ALBUM REVIEW: On ‘Narrow Line,’ Mama’s Broke Brings Beauty out of Pain
Having toured the world steadily for the past eight years, Mama’s Broke — Halifax, Nova Scotia-based folk duo Amy Lou Keeler and Lisa Maria — are road warriors. Narrow Line, the follow-up to their 2017 debut album, Count the Wicked, came together because COVID lockdowns gave the pair time to focus
ALBUM REVIEW: Tray Wellington Reframes Banjo’s Story and Range on ‘Black Banjo’
Tray Wellington’s first full-length solo project, Black Banjo, debuts barely a year after his graduation from East Tennessee State University, but he already has a fuller CV than many twice his age. His early exposure to the music of Western North Carolina inspired his love for the banjo and
CROWDFUNDING RADAR: From Different Roots, A Common Goal of Independent Album Creation
What is roots music? You would think that No Depression, of all places, could answer that question unanimously. But conversations with my fellow writers and columnists over the years have confirmed that while there is a basic thread of agreement, even people passionate enough about roots music to spend their
ALBUM REVIEW: Lily Henley Spotlights Fading Sephardic Story With ‘Oras Dezaoradas’
While the 15th-century Spanish Inquisition is a convenient rhetorical device for teens looking to lash out at adults possessing the audacity to seek information from them, for Jews in the Spanish Empire, it meant choosing between leaving their homes, converting, or death. Those Jews uncomfortable with the latter two options
THE READING ROOM: ‘The Dylan Tapes’ Resurrects Early Interviews With and About Bob Dylan
This year we’ll have at least three books about Bob Dylan, one by the inscrutable Nobel Prize winner himself. We’ll have to wait until November for Dylan’s own The Philosophy of Modern Song (ND story) and October for cultural critic Greil Marcus’ Folk Music: A Bob Dylan
ALBUM REVIEW: Leyla McCalla Brings Haitian History Home on ‘Breaking the Thermometer’
Leyla McCalla provides a tantalizing glimpse into her Haitian roots through her infectious rhythms and velvety crooning on her latest project, Breaking the Thermometer. But the smooth texture reveals a rough surface underneath. The lilting melodies support a lyrical structure full of pain and corruption, but imbued with a fiery