Deep Roots Magazine

Deep Roots Magazine

Roots Music and Meaningful Matters

 
Recent Articles
 

 
Duke Robillard featured

In Heavy Rotation: Blues & Resistance

Vintage blues with a modern twist from DUKE ROBILLARD and hIS ALL STAR BAND; messages socially conscious and comforting alike from ERIC BIBB;l and TODD CURRY's gospel message, 'kNOw Peace,' in Heavy Rotation
by David McGee
 

 
 
Maria Muldaur featured

THE DEEP ROOTS ELITE HALF-HUNDRED, 2025

The Best of the Rest, the Deep Roots Elite Half-Hundred for 2025 is online! Blues, gospel, classical, folk, bluegrass, Christmas albums, classic soul, soundtracks...all present and accounted for in chronicling the music that me...
by David McGee
 

 

 
Carl Perkins featured

The Original Cat’s Missing Link

Recorded, and discarded, in 1990, the album titled Some Things Never Change, finally released in 2025, might well have changed CARL PERKINS's late-career trajectory, if anyone had ever heard it back then.
by David McGee
 

 
 
Lord is There cover2

Deep Roots Albums of the Year, 2025

REGINA VANDERJEIK's gospel masterpiece leads the way. Joining her at the top: BUDDY GUY, DANNY GATTON, THE TWANGTOWN PARAMOUS, DUDLEY TAFT, SIERRA HULL, CHRISTOPHER TIN, LANCE COWAN, ABBA via RAMEAU, and PARCHMAN PRISON inmates.
by David McGee
 

 

 

Where Senior and Hospice Dogs Find TLC

An interview with JENNIFER LANGSTON, founder of Golden Ears, is a specialized refuge for senior and hospice dogs, with a stated mission to provide the dogs with dignified end of life comfort and care.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Remembering Raul Malo, Pt. 2

Interviews with RAUL MALO as his solo career unfolded, from 2001’s Today to 2010’s Sinners & Saints. Herewith the second part of the Deep Roots tribute to a generational artist, who passed away on December 8, 2025. 
by David McGee
 

 

 

Remembering Raul Malo, Pt. 1

The cancer that took RAUL MALO on December 8 will never still one of the most majestic voices of our time. In Pt. 1 of our tribute to Raul, archival reviews capture him solo and with The Mavericks in the spirit of the season.
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
 

 

 

In Trim: Bruce Brown’s Endless Epic

Writing for Longboard magazine in 2005, PAUL HOLMES captured the entire epic saga of the making of BRUCE BROWN's THE ENDLESS SUMMER.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Surf in Verse: Summer’s Last Ride

One last ride on the big waves, in verse, with a soundtrack featuring THE ASTRONAUTS, THE BEACH BOYS, THE G-MEN, THE CHANTAYS and vintage surfing footage by DR. DON JAMES. Plus the earliest known surfing poem, from 1911.
by David McGee
 

 

 

Classical Perspectives: Richly Sophisticated

In life he was eclipsed by the shadow of his great pupil, Henry Purcell, and ensuing centuries have seen the 17th century composer JOHN BLOW nigh on to completely forgotten. Until this glorious moment.
by David McGee
 

 
 

‘Once in Royal David’s City’

The journey of 'Once in Royal David's City' from an 1848 text to global processional hymn.
by David McGee
 

 

 

Up-and-Coming Illustrator Brooke Boynton Hughes: ‘I Love Residing in Imagined Worlds’

This month JULES interviews a real find in children's books in up-and-coming illustrator BROOKE BOYNTON HUGHES, who tells us she loves 'residing in imagined worlds.'
by David McGee
 

 
 

Message Delivered

Chicago blues man DAVE SPECTER is back with his first album in four years, MESSAGE IN BLUE, and it's a keeper in the blues, soul and R&B categories all. Soul singer OTIS CLAY makes his Delmark label debut in spectacular fashion...
by David McGee