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
 

 
 

What Becomes a Classic Most?

Streisand at her apex in recordings made almost three-and-a-half decades apart. Make no mistake--she’s the classic here, and a classy one at that.
by David McGee
 

 

 

The Man With All the Toys

BRIAN SETZER and his ORCHESTRA return for his sixth Christmas blowout, ROCKIN' RUDOLPH, which lives up to the warm , virtuosic and rockin' high standard the Stray Cat has set for himself at Yuletide
by David McGee
 

 
 

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
 

 

 

Dig The Unconventional Yule

Being an unconventioal Yule with BIG HARP GEORGE, and a fine new blues Christmas anthology, JINGLE ALL THE WAY.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Christmas in All Hues of Blues

CHRISTMAS IN ALL HUES OF BLUES, an updated review from 2012, spotlighting four classic blues-oriented Yuletide collections: DEATH MIGHT BE YOUR SANTA CLAUS and tBLUES, BLUES CHRISTMAS, Vols. 1-3
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
 

 
 

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