No Depression online

Written by archtop girl on Wednesday, 04 November 2009

  In heaven, there's no depression, sang the Carter Family, and now there's no No Depression on the newstands, either. This magazine's been sadly missed since its demise last year - much more maverick than the godawful Maverick, encompassing a huge variety of genres, sounds and approaches under a very loosely-defined banner of roots music or Americana ('whatever that is', as they frequently asked), and consistently delivering beautifully-crafted features, profiles and retrospectives. Even if the artist featured wasn't of personal interest, the story was invariably so well-written you got drawn in anyway. 

The mag grew out of forums and discussion boards, and thus it has returned from whence it came: now an online community, it seems to be gaining momentum, and many of the original contributors are still on board. It's more about audience participation these days, with some lively discussions on new music, the state of the music industry, etc., but if you just want to read, there's the mag's extensive archive of features. Go drop by, and prepare to stay a while.