No Depression: The Great American Songbook (Spring 2021)

The Great American Songbook refers to the collection of 20th-century popular songs and jazz standards that helped define pop music in the United States. Stories examine the legacies of some of those beloved composers, songwriters, and songs. But this issue also challenges the existing discourse on American standards, explores how these musical traditions continue to influence contemporary roots artists, and questions what in our songbook really deserves to survive.

Included in this issue:

Canon Fodder: Loudon Wainwright III - Caitlin Wolper
The Men With Golden Ears: Max Dreyfus, George Gershwin, and the rise and fall of Tin Pan Alley - Charley Ruddell
An American Icon: Louis Armstrong - Hilary Saunders
Versatile Voice: Rachael Price goes back to the (Song)book - Noah Berlatsky
Reframing 'The Father of American Music': Reckoning with blackface minstrelsy and the legacy of Stephen Foster - Kim Ruehl
Canon Fodder: Caleb Caudle - Caitlin Wolper
Carrying a Torch: Carly Simon's most heartfelt standards album turns 40 - Charles Donovan
Violent Verses: Modern musicians grapple with the legacy of murder ballads - Stacy Chandler
Won't You Spare Me Over: 'Oh Death' haunts the American musical landscape - Stephen Deusner
Canon Fodder: Bettye LaVette - Caitlin Wolper
Singing It True: How Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, and other Black musicians canonized the Great American Songbook - Marcus K. Dowling
Checking All the Boxes: Julian Lage finds inspiration old classics and new collaborations - Greg Cahill
Rum and Coca-Cola: The Great American Songbook's Cuban crossover - Judy Cantor-Navas
Canon Fodder: M. Ward - Caitlin Wolper
Holding the Line: The history and legacy of the Peekskill Riots - Melanie Rock
A Mixed Bag: How Carl Sandburg's 'The American Songbag' shaped nearly a century of American folk music - Avery Gregurich
The Flip Side of History: New box set presents a fuller picture of the 'Anthology of American Folk Music' - Allison Hussey
Screen Door: Love Is a Long Road - Kamara Thomas

Photos/Art:

Original design by Marcus Amaker
Original cover art by George Hage
Original illustration by Jane Beaird
Historical photos and sheet music from the Library of Congress
Historical photos from the Gladys Palmera Collection
Historical photos from the Peekskill Museum