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
BONUS TRACKS: The Full Story of Folk Music
No Depression readers know that Black musicians have always been essential to the story of roots music, and now the rest of the world is starting to take notice. An article last week in T, The New York Times Style Magazine, traces the contributions of Black folk musicians from the
No Depression Sessions at AMERICANAFEST 2023: Caleb Caudle
We caught up with North Carolina singer-songwriter Caleb Caudle for his second No Depression Session of the year, after he floored the ND audience with his Rootsy Winter Fest session in Sweden back in early 2023. This time around we see Caudle again (always) in top form at Jaan’s
Amos Lee Celebrates Songs and ‘Singular’ Talent of Lucinda Williams
Amos Lee’s relationship with Lucinda Williams was personal even before he got to meet her.
He first heard her songs, mostly from her then-new Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, on radio station WXPN in Philadelphia, just as he was starting to write songs himself. But he hesitates to
ALBUM REVIEW: On ‘Dirt on My Diamonds,’ Kenny Wayne Shepherd Puts Out a Blues Buffet
It's been a while since Kenny Wayne Shepherd was a child prodigy. In 1995, at age 18, Shepherd's debut, Ledbetter Heights, sold half a million copies, and the follow-up, 1997’s Trouble Is ..., earned him a Grammy nod. Now 46, Shepherd has a thick folio of
ALBUM REVIEW: Dolly Parton’s Got the Glitz, But ‘Rockstar’ Doesn’t Shine
Let’s get this out of the way first: Dolly Parton is no rock singer. Her vocal register lacks the depth and range to reach down into her gut for snarling growls or to modulate into a ringing falsetto. She sings with a crystalline purity that’s well suited to