Welcome to Appalachia, Spring 2018

The Spring 2018 issue of No Depression, themed Appalachia, will be available in just a few short weeks and we’re thrilled to share it with you! No Depression is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, so your subscriptions truly help keep the future of roots music alive.

This theme is especially meaningful to us in the roots music community. Geographically, the Appalachian Mountains actually extend from Mount Cheaha in central Alabama to the uninhabited island of Belle Isle north of Newfoundland, Canada. Culturally, however, this fabled region refers more to the middle states of the mountain range where Scotch, Irish, English, and even German immigrants moved in the 18th century. In the forthcoming issue, we feature stories from Tennessee, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia that help contextualize Appalachia today.

One of my goals at the helm of No Depression is to continue the precedent of spotlighting diverse, expert writers and untold stories within roots music. Unsurprisingly, the contributors hailing from more urban centers across the US and abroad offered stories from the outside looking into Appalachia. They peered around the rounded mountaintops and into the thicket of the region’s rich culture, wondering how places like Asheville, North Carolina, and Galax, Virginia, can maintain such specialized musical traditions. But interestingly, the folks originally from Appalachia — like Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor and songwriter Amythyst Kiah,— wrote from the knowing perspective of living inside such an insular area and looking out at the rest of the country. Together, these stories comprise a book that examines the challenges, contradictions, and complexities of the region.

If this literary, journalistic, and musical trail through Appalachia piques your curiosity, I encourage you to subscribe to No Depression right here. With your support, our trail can keep winding, too.