Shindig: May 26, 1965

Most of the British invasion bands of the early 1960's were borrowing from the music of american blues, R&B and country artists (even the Beatles had covered Little Richard, Carl Perkins, Buck Owens, the Isley Brothers). But it was the Rolling Stones that acknowledged their musical influences and helped revive interest in the blues artists that they emulated.
On May 26, 1965, the Rolling Stones took it one step further by including 55 year old Howlin' Wolf in their appearance on "Shindig", a network television music show. The result was television history, when the greatest blues singer of all set the record straight about where it all came from. The Wolf's finger wagging, hip shaking, harmonica wailing performance must have sent shockwaves and maybe even fear throughtout the vast bland television wasteland that existed in 1965.
Sam Phillips, who had discovered Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash, always considered Wolf to be his greatest discovery. Although Howlin' Wolf lived until 1976, he never made another television appearance. (The full clip can be found on the DVD "The Howlin' Wolf Story: The Secret History of Rock & Roll.")

Depression

May 2008 marks the last issue of the alt.country magazine "No Depression", a victim of falling print media advertising revenue and an uncertain recording industry in general . Founded in 1995 by Peter Blackstock of Austin Texas and Grant Alden of Seattle Washington, it has been an invaluable source of information pertaining to the world of american roots music- music your not likely to hear on the radio. Taking it's name from the title of an uncle Tupelo album (itself named for a 1930's Carter Family song) the magazine has highlighted artists such as Son Volt, Wilco, The Bottle Rockets, Johnny Cash, Lucinda Williams, Ralph Stanley, Steve Earle, Alejandro Escovedo, Drive-By Truckers and many more. Hopefully the No Depression website will continue and there is talk of a semi annual publication. I'm going where there's no depression, To the lovely land that's free from care I'll leave this world of toil and trouble, My home's in Heaven, I'm going there
No Depression website: https://www.nodepression.com/
Listen to the Original Carter Family No Depression (In Heaven)