Sing Us Back Together: Ken Burns’ ‘Country Music’ and What it Says about America
Ken Burns documentaries typically rely on scholars as narrators. Obviously, Burns’ crew couldn’t talk to a member of the 1908 Chicago Cubs, making the game’s historians the best sources for the 1994 series Baseball. Likewise, for a modern topic like Vietnam, experts offered some of the best insight
‘Shades of Blue’ Reveals Ashley Sofia’s Full Range of Colors
Ashley Sofia is looking for America.
Before her move to Nashville, the folk-country artist was raised in upstate New York. Her upbringing still flavors her imagery, but her imagination follows the highways south and west from her childhood home. The characters, experiences, scenery, and aural signifiers on her second LP,
Inside the Making and the Movement of The Highwomen
When Newport Folk Festival's executive director Jay Sweet addressed the fans gathered at the Quad Stage at 5:35 p.m. on July 26, he said, “You're the first people anywhere to ever hear these words: 'Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome The Highwomen!'” The
Rock-bottom Reality Inhabits Paul Cauthen’s ‘Room 41’
Paul Cauthen had to learn some pretty brutal lessons in the making of his latest record Room 41, but damn if it didn’t result in what sounds like a helluva time. Cauthen has always flirted with a groovy sound, but Room 41 finds him more earnestly diving into R&
Tinariwen Makes Music about Place in a Troubled World
In early 2017, I interviewed Tinariwen’s Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni for No Depression’s summer journal of that year. Donald Trump had just been inaugurated as the president of the United States, and I was asking international bands what kinds of issues they faced in entering and touring the United
Music and the Magician: A Remembrance of Neal Casal
EDITOR’S NOTE: Guitarist Deren Ney first posted these thoughts on his Facebook page on Aug. 27, the day the news broke that singer-songwriter and guitarist Neal Casal (The Cardinals, Phil Lesh, Hard Working Americans, Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Circles Around the Sun) had died at age 50. It is reposted