The Americana and roots music authority

how i found No Depression.

when i was in highschool during the early '90's i listened to lots of pop-rock and folk rock. namely the lemonheads, matthew sweet, the wallflowers, the band, counting crows, etc. i was always looking for similar sounding music. one night in 1997, i was watching 120 minutes on mtv and discovered the band WILCO. they were airing the video for "outamind, outasight" -it reminded me of the lemonheads and matthew sweet. a short time later i picked up the double disc and played it non stop for months. at some point i became curious about WILCO and wanted to read more about them. i wasnt yet on the "information superhighway" so i headed to the closest barnes and noble bookseller. an employee directed me to a BOOK called No Depression that featured WILCO and several other interesing sounding bands. i bought and read the book and the book led me to the magazine of the same name. i couldnt believe that all of this music existed and i didnt know anything about it. i had been missing out on SO much. i was hooked. i read every ND from cover to cover several times. i couldnt wait to get my hands on the next issue. eventually i started buying the cds i was learing about.
the jayhawks
son volt
whiskeytown
the bottlerockets
neil young
tift merritt
the be goode tanyas
greg brown
ron sexsmith
uncle tupelo
ryan adams
kathleen edwards
will oldham
gillian welch
steve earle
marah
the Old 97's...
the list goes on and on. the music inspired me to write my own songs. No Depression and the music that came with it also helped me get through some of the darkest times of my life. it was also with me during some of the
most happy times...

< Previous Post

Comment by No Depression on March 19, 2009 at 7:45pm: That's awesome! Thanks for sharing - we're glad you're still with us and that you found your way onto this site!

Comment by David Shaw on March 19, 2009 at 8:18pm: Do you still have information about the book you saw ... can't seem to find anything about a book ... lots about the song, the different people who have played it and, of course, the magazine. Author name(s) perhaps?

Comment by Midwestern Lull on March 20, 2009 at 11:02am: the book is simply titled...No Depression and has a bunch of clip art on the orang and brown cover...its a comp of articles that appeared in the magazine gives the ND top 101 at the end...edited by grant and pete...opens with a waylon and billy joe shaver interview, ends with Charlie louvin article...paperback... its as simple as that, really. i figured every hard core ND'er had a copy...let me know what you find out.

Comment by Midwestern Lull on March 20, 2009 at 11:03am: what ever that is..was also part of the title (ofcourse)

Comment by Kim Ruehl on March 20, 2009 at 11:32am: There was a book called 'No Depression' that compiled the early years of the magazine with a ton of interviews, etc., and then there was another "Best of No Depression" book...and now two bookazines...

Comment by Midwestern Lull on March 20, 2009 at 1:52pm: here are pictures of the book in question!

Comment by Midwestern Lull on March 20, 2009 at 6:42pm: and here are examples of the collages my wife made with my old ND mags.

Comment by David Shaw on March 21, 2009 at 8:16am: Thank you ... no idea how I missed it at the time. Surely there were ads in the magazine ... and here I was trying to read and digest every word.

Comment by mwbworld on March 23, 2009 at 7:45am: Ah, memories. Going through the ads was just as fun as reading the magazine. Which is the mark of good magazine for me - if I not only want to read the articles, but the ads as well. Always a sense of a world to explore contained in the pages.