This is sad news and the end of an era. I’ve been subscriber ever since it was called Southern Rag. Even though it often dragged me into areas of music I wasn’t that keen on at the time, it did so in a way that made me realise that it was good for my wider musical education. Without that I would still be one of those narrow minded musos who know what they like and therefore refuse to listen to anything outside their comfort box. Aside from the more challenging world music, they also covered traditional and contemporary folk, blues, rhythm and blues, gospel, old time country, bluegrass and enough indie singer songwriter stuff than the world probably ever will need - what’s not to like there?

The standard of journalism and reviews has always been top notch, compared to other magazines that have come and gone during the lifetime of Froots. Yes, there are one or two other folk mags still going, but they don’t really have the same breath or depth of coverage. On the plus side, at least I’ll have more time now for fixing the guttering, which has needed attention since about 1978.