The Rag Times
- Place of Publication: Los Angeles, CA
- Language: English
- Date of Publication: 1967-2003
- Periodicity: Bimonthly
- Editor: Richard Zimmerman
- Publishers: [Maple Leaf Club]
- Type: Full Text
The Rag Times was the official publication of the Maple Leaf Club, an organization founded in 1967 by five ragtime enthusiasts “dedicated to the preservation of classic ragtime.” Founding members Dave Bourne, Albert Huerta, Chuck McClare, and Bill Mitchell would contribute to The Rag Times and fifth member Dick Zimmermann served as its editor for 36 years. As proudly observed by Bourne in his first headlined article, “Local music group sets back music 60 years!”
The ragtime revival of the 1970s spawned great amounts of research on, and interest in, the genre, as a matter of history and current performance. Articles on ragtime musicians, specific works, publishers, recordings, books, and discography compose the bulk of each issue, along with activities of the Maple Leaf Club and other ragtime clubs in the United States and Canada. Frequent contributors included Gus Willmouth, Jack Rummel, Tex Wyndham, Floyd Levin, and Galen Wilkes.