No Depression

John Fahey: Age Against the Machine: John Fahey reinvents his own creation

Retrospective by Matt Hanks, No Depression, March 1997

"I had heard such sounds before, heard them as a little boy lying in bed in the wiregrass country of south Georgia, heard the sounds ...

Ron Sexsmith: Westbeth Theater, New York City

Live Review by Jeff Apter, No Depression, September 1997

WHILE THE REAL world is tough on outsiders, they'll always be welcomed in the land of thinking-person's music. Toronto troubadour Ron Sexsmith has perfected the ...

Townes Van Zandt: A Gentleman and a Shaman: The Last Days and Sad Death of Townes Van Zandt

Retrospective by Matt Hanks, No Depression, January 1999

IF YOU CAN see through the hangover haze and black-eyed pea tradition that ties one First Day to another, January 1st can serve as a ...

Gram Parsons: The Long Way Around: Gram Parsons

Retrospective and Interview by Holly George-Warren, No Depression, July 1999

I keep my love for variations, even tho I've some sort of "rep" for starting what (I think) has turned out t'be pretty much of ...

Townes Van Zandt: A Far Cry From Dead

Review by Matt Hanks, No Depression, July 1999

LIKE DOCK BOGGS, Townes Van Zandt was obsessed with death. Both men were shadowed by their own mortality, obsessing over it and collapsing under ...

Richard Buckner: Bloomed (Slow River/Rykodisc)

Retrospective by Matt Hanks, No Depression, Summer 1999

RICHARD BUCKNER'S 1994 debut album, Bloomed, heralded the arrival of a uniquely expressive and honest songwriter and reaped Buckner tomes of critical praise, a deal ...

Gram Parsons: Sacred Hearts And Fallen Angels (Rhino)

Review by John Morthland, No Depression, May 2001

EXCEPT FOR A brief period in the early '80s, when I now believe I was trying so hard I put a clothespin over my crap ...

Fred Neil, 1936-2001

Obituary by Richie Unterberger, No Depression, September 2001

FRED NEIL, one of the most influential singer-songwriters of the early folk-rock era, died in his sleep on July 7 at the age of 65. ...

George Jones: The Rock: Stone Cold Country 2001 (Bandit)

Review by John Morthland, No Depression, November 2001

IN MOST WAYS, this is a textbook follow-up to George Jones' eerie, surprisingly substantial 1999 album Cold Hard Truth – same basic song ideas only ...

Johnny Paycheck: The Little Darlin' Sound Of Johnny Paycheck: The Beginning (Koch)

Review by John Morthland, No Depression, July 2004

SOMETIMES I THINK the Johnny Paycheck cultists are so enamoured of the sensational goth of stuff like '(Pardon Me) I've Got Someone To Kill' and ...

Mark Lanegan: Bubblegum

Review by Fred Mills, No Depression, September 2004

IF YOU HAVE no tolerance for revolving-door "recovering" addicts who feel compelled to chronicle, on record after record, every opium-drenched near-death vision and every groveling ...

Andrew Bird: The Mysterious Production Of Eggs (Righteous Babe)

Review by Fred Mills, No Depression, March 2005

VIOLIN VIRTUOSO (and whistler extraordinaire) Andrew Bird never really goes easy on you, but on a purely musical level, The Mysterious Production Of Eggs is ...

Tim Hardin: Hang On To A Dream: The Verve Recordings

Review by John Morthland, No Depression, Summer 2006

THE PAIN was palpable in nearly every word Tim Hardin sang, and the pleasure didn't feel all that much better. ...

Guy Clark, Lyle Lovett, Joe Ely, John Hiatt: Guy Clark/Joe Ely /John Hiatt/Lyle Lovett: State Theatre, Cleveland

Live Review by Holly Gleason, No Depression, May 2007

YOU HAVE TO start at the end — where they paid respects to Townes Van Zandt, the songwriter/compadre who captured the essence of life after ...

Buck Owens: The Warner Bros. Recordings (Rhino Handmade)

Review by John Morthland, No Depression, July 2007

BUCK WAS ALWAYS the first to put down his Warners output, but you almost have to hear it all in one place to comprehend how ...