University of Illinois Press

Back in my ’80s record store clerk days I worked with someone who used to engineer recording sessions in the attic of his rented apartment.  One of the bands that he recorded in the evening and talked about the next day at work was a band “from the St. Louis area” named Uncle Tupelo.  Because these sessions were taking place in the attic of a rented apartment, I didn’t pay too much attention to his enthusiasm. Had I been paying attention, I would have witnessed the birth of what became known as the “No Depression” musical genre. ”Alt-country” is another broad-stroke phrase that has been used to describe artists like Wilco, Son Volt, and others influenced by Gram Parsons’s music with the Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers.  A champion in the growth of the genre was No Depression magazine. A respected music publication since its inception in 1995, No Depression occasionally reviewed University of Illinois Press books and was a good advertising outlet for our Music in American Life series. Recently No Depression announced that due to the current music business climate (among other reasons), it plans to cease publishing. We will miss No Depression and we hope that some “unknown angels” intercede to help keep the magazine going for another 13 years.