How to be a Fan at the Folk Alliance International Conference
I had the opportunity to spend a fantastic four days holed up in a hotel with several thousand musicians and music lovers at the Folk Alliance International Annual conference in Kansas City. My wife and I were two of the only 181 fans out of over 2,700 hundred attendees.
Beauty in the Distance: The Songs and Prayers of John Condron
James Lee Burke, one of the world’s best novelists, wrote that “the most important battles are often fought in places no one has heard of.” In a paradoxical America that is increasingly fractured and fragmented, and yet productive of a singular culture where technology and mainline media erase regional
Rehab Church and Recovery Hymns
My return to church last summer was at least unintentional if not quite accidental. I’d been to two services in 30 years; one Christmas Eve mass and one United Methodist Mother’s Day. Meditation and Buddhist teachings suit me. I’m not a diehard follower, but I appreciate the
Americana Lost and Found: Doo-Wop Music
I'm not sure that the twangy contingent of the roots music intelligentsia will agree with me on this one, but I've been thinking a lot lately about the vocal group harmony style that emerged out of African American communities in the late ’40s, and how it
Big Bend Killing: The Legacy of Appalachian Balladry
EDITOR'S NOTE: This spring, we're focusing on the music and traditions of Appalachia, both here at NoDepression.com and in our print journal. For more sounds and voices from that ancient mountain region, get yourself a copy of our spring journal, available for preorder now and
Little Roy Lewis: An Icon of Bluegrass Culture
I simply didn’t get it. My wife and I were early in our bluegrass journey at Pickin the the Pasture, near Lodi, New York, on a hill high above fabled Lake Cayuga, with Cornell University sitting ten or twelve miles south of us, but without a hint of Ivy