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Peter Blackstock

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

Best of 2014: Sturgill Simpson - "Metamodern Sounds in Country Music"

Best of 2014: Sturgill Simpson - "Metamodern Sounds in Country Music"

When No Depression launched as a print magazine in 1995, its positioning as an alternative-country quarterly was intended to be squarely in contrast to the dominant acts on mainstream country radio at the time. The magazine championed the organic sounds of Uncle Tupelo and the Jayhawks while the likes of

Luluc: A Life in Many Movements

Luluc: A Life in Many Movements

Preface: Nineteen years ago this month, Grant Alden and I were deep in the midst of creating the debut issue of No Depression magazine, which launched in autumn 1995 in Seattle. Nearly two decades later, our lives are much different. Grant and his wife run a bookstore and coffee shop

Model Rockets

(Editor's note: About a year ago, Model Rockets ringleader John Ramberg dropped me a line to let me know that the band was planning a small-scale reissue of this album, which came out in the fall of 1994. Ramberg had apparently appreciated a review I wrote of the