SPOTLIGHT: Pokey LaFarge Sheds Demons and Damage After ‘Rock Bottom Rhapsody’
EDITOR'S NOTE: Pokey LaFarge is No Depression's Spotlight artist for April 2020. Tune in all month long for more from LaFarge and his new album, Rock Bottom Rhapsody, out April 10.
When Pokey LaFarge picks up the phone in Austin, it’s not from one of
Crooning and Creativity Highlight Logan Ledger’s Debut
At first blush, singer-songwriter Logan Ledger sounds like he just wasn’t made for these times. His singing is a throwback to a bygone era, stirring up echoes of the lonesome voices of a Glen Campbell or Roy Orbison. Ledger’s eponymous debut LP, produced by T Bone Burnett
PRINT EXCERPT: ‘High Fidelity’ and Why Record Store Culture Remains Relevant
EDITOR’S NOTE: Below is an excerpt from a story in our Spring 2020 print issue “Live and In Person.” You can read the whole story — and much more — in that issue, here. And please consider supporting No Depression with a subscription for more roots music journalism, in print and
THROUGH THE LENS: Martha Spencer on Love and Endurance in the Time of Coronavirus
Born in the mountains / Fifty years ago / I traveled the hills and valleys / Through the rain and snow / Seen the lightning flashing / I've heard thunder roll / I've endured, I've endured.
— Ola Belle Reed (Martha Spencer's cousin)
I have written several times about
Bob Dylan Offers History Lessons, a Playlist, and More in 17-Minute ‘Murder Most Foul’
Last night at midnight, Bob Dylan released a new song, “Murder Most Foul.” It is 16 minutes and 57 seconds long, replacing “Highlands” (1997) as his longest studio recording. Centering on the November 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, it is a master’s lesson in American history and
Basia Bulat Ponders Honesty and Self-Deception on the Stirring ‘Are You in Love?’
Love is a Pandora’s box of trouble on the unsettling fifth album from Canada’s Basia Bulat. Not just a source of heartbreak, it can be an illusion that keeps you from seeing clearly, and perhaps a cruel trick played by chemistry. “Are you in love when you’re