Deep Roots Magazine

Deep Roots Magazine

Roots Music and Meaningful Matters

 
 

 

Hark the What? Ironies of a Beloved Carol

REV. MARK D. ROBERTS knows 'If you don’t want to tick people off, then don’t change the words of the hymns and carols.' As he explains, 'HARK! THE HERALD ANGELS SING' is a perfect example of this maxim.
by David McGee
 

 
 

They Made Me a Criminal (1939)

Now showing: THEY MADE ME A CRIMINAL, the 1939 Busby Berkeley-directed drama of a boxer on the run starring JOHN GARFIELD, THE DEAD END KIDS, CLAUDE RAINS and the ill-fated GLORIA DICKSON. Also: More Busby Berkeley, plus GOOFY'...
by David McGee
 

 

 

Sovereignty Well Earned

You may think these fellows rather audacious in naming themselves Royal Southern Brotherhood, but when you see their lineup includes an Allman, a Neville and a Zito, well, good to see you, fellows. As that funnyman from Transyl...
by David McGee
 

 
 

Something Old, Something New, Lots of Blues

MARIA MULDAUR's 40th album, one of her best yet, is a tribute to a woman who was one of her early inspirations, Memphis Minnie. Guest performances include solid turns by BONNIE RAITT, RORY BLOCK, KOKO TAYLOR and PHOEBE SNOW.
by David McGee
 

 

 

Pianist-Entrepreneur-Innovator

Pianist-entrepreneur-innovator LARA DOWNES is back with her most ambitious project, EXILES' CAFE, focusing on the concept of music written in exile. The album, though, is only the beginning.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Suffused With Beauty

Nancy Lamott and beauty were on intimate terms. It radiated from her warm personality, resonated in her tender vocals, and suffused the recordings she made before succumbing to cancer in 1995 at age 43. Her lone Christmas albu...
by David McGee
 

 

 

Remembering ‘The Undefeated Champion,’ Herman Johnson

In a Deep Roots exclusive, MARK O'CONNOR offers a warm reminiscence of one of his fiddling mentors, HERMAN JOHNSON, who passed away on Jan. 20 at age 94.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Charles Dickens And Music: Some Noted Singers (Chapter VII)

Continuing our bicentennial salute to Charles Dickens, this month's installment of James. T. Lightwood's 1912 treatise Charles Dickens and Music focuses on "Some Noted Singers."
by David McGee