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
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
ALBUM REVIEW: Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed Brings His Genre Blend to the Songs of Merle Haggard
Since releasing his first record in 2005, Eli “Paperboy” Reed has worked primarily at the intersection of gospel, soul, and the blues. In that time, he’s become one of the finest vocalists any of those genres currently have to offer. On his latest LP, Down Every Road, he makes
THROUGH THE LENS: 'Old Trails, New Tracks' at MerleFest 2022
More so than at any other festival I attend every year, something happens at MerleFest that spurs me to thinking about tradition: what it is, what it means, and where it's going. Perhaps it is no coincidence that those thoughts, and the festival, occur during spring, when all