Deep Roots Magazine

Deep Roots Magazine

Roots Music and Meaningful Matters

 
 

 

‘I WONDER AS I WANDER’

STORIES BEHIND THE SONGS: JOHN JACOB NILES's own account of writing 'I Wonder As I Wander,' plus an online discussion of the meaning of 'on'ry' in the first verse.
by David McGee
 

 
 
 

Summer Song

An offbeat playlist for season's end featuring THE DAKOTAS, THE DEL VIKINGS, THE CRESTS, THE PHAROS and THE SPOTNIKS. Surf's Up!
by David McGee
 

 

 

Family Ties

Bluegrass newcomers FLATT LONESOME are capturing the traditional world's attention with their debut album. A flawless start it's not, but the band is positioning itself for a long, fruitful run.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot

With more than one million views at present, this video of CARL SAGAN's eloquent, poetic meditation on 'the only home we've ever known' is even more timely and important than it was when published in 1994. To say it speaks for ...
by David McGee
 

 

 

When We Harm Wolves, We Harm Ourselves

CLARK TENAKHONGVA, U.S. Army veteran, former Hopi Nation vice chairman, former co-chairman of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, explains why 'we and the wolves persist,' despite efforts to eradicate both.
by David McGee
 

 
 

The Elite Half-Hundred of 2020, Part 2

The best of the rest of the rest of our ELITE HALF-HUNDRED OF 2020, featuring JOHN FINBURY, ALBERT CUMMINGS, NEW MOON JELLYROLL FREEDOM ROCKERS, DIANE SCHUUR, MIGHTY MEN OF FAITH, THE CAMBRIDGE SINGERS and others.
by David McGee
 

 

 

How to Win Charts and Alienate People

In this two-part excerpt from his memoir, JUST REMEMBER: FIELD NOTES FROM A MUSIC BIZ LIFE, MICHAEL SIGMAN recalls the fallout from Record World's decision to publish sales-based charts, and how The Who changed the magazine's f...
by David McGee
 

 
 

And The Truth Will Set You Free

JAMES KING, one of our greatest roots singers, takes some classic and relatively low-profile country and bluegrass tunes, puts a great backing band together, and delivers a bonafide classic of interpretive vocalizing.
by David McGee