Buddy (magazine)

Stoney Burns, before co-founding Buddy, published and edited Dallas Notes from 1967 to 1970, an underground bi-weekly newspaper. Christopher Gray of the Austin Chronicle, in 2000, likened Buddy as "the North Texas equivalent of Crawdaddy.[2] Gray later wrote that writers for Buddy magazine who covered the blues scene in the Dallas-Fort Worth area helped resurrect the career of Zuzu Bollin and introduced mainstream music fans to notable regional blues artists, including jazz guitarist Roger Boykin (né Roger Mitchell Boykin; born 1940) and blues singer R.L. Griffin (aka "Fat Daddy;" né Raymond Lewis Griffin; born 1939) and the late pianist Boston Smith, brother of Buster Smith.[lower-roman 1] At its peak, Buddy published editions in Dallas, Houston, and Austin/San Antonio and had a staff of almost two dozen.[3]

Please address all correspondence, love letters, hate mail, records, threats, photos, unsolicited manuscripts, payola, etc., to Buddy Magazine ... Buddy is copyrighted, but we're not fanatics about it. Write us and we'll give you permission to reprint just about anything you want. ... If your regular distribution spot runs out of magazines before you get yours, let us know and we'll print up an extra copy next time.

— Statement in the masthead of a 1976 Houston edition, by Stoney Burns, editor and publisher[4]

There was no such thing as a music magazine. There was no Dallas Observer. There was no Guide in the Dallas Morning News. There was no place to learn about concerts and who was playing where. When we began writing, the musicians loved us and jumped right in to support us.

— Ron McKeown, 2018, WFAA-TV (online)[1]

Early notable issues included "The Bob Dylan Story," "Plus Kinky Friedman All Star ^✡ Issue" (as featured on the cover), January 1974.[lower-roman 2] Buddy chronicled many performing artists before the emergence of their first albums, including, in 1975, Ray Wylie Hubbard, who was already popular as a Texas progressive country artist.[lower-roman 3] That same year (1975), KAFM radio host Chuck Dunaway reported that Buddy, with a circulation of 40,000, was helping spread the positive aspects of progressive country.[5] In 1977, 1978, Buddy was affiliated with KZEW-FM (a Dallas radio station known from 1973 to 1989 as "The Zoo"). By 1979, KTXQ took over Buddy, which had a circulation of 100,000.[6] In 1982, Buddy was the official magazine of the Texxas Jam, a rock festival held at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Beginning around 1982, Buddy was issued in tabloid size and format.

• When Dallas Rocked (2013): 64 minute documentary – interviews, photos, and commentary from the people who were there and lived through the heyday of the Dallas rock n roll music scene – during the 1970s and 1980s. Produced by Kirby Warnock, former Buddy magazine editor. Warnock narrates.

The Texas Tornado List, billed as "The greatest players in Texas. Perhaps in the world," is an annual hall of fame roster, since 1978, listing the top musicians in Texas. The name, Texas Tornados, is also the name of a band founded by 1986 Texas Tornado inductee, Doug Sahm.

Buddy's Texas Music Awards ("The Buddies") is an annual readers poll survey that debuted 1973. The awards were presented at a black-tie event. The new act categories are chosen by music journalists.

• Not to be confused with the South Korean LGBT magazine, Buddy, published in Seoul (from February 20, 1998, to Winter 2003); OCLC 613611725
• Not to be confused with the Buddy Potápění ("Buddy Diving"), a bi-monthly (every two months) published in Prague, founded July 2007 (issue No. 1) (buddymag.cz); ISSN 1805-3017