Deep Roots Magazine

Deep Roots Magazine

Roots Music and Meaningful Matters

 
 

 

Genesis of a Gospel Song: ‘Total Praise’

In his new series GENESIS OF A GOSPEL SONG, gospel editor BOB MAROVICH gets the inside story from RICHARD SMALLWOOD on how the latter wrote 'Total Praise,' one of the greatest contemporary gospel songs.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Gerald Scott’s ‘Edgy Sunday Morning’ Testimony in Song

A month before his senior class graduated from high school, Gerald Scott penned a song for the choir to sing at the commencement ceremony. “It was 2003, I was eighteen years old, and I wrote a song called ‘Destiny’ for th...
by David McGee
 

 

 

The Songs Linger On…

Multiple JUNO award winner OLD MAN LUEDECKE has one of the sleeper albums of 2013 in TENDER IS THE NIGHT. Produced by TIM O'BRIEN, its songs linger in memory and beg repeat listens.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Lusitano: The First Known Black Composer, Acknowledged With Luminous Clarity

THE MARIAN CONSORT resurrects the Motets of VICENTE LUSITANO, the first known Black composer and a highly regarded 16th Century music theorist.
by David McGee
 

 

 

Ryan to Tribes: Drop Dead; Obama Disagrees, Shows Them the Money

Lunatic PAUL RYAN wants to decimate the budget for Indian Health Services. Pushback is coming from PRESIDENT OBAMA, whose Fiscal 2015 Budget expands IHS services and funds other opportunities for Native Americans.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Of The Word, Dark Secrets and Inconvenient Truths

A review of gospel authority ANTHONY HEILBUT's new book of incisive, informed essays, The Fan Who Knew Too Much, which includes a lengthy examination of the gay subculture within the gospel world. Also: an interview with Mr. He...
by David McGee
 

 

 

Juliet Menéndez’s Latinitas

In LATINITAS: CELEBRATING 40 BIG DREAMERS, author/illustrator JULIET MENÉNDEZ profiles women from all over Latin America and the U.S. and includes life stories that go back as far as the 17th century. Celia Cruz, Isabel Allend...
by David McGee
 

 
 

Contemporary Music

During a four-month concert tour of America in 1928, composer MAURICE RAVEL delivered a then-controversial lecture urging American classical musicians to incorporate African-American music into their compositions. Ahead of his ...
by David McGee