PopMatters Call for Country Music Columnist

From honky-tonkin’ Bakersfield to the countrypolitan sheen of Nashville, from Western swing and rockabilly to the partisan sects of outlaw, new traditional, and Top 40, country music is a many splendored thing — and don’t you just know it.

If you have a passion for all things country, then PopMatters wants to hear from you. We’re looking for a new writer to pen a monthly column devoted to country music, tackling the paradigms of its past and trends of its future, profiling obscure and renowned artists alike, and engaging readers with deeper explorations of its impact on the cultural consciousness of the US and the world.

So if you have a soft spot for Nudie suits, ten gallon hats, and Tony Lamas, along with a cache of urgent insights into the proverbial tick-tock of the genre, let us know.

Qualified writers for these posts are already readers of PopMatters (as but just one vital supplement in their varied intellectual diet). They are familiar with the work of our current columnists, as well as other areas of the magazine, and they have a solid sense of what we’re looking for in content and caliber in these essays. We deliberately use the terms “essays” and “columns” interchangeably; as pieces are broad in scope yet grounded in real-world examples, and they are tied to regular deadlines and an established identity (and therein lay the “columnist” element). With those expectations in mind, we have monthly and ever-other-month column slots available. Suitable writers are dedicated to regular deadlines and enjoy participating in friendly, ongoing communications with their editor.

If this opportunity appeals to you, here’s how you get started: send links or pdfs to three magazine-style writing samples, preferably published work. Write a 2-3 paragraph column proposal providing a clearly-defined concept for your column that will guide you through limitless topics. That proposal should include 5 future topics you are eager to write about, should you work as a PopMatters columnist. Indicate why the regular deadline of a column appeals to you over the option of submitting an occasional feature piece for PopMatters’ consideration. Write your first column that, if accepted, will be your debut issue. Provide a few column titles that you think succinctly capture your column concept. Also, provide your bio and any personal information about yourself that you would like to share. Proposals not providing complete information, as outlined, will not be considered.

Many of our writers are called upon for their opinion by notable members of the media such as the BBC, NPR, MSNBC, Radio Australia, and VH1. Publications such as USA Today.com, Alternet.org, and Movies.com regularly pick up links to PopMatters articles and post quotes from PopMatters writers. Many PopMatters stories are carried across McClatchey-Tribune’s wire services with more than 60 US newspapers and 1,200 media clients worldwide and MCT Campus, a national wire service reaching more than 1,000 college and high school newspapers.

Deadline for submissions is Monday, 29 September.

Send your submission to: Zeth Lundy, Music Columns and Features editor, at lundy at popmatters.com, and cc: Karen Zarker, Senior Editor, zarker at popmatters.com, Subject line: PopMatters Country Music Columnist Application.

Note: we are unable to pay you monetarily at this time. But you would not go uncompensated in some form; your ‘pay’, as it were, is the privilege of publishing with this reputable magazine, wherein you are rewarded with this platform to broaden your readership, currently over 1.2 million unique readers per month, and counting.