Stories

SPOTLIGHT: Dean Johnson - "Shake Me" [VIDEO]

Dean Johnson - Photo by Coco Aramaki

Editor's Note: Dean Johnson is No Depression's Spotlight Artist for August 2025. Learn more about the Pacific Northwest singer-songwriter and his new album I Hope We Can Still Be Friends, due out August 22 via Saddle Creek, here. Stay tuned for more from Johnson all month long.

Dean Johnson's "Shake Me" starts with a stunning falsetto. "It's a type of Mother Nature song," he explains, but "it has lyrics about sweeping all of your problems under the carpet until they're monumental." Still, Johnson's voice and songwriting has a way of soothing listeners through the anxiety and ache. Watch an exclusive, acoustic version of "Shake Me" below.

SPOTLIGHT: Dean Johnson’s Journey from Seattle Bartender to Beloved Indie Folksinger

Editor's Note: Dean Johnson is No Depression's Spotlight Artist for August 2025. Learn more about the Pacific Northwest singer-songwriter and his new album I Hope We Can Still Be Friends, due out August 22 via Saddle Creek, in this feature. Keep an eye out for more

In The Deep End With...Tift Merritt

Tift Merritt has always been one of the most thoughtful songwriters in roots music. After 20 years, the North Carolina-based musician is revisiting her breakthrough, Grammy-nominated LP, Tambourine, remastering it and reissuing it on vinyl for the first time in years. Additionally, Merritt dug up a 10-song collection of previously

Another Side of Woody Guthrie: Recently Discovered Collection Captures the Sounds of ‘Woody At Home’

Woody Guthrie was named after progressive president Woodrow Wilson, who advanced policies on government regulation and social welfare. He was also born on Bastille Day, a turning point of the French Revolution that ended the monarchy. These were two auspicious signs for a folksinger who made a life of fighting

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