Cover Story

If a picture is worth only a thousand words, then a single cover image couldn’t begin to tell the story of Texas music. That’s why, for this month’s special issue celebrating all things musical in the state’s past, present, and future, we decided to publish four different covers for the first time in our 27-year history. “We’d talked about it in the past,” says interim art director Nancy McMillen, “but this was the perfect time.” To illustrate the breadth and depth of the topic, we considered a host of possible cover subjects, from Leadbelly to George Strait, before selecting a formidable foursome: western swinger Bob Wills, tejano queen Selena, blues rocker Stevie Ray Vaughan, and country chart topper Natalie Maines, who agreed to pose only if her father, guitarist Lloyd Maines, could be in the frame with her. Getting stock photos of the first three proved relatively easy, but shooting the Maineses was tougher, with Natalie, her hair and makeup people, and the photographer all flying in from different cities to Austin, where Lloyd lives. In the end, though, the logistical challenge was worth the trouble. “We would have been proud to have a cover with any one of these faces,” McMillen says. Four was picture perfect. EILEEN SCHWARTZ