as we prepare to go to press, I pause for just a moment, proud of what we’ve created, secure in the knowledge that we’re still having loads of fun.
And that we’re going to see Glen Campbell tomorrow night…
