Fall 2024
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Opener
The Gone Country Issue
DAN MORRISSEY
SiriusXM program director Jeremy Tepper, perhaps the greatest expert on outlaw country music I’ve ever come across—and just the nicest guy you could run into at a Dwight Yoakam concert—had died suddenly at 60 of a heart attack. I mention Jeremy here not just in tribute, but because he was one of a few influential music lovers who set me on the bottle-strewn path to the artistic love of my life: country music.
Hired Guns
HIRED GUNS
Judith “Pebbles” Pierce, Brianna O’Brien, Taran Dugal, Evan Minsker, Hilary Pollack, Kim Taylor Bennett
Are you really just gonna subscribe without saying howdy? —Ed.
Creem Profiles
Dry Cleaning
STIGMA FOR PRESIDENT
Paul Campagna
The Godfather of Hardcore emerges as the 2024 dark horse candidate, and he’s got our vote!
Born to Booze
LIQUID THERAPY
Kirk Podell
Ted Leo can’t drown his demons—they know how to swim
The Black (Metal) Plague
Luke Ottenhof
The year is 1509, and life is alright. You’re farming delicious, non-GMO corn on a small fief in the peaceful English countryside, and the hip, youthful King Henry VIII has just taken the throne. Your landlord is kind of an asshole, but you steal a flagon of his shitty moldy ale every night to stick it to him.
Greetings from Detroit
REAL-LIFE CAREERS IN MUSIC!
Joe Casey
Musician-slash-CREEM Man on the Ground Joe Casey (Protomartyr) ponders the archetypical musician-slash-bartender
How-To
THE NOT-SO-SECRET LIFE OF BEES
Jaan Uhelszki
Guitar god Steve Vai (bee)keeps it real
ROMANTICIZE THAT
Taran Dugal
Ireland's Fontaines D.C. make poetry of post-punk
Police Files
SACRIFICED TO SATAN
J. Bennett
An unholy trinity: Slayer, the murder of Elyse Pahler, and (maybe) Jennifer’s Body
LIVING LIFE TO PIECES
Mandy Brownholtz
After unimaginable loss, Shannon & The Clams cross the astral plane into adulthood
ARE YOU READY FOR CREEM COUNTRY?
Zachary Lipez
If you don’t love Americana, you can go back to Russiana
CREEM DREEM
SIERRA FERRELL
Stars Cars
MARCUS KING
1973 Cadillac Coupe DeVille
CREEM Proposal
INTERVIEW WITH KID ROCK ON A HORSE
Dave Carnie
Dear Kid Rock's management, CREEM Magazine (Detroit) would like to request an interview with Kid Rock for our upcoming "Country Issue." The interviewer will be CREEM writer Dave Carnie, who would like to conduct this interview on the back of a horse...
IS THAT REALLY COUNTRY?
Deborah Evans Price
Unwelcome invaders or goodwill ambassadors?
GET IT TWISTED
Dan Morrissey
Country music finally gets real on the Twisters soundtrack
ASK A COUNTRY MUSIC EXPERT
Tyler Mahan Coe
Cocaine & Rhinestones’ Tyler Mahan Coe explains where cowboys come from
MALL AMERICAN GIRL
Zachary Lipez
Interview With the Amythyst Kiah
A SLICE OF AMERICANA PIE
Holly George-Warren
An expert’s overview of music’s most loosely defined genre
MJ LENDERMAN
Jaan Uhelszki
Forewarned isn’t always forearmed. We knew that MJ Lenderman wasn’t going to be a chatterbox after we read an interview last year in Indy Week where he told the reporter that he didn’t think he was very good at talking. “The less people hear me talk, the more they can project on me or think I’m a smart guy,” he maintained.
Tyler Childers IS GOING HOME
Evan Minsker
And the country superstar is bringing his people with him
BITTERSWEET HEART OF THE RODEO
Zachary Lipez
In the year that “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ’N’ Roll),” AC/DC’s bagpiped salute to art being a job, was released, Alejandro Escovedo was 24 years old. Despite belonging to a family that already counted multiple members of Santana amongst its numbers, Alejandro was not a musician.
TURNING LEMONS INTO CHAMPAGNE
Fred Pessaro
Michael Ochs saw an incredible historical document where others saw a disposable photo
LUCINDA WILLIAMS’ BIG INTERVIEW (NEVER MIND SHE'S ONLY 5'5")
Jaan Uhelszki
On surviving a stroke, collaborating with her soulmate, and missing Tom Petty
BOYS OF FAITH
MANDY BROWNHOLTZ
Zach Bryan’s risen to the top of the contemporary country renaissance. His buddy Louie Nice is close behind with a camera.
Dusty Fingers
CRAZY HORSE NEVER DIED
Brian Turner
Music brainiac Brian Turner reveals a rare and fantastic record from his secret stash—hey, quit drooling on the magazine!
Eleganza
LEVII’S JEANS
Mandy Brownholtz
Post Malone confesses he changes clothes every 20 minutes—now you can too!
CREEMAINS
WAYLON JENNINGS: “IF I WAS EVERYTHING PEOPLE MAKE ME OUT TO BE, I’DA BEEN DEAD A LONG TIME AGO.”
Chet Flippo
“IF I WAS EVERYTHING PEOPLE MAKE ME OUT TO BE, I’DA BEEN DEAD A LONG TIME AGO.”
LOVE IN THE TIME OF ALGORITHMS
Kim Taylor Bennett
How Cigarettes After Sex continue to mine love and lust—but now they’ve hit the big time
LOVING FUN
Hilary Pollack
Sheer Mag work smarter, not harder
THE HITS KEEP COMING
Martin Douglas
La Luz take on the world (read: semi trucks, cancer cells)
Créme de la CREEM
Crème de la CREEM
Fred Pessaro
In this section, CREEM is here to make sure you know the cool shit to impress friends at parties, get free drugs, catch the eye of that 10 across the way, and just be a superior person to these plebes and peasants listening to whatever TikTok or that Hawk Tuah Girl tells them. Don’t be corny. Check out these sick bands on record and on the road, and we absolutely guarantee* you’ll get laid.
Rock-a-Rama
ROCK-A-RAMA
Zachary Lipez
X becomes ex, MC5 kick out their last jams, Lanegan from beyond the grave again, a different Strokes, and more!
CREEM Presents
2ND ANNUAL SUMMER SUNBURN
FRED PESSARO
I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain?
CREEM Comix
JUST THE MOSH PARTS
Nate Turbow
Parting Shot
PARTING SHOT
Ian: “This guy’s trying to pretend that 'Waiting Room’ isn’t a ska song!”