Deep Roots Magazine

Deep Roots Magazine

Roots Music and Meaningful Matters

 
 

 

The Holidays, With Ease

SAMARA JOY, a double Grammy nominee, brightens the Yule season with her new EP, A JOYFUL HOLIDAY
by David McGee
 

 
 

Christmas Blues with a Positive Spin

Appraising a Yuletide gem from Carolina beach music legend, soul veteran CLIFFORD CURRY, and a look back at Curry's interesting career.
by David McGee
 

 

 

How Mr. Chokepear Keeps A Merry Christmas.

From a December 25, 1841 issue of the British humor and satire magazine PUNCH, a story satirizing a heartless one-percenter's self-absorbed Christmas rituals.
by David McGee
 

 
 

‘O Holy Night’

Attacked for his opposition to inequality, slavery, injustice and other kinds of oppression, French poet PLACIDE CAPPEAU insinuated his unpopular thoughts into an 1847 poem that became 'O Holy Night'
by David McGee
 

 

 

Big Brass Ones for Christmas

On its fifth holiday album, CHRISTMASTIME IS HERE, CANADIAN BRASS honors the music of animated Yule favorites and the arrangements of LUTHER HENDERSON and BRANDON RIDENOUR.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Let’s Hear It For The Girls

Considering memorable holiday fare from EDIE ADAMS and DORIS DAY
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 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
 

 

 

The ‘Quiet Ecstasy’ of Harry Simeone’s ‘Little Drummer Boy’

The story behind THE HARRY SIMEONE CHORALE's classic 'THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY' begins in 1941 with KATHERINE KENNICOTT DAVIS'S 'CAROL OF THE DRUM' and includes a classic Christmas album featuring the oft-covered seasonal favorite.
by David McGee