Shovels & Rope Create a Children's Album for Everyone with 'Busted Jukebox, Volume 3'
If you were to judge Shovels & Rope's new record by its cover, you wouldn’t be wrong to think it was a full-blown kid’s album. As the third release in their cover series known as Busted Jukebox, this volume is affectionately nicknamed "Busted Juicebox"
ROOTS IN THE ARCHIVE: ‘This Land’ and Sea Shanties on the World Stage
When roots music fans look back on January 2021, we’re likely to remember two things: the events at the U.S. Capitol and the sudden explosion of sea shanties on social media. This month I’ll highlight some archival treasures held by the American Folklife Center that are related
Curtis McMurtry Digs into the Darkness on ‘Toothless Messiah’
“How are you adjusting to the new regime?” Curtis McMurtry asks with more than a hint of a snarl in the spoken-word opening of his new album, Toothless Messiah. It’s less a question than an accusation, and the songs that follow find him inhabiting the range of reactions on
SPOTLIGHT: In the End, Aaron Lee Tasjan Finds Himself
EDITOR’S NOTE: Aaron Lee Tasjan is No Depression’s Spotlight artist for February 2021. Look for more about him and his upcoming album, Tasjan! Tasjan! Tasjan! (out Feb. 5), all month long.
Somewhere between his last record, Karma for Cheap, and his newest, Tasjan! Tasjan! Tasjan!, out Friday, Aaron
THE READING ROOM: Southwestern Ohio’s Turn in the Bluegrass Spotlight
In February 1947, Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys played to an enthusiastic crowd in Dayton, Ohio. Among the over 4,000 people gathered to hear Monroe and Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs was 15-year-old Bobby Osborne. The night changed Osborne’s life in many ways, and according to
Yasmin Williams’ Fingerstyle Guitar Cuts Through Current Climate on ‘Urban Driftwood’
Yasmin Williams’ second LP, Urban Driftwood (out Jan. 29), is a meditation on 2020 and the events of the last four years. Multi-instrumentalist Williams finished most of the songs during the COVID-19 lockdowns last year and as Black Lives Matter protesters called for change and justice.
“I began feeling drained