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Peter Blackstock

FOUNDERS’ KEEPERS: Watchhouse, Office Dog, Martin Zellar, and More

FOUNDERS’ KEEPERS: Watchhouse, Office Dog, Martin Zellar, and More

Yes, it’s 2024, but I’ll confess: I keep writing 2023 on my music playlists. Which is to say that alongside two January releases in this month’s Founders’ Keepers batch are four records from the latter part of last year that I hadn’t yet gotten around to

ALBUM REVIEW: A Front-Row Seat to Willie Nelson’s 90th Birthday Celebration

ALBUM REVIEW: A Front-Row Seat to Willie Nelson’s 90th Birthday Celebration

Ain’t nothing wrong with celebrating your 90th birthday all year long, especially when you’re Willie Nelson. The party started April 29-30, when dozens of popular music’s biggest names — and some well-chosen lesser-knowns — gathered at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles to celebrate Willie’s actual birthday. (Though

FOUNDERS’ KEEPERS: Straight Outta Austin, Seattle, and Beyond

FOUNDERS’ KEEPERS: Straight Outta Austin, Seattle, and Beyond

I left Austin, the town where my family moved when I was 4 years old, three times in the 1980s. That was for summer internships (in California, New York, and Alaska), and I knew I’d be back. But even then, it was often hard to be away from a

FOUNDERS’ KEEPERS: Jeff Plankenhorn, John P. Strohm, Luluc, and More

FOUNDERS’ KEEPERS: Jeff Plankenhorn, John P. Strohm, Luluc, and More

The goal of these Founders’ Keepers columns, for me anyway, is fairly personal. The half-dozen “keepers” I highlight every couple of months aren’t intended as any sort of comprehensive Americana overview; rather, they’re simply a few records that have connected with me lately. More often than not, it’

FOUNDERS’ KEEPERS: Slaid Cleaves, The Baseball Project, and More

FOUNDERS’ KEEPERS: Slaid Cleaves, The Baseball Project, and More

EDITOR’S NOTE: Peter Blackstock and Grant Alden launched No Depression as a print magazine covering alt-country (whatever that is) in 1995, steering it through 75 issues until 2008. While they’re no longer part of the staff, they’re still very much part of the family, and we trust

ALBUM REVIEW: Chris Stamey Maps His Musical and Personal Roads on ‘The Great Escape’

ALBUM REVIEW: Chris Stamey Maps His Musical and Personal Roads on ‘The Great Escape’

Renowned North Carolina producer and songwriter Chris Stamey has devoted a good chunk of the past dozen years to star-studded concerts featuring the music of Big Star, the fabled 1970s Memphis band fronted by Stamey’s late friend and onetime bandmate Alex Chilton. As such, it’s no surprise to

ALBUM REVIEW: Son Volt Finds a Truer Sound in Song Selection for Doug Sahm Tribute

ALBUM REVIEW: Son Volt Finds a Truer Sound in Song Selection for Doug Sahm Tribute

The roots of this album stretch back even further than Uncle Tupelo’s 1993 swan song Anodyne, which featured a glorious cover of Doug Sahm’s “Give Back the Key to My Heart” that helped introduce Sahm to legions of younger fans. Before their 1990 debut album, No Depression, Uncle