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Kim Ruehl

Joan Baez Documentary Confronts the Emotional Toll of Music and Activism

Joan Baez Documentary Confronts the Emotional Toll of Music and Activism

In one particularly memorable shot from I Am a Noise, the new documentary about singer-songwriter Joan Baez’s life and career, things go quiet. The landscape is stark. The light is fading. There appears to be vast emptiness in every direction. Baez, meanwhile, is dancing. Her hands are in the

THE NEW NORMAL: How Music Venues Are Adapting to the Pandemic

THE NEW NORMAL: How Music Venues Are Adapting to the Pandemic

EDITOR’S NOTE: “The New Normal” is an occasional series of stories that look into how the coronavirus has affected artists, listeners, and the music business. In early March, as COVID-19 was causing havoc in Washington state, a choir got together for rehearsal in a small church. Members were cautious

The Work Is Never Done: Anaïs Mitchell’s Folk Opera 'Hadestown' Gets New Life

The Work Is Never Done: Anaïs Mitchell’s Folk Opera 'Hadestown' Gets New Life

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an excerpt of a story from No Depression’s Fall 2016 print issue, “Speak Up!”, about a pre-Broadway production of the musical Hadestown. The Broadway version, adapted from singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell’s folk opera, won eight Tony Awards in 2019, including Best Musical and an

PRINT EXCERPT: Hidden Truths: Unearthing the Stories of the Black Musicians in Bluegrass and Old-Time Music

PRINT EXCERPT: Hidden Truths: Unearthing the Stories of the Black Musicians in Bluegrass and Old-Time Music

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is an excerpt from a story in our Appalachia-themed journal from Spring 2018. You can read the whole story — and much more — in that issue, available here. And please consider supporting No Depression with a subscription for more roots music journalism, in print and online,

Meet Hilary Saunders, No Depression's New Editor

Meet Hilary Saunders, No Depression's New Editor

Here in Asheville, in the wood behind my home, the leaves are changing color and falling from the trees. The temperature has yet to give way, but I know it's coming -- that crisp, autumnal, chai-flavored breeze. The beer people are looking forward to the release of Cold

Your Top 50 Albums of 2015

Your Top 50 Albums of 2015

Here we are at the end of another year, and it was quite a year in roots music. Here at No Depression, we returned to the printed page with the first of many magazines to come. (I'm currently in the baby stages of pulling together the Spring 2016

One Hit Wonders? Hardly.

One Hit Wonders? Hardly.

Folks of a certain age no doubt remember when Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" blew across the music world, with its easy, masculine twang and inherent sensuality. It was a huge hit for Isaak in 1989, but hardly the only trick up his sleeve. A dozen albums