In South Philadelphia, at every turn, you’ll find endless representations of the working-class ethic that is particularly idiomatic to this blue-collar neighborhood. They’re the folks who sell you vegetables and meats at the Italian market, or fix your car at […]
Fade in on every struggling singer-songwriter’s fantasy: A movie star on location in Santa Fe, N.M., happens into a local bar, where Jono Manson is working the crowd with his homegrown stash of killer tunes. Noting how Manson wields his […]
You’re against me. You’re all against me! You’ll never get my money! Or my Titanic necklace! –Rennie Sparks “Even when we couldn’t play our fucking instruments, and we sucked, and we were stupid live, we were entertaining — I’ll give […]
A fog machine cranks out billowy clouds, the image of lightning slices across three huge video screens and the sound of thunder rocks the PA system. Then a big, throaty voice bursts in: “And now…the Crystal Palace presents…” A World […]
The hardest part of this assignment was deciding where to meet for lunch, somewhere that would be equally convenient for Don Walser from his home in Austin and Johnny Bush from his in San Antonio. Once the decision was negotiated […]
Nashville, as Bruce Feiler observes early on, is a hotel (more accurately, a bank) centrally placed a day’s drive from 30 states. Only the quality of the road changes along that great asphalt way. The view from the window is […]
Things are busy around Otto Helmuth’s house in Lexington. The Blueberries’ vocalist/guitarist and his wife are expecting a baby “any minute.” They’ve picked up a new dog, a sweet stray who gets along well with everyone, and Otto’s at work […]
While the rock world these days feels like it’s casting aimlessly about, waiting and waiting and waiting for the next Next Big Thing to show up and save its sorry ass, you can rest assured that, in every city on […]
Onstage at Mayslack’s, a trendy Northeast Minneapolis working-class bar known for its mouthwatering roast beef sandwiches, Baby Grant Johnson ends his acoustic blues-folk set with Lead Belly’s old gospel tune “Meetin’ At The Building”. His eyes tightly shut, guitar at […]
HIGHER GROUND: Just before this issue of No Depression went to press, country music legend Tammy Wynette died in her sleep from a blood clot, on April 6. She was 55. Best-known for her oft-revived 1968 smash “Stand By Your […]
