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No Depression has been the foremost journalistic authority on roots music for well over a decade, publishing 75 issues from 1995 to 2008. No Depression ceased publishing magazines in 2008 and took to the web. We have made the contents of those issues accessible online via this extensive archive and also feature a robust community website with blogs, photos, videos, music, news, discussion and more.

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Artist: Dolly Parton

Not Fade Away - Reissue Review from Issue #69 May-June 2007

Dolly Parton – Coat Of Many Colors/ My Tennessee Mountain Home/ Jolene

These were Dolly Parton’s first masterpieces. Recorded over roughly four years, they projected the full force of her magnificently pure vocals and brilliantly observational songs. Unlike the bulk of early 1970s Nashville fare, her work addressed complex subjects directly, yet with simplicity and nuance, her flair for stark, gothic Appalachian numbers comparable to ancient folk [...]

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Waxed - Record Review from Issue #60 Nov-Dec 2005

Dolly Parton – Those Were The Days

As a singer, a songwriter, a performer, a hitmaker, a businesswoman, a mass-market entertainer, Dolly Parton has long since proven herself to be virtually (and virtuously) unassailable. Her American icon status having been secure for decades, she’s enjoyed a remarkable artistic resurgence in recent years, tapping into her bluegrass background — beginning with 1999′s The [...]

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Waxed - Record Review from Issue #40 July-Aug 2002

Dolly Parton – Halos & Horns

There is a certain refreshing rightful air to the territory where artists such as Dolly Parton reside. Their legend and fortune long since assured, they are essentially free to follow whatever paths they wish for the rest of their career, both commercially and artistically. Some, understandably, choose to leave the game altogether; others, regrettably, opt [...]

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Not Fade Away - Reissue Review from Issue #38 March-April 2002

Leona Williams / Dolly Parton / Ted Hawkins / Steve Earle / Wynn Stewart & more

Merle Haggard always had an eye for talent. His first wife, Bonnie Owens, had been married to Buck Owens, and still sings with Haggard’s Strangers. Second wife LEONA WILLIAMS has had a less obvious career, profiled in Bear Family’s recent Old Loves Never Die. The first ten tracks are lovely duets with Merle, followed by [...]

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Waxed - Record Review from Issue #31 Jan-Feb 2001

Dolly Parton – Little Sparrow

Dolly Parton could have taken her plaque in the Country Music Hall of Fame and gone home to count her money, accepting the judgment of the marketplace that her career was no longer of interest. She could have (perhaps then her private life would cease to be of interest to the supermarket tabloids), and her [...]

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The Long Way Around - Feature from Issue #24 Nov-Dec 1999

Dolly Parton – The smartest working woman in show business

In this era of celebrity, Dolly Parton could be one if she never sang a note. A sign in her Dollywood museum exhorts, “You’re only as big as your biggest dream,” and Parton has always dreamed of being somewhat larger than life. Yet the heart of Parton’s identity remains her music. If the raging flame [...]

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Waxed - Record Review from Issue #18 Nov-Dec 1998

Dolly Parton – Hungry Again

The descent from Dolly Parton’s last visit home, the gaudy 1994 album Heartsongs — overblown, overproduced, overcrowded, and altogether every bit larger-than-life as Parton herself — to the stripped-down, live-to-DAT musical framework of Hungry Again might give a lesser mortal nosebleed. But in this effort to redeem her career from a decade of nasty middle-age [...]

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Waxed - Record Review from Issue #6 Nov-Dec 1996

Dolly Parton – Treasures

Hairspray howdies, yodelbuddies! Tighten your wigs and tuck your tummies, we’re goin’ to Dollywould! Only Dollywould discover Ladysmith Black Mambazo in a LifeSavers commercial, pack ‘em on a Peace Train and flash ‘em to Nashville to rehash the Yusuf Islam cat who used to be Stevens. There’s enough culture shock in that mix to fondue-bee-doo [...]

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From the Blogs

  • A Double Shot of Southern Comfort With Tom Petty and the Tontons
    The Hangout Festival in Gulf Shores, Alabama, isn’t all about the headlining acts such as Kings of Leon and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The pride of Gainesville, Florida, Petty had sort of the home-field advantage Saturday night on the Hangout Stage, playing just one state over and practically a direct Interstate-10 shot from Heartbreakers… […]
  • CD Review - Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters "Just For Today"
    Just For Today Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters It's Ronnie Earl's band, but he doesn't dominate it. Recorded live at a couple of venues in his home state of Massachusetts,the Stony Plains release is a seamless blend of jazz, soul and r&b by a band of seasoned vets comfortable enough with one another to have an intense musical conversation […]
  • Americana Boogie Music Releases for the week of May 21st... Jude Johnstone, Red Dirt Rangers, Cold Satellite, Augie Meyers
    COLD SATELLITE (with JEFFREY FOUCAULT) Cavalcade (Signature Sounds) 2013 sophomore album from this band centered on the collaboration between songwriter Jeffrey Foucault and poet Lisa Olstein. Cavalcade both refines and concentrates the band's signature amalgam of Rock, Blues, and Country. Described by legendary music… […]
  • CD Review - Hans Theessink "Wishing Well"
    Although Hans Theessink has made a name for himself with his acoustic blues guitar proficiency, he's the closest thing to Ry Cooder other than Cooder himself. On his last outing on Blue Groove, Theessink collaborated with long time Cooder vocalist Terry Evans for 2012's Delta Time, a soulful, gospel drenched electric blues excursion. This time out […]
  • A Tribute to The Doors Ray Manzarek 1939-2013
    "You don't make music for immortality, you make music for the moment, capturing the sheer joy of being alive on planet Earth... Everybody should live it that way."    Ray Manzarek   In the summer of 1967 The Doors played the Anaheim Convention Center. I was 12 years old. I was completely transfixed by the band. Having an older musician brother […]
  • CD Review: The Clinton Gregory Bluegrass Band - Roots of My Raising (Melody Roundup, 2013)
    Country artist's fine return to his bluegrass roots Clinton Gregory had a run of Top-100 country hits in the early '90s, but both his releases and commercial success became scarce by mid-decade. He returned last year with Too Much Ain't Enough, his first album in… […]

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