Deep Roots Magazine

Deep Roots Magazine

Roots Music and Meaningful Matters

 
 

 

Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That String!

Canada's THE SULTANS OF STRING and their guests put a new spin on the spirit of the season, but it's is still the spirit we’ve known for bringing good tidings of great joy. Dig the best Christmas album of the 2017 Yuletide se...
by David McGee
 

 
 

The Passionate Style

Italian composer, gambist, and singer Claudio Giovanni Monteverdi is often regarded as revolutionary in that his work marked the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque period. He developed two ind...
by David McGee
 

 

 

‘How Inexpressibly Sad Are All Holidays’

1863. HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW's wife had died in a fire, his son had been seriously wounded in the Civil War. The poet, in despair, still found a reason to believe and wrote the stanzas that later became a beloved seasonal s...
by David McGee
 

 
 

‘It Seethes Rather Than Boils’

On his new album, OVER LIGHT EARTH, Icelandic composer DANIEL BJARNASON mirrors the current climate--it seethes rather than boils and speaks to the mood of its time
by David McGee
 

 

 

The ‘Circular Music’ of Pellingmans’ Saraband

On its new album, TWENTY WAIES UPON THE BELS, PELLINGMANS' SARABAND explores 'circular music' from the 16th and 17th centuries, including a tune with verses written by imprisoned Anne Boylen.
by David McGee
 

 
 

The Many ‘Worlds’ of Mandolinist Extraordinaire Avi Avital

Israeli-born mandolinist AVI AVITAL is blurring the classical-folk lines anew with BETWEEN WORLDS, featuring the work of 'classical composers inspired by folk music.'
by David McGee
 

 

 

Animated Christmas Classics

Christmas classics from the inkwell including Peace on Earth (1939), The Insects' Christmas (1913), and the first Frosty (1953).
by David McGee
 

 
 

A Woody Guthrie Centennial Moment: Woody and Moses

Folkways founder MOSES ASCH regarded WOODY GUTHRIE as a meaningful artist, but Woody's undisciplined ways agitated him. A look at how two strong personalities meshed during a period when Woody recorded his most important music.
by David McGee