Deep Roots Magazine

Deep Roots Magazine

Roots Music and Meaningful Matters

 
 

 

The Heart of the Matter

Pop, soul and doo-wop come together on 23-year-old CHRIS RUGGIERO's first Christmas album. Underneath Ruggiero's impressive voice is something else: pure, unadulterated heart.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Gospel News & Notes – September 2012

Remembering recently departed gospel notables Willa Ward-Royster of the Ward Singers, Gladys Beamon Gregory and Andre Lester Mobley; plus Trin-I-Tee 5:7 and Music World have parted ways.
by David McGee
 

 

 

Ever Fresh: A Half-Century of ‘Green Onions’

In honor of the 50th anniversary of ‘Green Onions,’ we salute BOOKER T. & THE M.G.s’ reissued debut album of the same name, along with the group’s reissued-remastered 1970 Beatles tribute, McLemore Avenue, all-instrumen...
by David McGee
 

 
 

‘Birmingham is not a dying city. It is dead.’

On Sept/ 15, 1963, the Ku Klux Klan set off a bomb at Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church, killing four young girls. On Sept. 16, civil liberties lawyer CHUCK MORGAN spoke out.
by David McGee
 

 

 

If It Weren’t for Good Luck…

On this, his 18th long player, Chris Smither emphasizes—then re-emphasizes--the irony of the collection’s title while taking interesting detours into vintage classics.
by David McGee
 

 
 

The Common Language of the Heart

Tony Bennett and Bill Charlap are together again, now in a relaxed, refined, reflective and altogether classy survey of the songs of Jerome Kern, 'the angel at the top of the tree.'
by David McGee
 

 

 

The Man With All the Toys

Updated for Yuletide 2020, BRIAN SETZER's 2015 holiday gem, ROCKIN' RUDOLPH, shows off the master showman and ace guitarist at his best, along with his hard-working, gifted elves (the Orchestra), rocks and croons masterfully on...
by David McGee
 

 
 

The Deep Roots Yuletide Baedeker 2025

The annual DEEP ROOTS YULETIDE BAEDEKER is online, with links to new and vintage content published in Deep Roots over the years--a holiday bonanza of vintage music, animated evergreens, holiday-themed films, holiday fiction, ho...
by David McGee