NO DEPRESSION SESSIONS at MerleFest: Presley Barker

No Depression set up the "studio" at the 37th annual MerleFest for a dozen sessions with legends and legends-in-the-making. The festival was founded in 1988 in memory of Doc Watson’s son Merle, and features “traditional plus” music, meaning a broad range of styles from the sweet falsetto harmonies of East L.A. to the high lonesome sounds of the Appalachian Mountains.

Hometown hero Presley Barker welcomed us to his turf for the final No Depression x MerleFest Session of 2025, sharing three unreleased original songs and closing us out in style. When I say "hometown," I mean that Barker is as integrated into the community as anybody could be, having graduated from Wilkes Community College, the campus where MerleFest is hosted (*and he graduated from UNC Charlotte a month after this taping, congrats Presley!). Doc Watson inspired Barker to pick up the guitar at age 7, and he's been working at it diligently ever since. He is among the chosen few to own a guitar built by legendary Virginia luthier Wayne Henderson, joining the ranks of Tommy Emmanuel, Doc Watson, Peter Rowan, Gillian Welch, Ricky Skaggs, and Eric Clapton.

Special thanks to everybody who made this series happen: MerleFest director Wes Whitson and his team of aces including artist relations manager Lindsay Craven, production managers Jim and Katherine, Carrie and Lauren for keeping us fat and happy, Danielle and the Victory Lap family for bringing us together in the first place, and of course to the team at Window World for making it all possible!

Setlist:
"Stick Around Kind"
"Let You Go Again"
"Couldn't Love Me Anymore"