No Depression Readers' 50 Favorite Roots Music Albums of 2020
In a year when everything was upended and scary, No Depression readers reached eagerly, and perhaps understandably, for what’s familiar. Topping our 2020 Year-End Readers Poll, which received more than 6,800 ballots, were new albums from roots music’s current leading voices like Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, and
2020’s Silver Lining? A Whole Lotta Roots Music Cover Albums
With touring forced to a halt in 2020, artists found themselves with time on their hands, and the creative spirit stops for no virus. Many musicians channeled their energies into cover songs as they waited things out at home, playing them on livestreams to delighted fans and, in some cases,
THE READING ROOM: No Depression’s Best Music Books of 2020
While 2020 has been a challenging year for the publishing industry — as it has been for the music business — with sales swaying up and down, sometimes wildly, and with author events being canceled because of the pandemic, there were still a number of great books published this year.
Of course,
Album Companion to ‘Hanging Tree Guitars’ Book Offers Raw Look at Race Relations
EDITOR'S NOTE: As album releases slow down in December, we like to catch our breath and write about albums that came out earlier in the year that we didn't get a chance to review but we think are worthy of your attention. The Hanging Tree Guitars
What Taylor Swift’s 'folklore' and 'evermore' Give to Roots Music
I wish I could remember where I once heard the brilliant theory that the band Mumford & Sons were like the Cheetos and sweatpants of folk music. I recall the coined term “gateway folk” being the entry point to this analogy, essentially comparing the band’s music to smoking pot,
O Brother, Where Aren’t Thou?: The Two-Decade Cultural Impact of ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’
Editor's Note: No Depression is thrilled to reshare this deep-dive into the history and legacy of the film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, originally commissioned for its 20th anniversary. Five years later, the recently relaunched Lost Highway record label reissued a special edition, double gatefold LP on "