During a talk with NPR’s Ann Powers, Kristen Hersh said that when a performance goes especially well with a receptive audience it’s “extrapolating creativity into the fingerprints of others.” That pretty much sums up the Big Ears Festival, which […]
If you’re looking for music to get a party started, or to blast while cruising the highway, Joe Henry’s is not for you. Lyrically dense and cerebral, it does not reward casual listening. That certainly goes for All the Eye […]
Bob Dylan left some fans feeling tangled up recently when some sharp-eyed buyers of his new book, The Philosophy of Modern Song, noticed their “hand-signed” copies looked suspiciously similar. Turns out they were signed by an autopen, which was […]
In his opening remarks, Big Ears Festival founder Ashley Capps said, quoting jazz composer Albert Ayler, “ ‘Music is the healing force in the universe.’ It resonates more now than ever.” After a two-year COVID hiatus, this year’s edition of […]
EDITOR’S NOTE: To mark No Depression’s 25th anniversary, we asked David Menconi, a contributing editor during its earliest years (1995-2008), to check back in with artists who appeared in the magazine’s first few issues. Read the rest of the […]
I’ve been a fan since 1992’s Short Man’s Room, and I’d been looking forward for months to Joe Henry’s show at the Melbourne Recital Centre. Save for a brief industry showcase in the early 90s I’d never seen Henry live – nor […]
There are a lot of terrifically talented and youthful singer-songwriting couples today who, when they’re not making out, breaking up or making up, are capable of making beautiful music together. Now all of them should listen up, especially if they […]
by Nick DeRiso With a voice that’s axiomatically compared with winged messengers from God, Aaron Neville‘s gospel records ought to form the cornerstone of his resume, right? Instead, the New Orleans singing legend’s two previous attempts felt too forced, like […]
There are two kinds of people: those who love Bettye LaVette and think she is one of the greatest interpreters of song in our time, and those who are so tragically un-hip that they haven’t yet heard her music. The […]
