During SXSW this year, roots music magazine Harp announced that it was shutting down. The music industry’s growing unwillingness to spend money on advertising left those reliant on label ads vulnerable. Harp was a smart magazine, though, making it doubly sad to see it go down.

Harp is back, in a matter of speaking. Now it’s Blurt, and it’s less strictly focused on roots rock, and it’s free for digital download and up as Web site. For everyone concerned about the future of journalism, this is an experiment to pay attention to.

Fortunately, it’s not only of interest for that reason. The Web site includes a blog by James McMurtry titled “Wasteland Bait & Tackle” – always the ray of sunshine – and the first entry reflects on the upcoming election. It starts with him contemplating the people who live on the land he is driving through on his way to Madison, Indiana:

They’re prosperous, and, judging by their billboards, they’re also religious, and they’re… pissed off. One sign reads, “Your New Age Christ according to Oprah, will not save you.” Another says, “Heartbeat: Eighteen days after conception.” Yes, I’m sure most mothers’ hearts are beating eighteen days after they conceive. The next day, on the way down to Louisville, I see a billboard that reads, “Saturday, the true Sabbath, changed by the Antichrist.” One pickup has a “Terrorist Hunting License” window sticker with a picture of Osama Bin Laden, or maybe just some anonymous A-rab in the crosshairs.

These were my people once. I was never a Hoosier, but I was, and still am, related to middle Americans. They weren’t always so angry, or so violently Christian.