In this issue we profile 23-year-old slide-guitar phenom Derek Trucks (“Derek Trucks Takes on the World,” p. 24), who has some fascinating and thought-provoking words to say about the music industry. Trucks — who has a burgeoning solo career in addition to being one of the guitarists in the Allman Brothers Band — expresses real concern for direction of the music business. Specifically, he rues the extreme emphasis on image, which he feels comes at the expense of actual music making.

Not surprisingly, Trucks's bare-bones live show is the antithesis of glitz. He purposely limits his own interaction with the audience, hoping that will help the crowd focus more fully on his music. But Trucks is such an accomplished and dynamic player (and his band is so good) that he needn't worry. At a recent show that I attended, the audience was hanging on his every note.

Nevertheless, it's refreshing to hear from an artist who places a premium on instrumental ability and musical awareness. Those are attributes that are often left in the dust these days, to the detriment of us all.

Now, on to some other business. You'll probably notice a couple of new wrinkles in our Up Front section starting in this issue. We're debuting a new column called “Onstage with ….” Written by yours truly, the column will look at contemporary performance through the eyes of high-profile touring musicians. For this issue, I talked with Mike Bradford, who is currently Uncle Kracker's bassist and producer.

You might also observe that our “Backstage” column, written by Robert L. Doerschuk, has moved into the Up Front section as well. We did this to give “Backstage” a higher profile and because it fits in so well with the artist-related stories of Up Front. This month you'll certainly want to read Doerschuk's column, which focuses on controversial singer-songwriter Steve Earle.

Enjoy the issue.