Deep Roots Magazine

Deep Roots Magazine

Roots Music and Meaningful Matters

 
 

 

‘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
 

 
 

The Yuletide Report From the Chairman of the Board

Revised and updated, this appraisal of Frank Sinatra's Christmas recordings as an art form unto themselves was first published in TheBluegrassSpecial.com in 2008.
by David McGee
 

 

 

The Deep Roots Yuletide Baedeker 2020

Welcome back our CHRISTMAS BAEDEKER, the all-inclusive guide to the best in holiday fare, from movies to cartoons to music to stories behind the songs to Christmas poetry to...well, you name it, we got it! Buon Natale!
by David McGee
 

 
 

Ding Dong, Merrily On High, Indeed!

Returned to print by Real Gone Music, THE THREE SUNS' amazing 1959 seasonal effort, A DING DONG DANDY CHRISTMAS, is lounge exotica run amuck, a genuine Yuletide gem.
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
 

 
 

Sometimes a Great Notion…

How a Goodyear Tire promotional ploy begat an essential Christmas music franchise of 16 years' duration.
by David McGee
 

 

 

Christmas Beyond the Blue

BLUES, BLUES CHRISTMAS VOLUME 3 leads this revised and updated review of four essential blues Christmas albums, including last year's DEATH MIGHT BE YOUR SANTA CLAUS
by David McGee
 

 
 

Our Christmas Best to You

In the late '80s BONNEVILLE MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS sent out a press-only holiday tape that is an unassuming classic of its kind--funny, moving and heartwarming. Hear this lost gem exclusively at Deep Roots.
by David McGee