Eclecticism should be praised, not condemned. To L.A.-based singer/songwriter Phillip Brandon, staying within stylistic boundaries is creatively stifling. At least, that’s the impression one receives from his new self-titled EP. Musically, Brandon can be viewed as a kindred spirit to […]
Adela and Jude come from families where farming was a big part of our heritage, and our musical style, our social commitments naturally led us to performing at farmer’s markets. To us, playing three hours of music to people who […]
Zooney has impeccable taste, so this year I let her choose our favorite top ten albums. As she and I have not yet developed a spoken language we each understand, I devised a system that allowed her to have complete […]
Light a candle in your window tonight… Last Friday we found ourselves in Newtown, Connecticut and there was the sign for Sandy Hook. We gasped. We had exited the freeway to refuel and it was pure coincidence that we should […]
“South is where we’re at right now. Who we are is not important. Who we’ll be is unknown. America needs Blackie and the Rodeo Kings. They are starving for us and they don’t even know it . . . yet.” […]
Dan Stuart bounced back into view two years ago with his excellent recording, The Deliverance of Marlowe Billings. Long missing from action (apart from some sorties with revived Green On Red and Danny and Dusty line ups) he resurfaced in […]
Merle Haggard is a national treasure; an artist whose weight and importance rank him among the icons of country music: Hank, Cash, Jones. His oeuvre is a testament to American music, rooted in an authenticity that seems born of great fiction: […]
As another year rounds the corner and heads off into the chronos, there is no end of the making of “best-of” and “top ten” lists of albums, books, or films. We at No Depression will soon be releasing our Top […]
Listening to Bob Frey’s “Nothing Hid” produces the opposite reaction that Greil Marcus had to Dylan’s “New Morning” when he originally reviewed it in Rolling Stone. Marcus had said, “What is this shit?” In contrast, an appropriate response to “Nothing […]
Somewhere before dawn I lay in my van listening to people still staggering past to piss in the bay or throw up, hopefully not too near me. The piledriver beat of the bass echoed through my tired brain. Even the […]
