In early 2017, I interviewed Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid about his book Exit West. It’s an incredible story, and it was one of the top books of 2017 for me (as well as for Barack Obama!). When we spoke, though, […]
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The first time I saw Lera Lynn I was impressed — really impressed. It was 2016, I was at a music festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and I was parked at the venue with the most country music on the bill. […]
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story first appeared in our Summer 2018 / (Im)migration print journal. You can buy a copy here, and we hope you’ll consider subscribing to No Depression in order to receive all of our quarterly print journals and […]
My college girlfriend and I had widely divergent tastes in music. She really liked gentle, upbeat folk-rock. I, at the time, was hooked on the cheesiest nu-metal 2001 had to offer. Jesus Christ, it wasn’t even good metal – everyone […]
You’ve suspected it, and it’s true: Sometimes music reviewers only listen to the first 30 seconds or so of a record. We’ve heard it all before, we tell ourselves, and we can tell where a musician’s going (and whether we’ll […]
I remember the first time I watched Planes with my kids. If you haven’t seen it, it’s like Cars, only with, well, planes. It’s not a bad film. Basically, a small-town blue-collar dude (in this case, a crop duster) thinks […]
Caleb Caudle lives well. Alcohol-free and happily married, this Winston-Salem, North Carolina, country singer seems to be in a very stable place. It wasn’t always this way, it’s worth saying, and his less refined youth definitely educated songs on records […]
Marc Ribot has been an activist for years. For 2018, though, he’s doing something new. He’s been a “rank and file” activist with his union, as he puts it. He’s attended Occupy rallies. He’s never been much for established party […]
Ruby Boots has lived the hard-nosed country music ideal, but she’s done it her own way. Left home as a teenager? Check. Punched the clock at a tough manual labor job (also as a teenager)? Check. Eventually drifted to Nashville […]
At its best, country music is tragicomic. Think about it: that’s why a good honky-tonk songwriter can write about the heaviest, bleakest subject imaginable without toppling the listener under the weight. They know how to wink at the listener, how […]
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