Deep Roots Magazine

Deep Roots Magazine

Roots Music and Meaningful Matters

 
 

 

Dispatches From Solitude

Forced into isolation by the pandemic, JOHN McCUTCHEON began writing songs, and more songs, came up with a moving tribute to front line workers and to his friend John Prine, found some humor in his plight, and voila! CABIN FEVE...
by David McGee
 

 
 

Singles Charts and the Battle for Bullets

In our continuing excerpts from MICHAEL SIGMAN's memoir Just Remember: Field Notes from a Music Biz Life, the author recounts the tumult that erupted when Record World dared to print charts reflecting actual record sales.
by David McGee
 

 

 

A League of Their Own

Hailed as 'so very inventive and so very weird,' THE VENTURES' CHRISTMAS ALBUM is a true holiday treasure.
by David McGee
 

 
 

The Murky Origins & Everlasting Life of ‘Jingle Bells’

In 1850 JAMES LORD PIERPONT, inspired by one-horse open-sleigh races in his home town, wrote a Thanksgiving ditty for his father's Sunday School class. Thus the humble origin of 'Jingle Bells.'
by David McGee
 

 

 

Let the Hard Times Roll…

It's always a good year for the blues when JOHN PRIMER surfaces on record. His latest, TOUGH TIMES is one of his finest.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Albums of the Year, 2016

From the unexpected (the revitalized Stones on their blues album) to the unclassifiable (Jeremiah Lockwood's KOL NIDRE), our 2016 Album of the Year selections offer sweet music from varied sources.
by David McGee
 

 

 

Joy To The World

A wonderful and heartwarming thing happened when the Jay Ungar & Molly Mason Family Band showed up at the University of Mary Washington to play a program of evocative, sometimes poignant, sometimes haunting seasonal tunes, new ...
by David McGee
 

 
 

With a Swagger and A Wink

CHRIS LEIGH wouldn’t be the first hard-core country artist to attribute a burst of inspiration to a wrecked marriage but he may be the latest. His impressive, bare-knuckled debut, Broken Hearted Friends, tells the tale.
by David McGee