No Depression, the alternative country music publication, is to discontinue its editorial budget.

Following the launch on October 1, 2008, of NoDepression.com, now finds that it has to make a further tough decision regarding the format of its publication.

Publisher, Kyla Fairchild, said in a statement yesterday:

"While traffic to the website has been great and the response positive, we have determined that it is impossible to bring in enough revenue to support our basic business expenses, the largest chunk of that being the editorial budget. We have soldiered on for as long as we can, but are left with no choice but to discontinue the editorial budget at the present time."

While the decision is tinged with sadness, No Depression will not vanish completely.

The statement continues …………………….

"At this point the best option that we can envision is to create a No Depression community website where we will pass the torch to our readers. While our writers will continue to bring their unique expertise to the community site via regular blogging and forum discussions, we hope that No Depression may continue on as a meeting place where fans of roots music connect and share information with each other, our writers, and the artists behind the music they love."

Readers are invited to submit blogs, photos and videos via the "Connect" tab that has been added to the NoDepression.com website. Any posting will have an opportunity of being featured on the main community page, which will be updated often. The website will continue to be updated on a daily basis with a record or live review and links to the best content on the community site.

The full statement is available online.

Everyone who becomes a member of the No Depression community by next Friday, March 6, will be entered in a drawing, and two lucky winners will each receive a copy of the first No Depression bookazine signed by Abigail Washburn and Bela Fleck, an ND T-shirt of your choice, 10 ND back issues, two ND compilation CDs, and the Best Of No Depression anthology.

Brand New Strings, fresh off their win in the SPBGMA band championship earlier this month, will perform live tomorrow (2/28) on a special Saturday edition of Blue Plate Special on WDVX.

The band consists of Randall Massengill on guitar, Mike Ramsey on mandolin, Tim Tipton on bass, Stuart Wyrick on banjo and Matt Leadbetter on resonator guitar. They are currently at work on a debut CD, and audio for two new songs can be heard on their web site or MySpace page.

The shows airs at noon (EST), broadcast from Knoxville at 102.9 FM, and live worldwide via audio streaming.

The Grassabilies will also appear on Saturday’s program.

Here’s a YouTube video of Randy Kohrs and his fine band performing on The Billy Block Show earlier this month. Randy and the guys (and Ashley) rip off a strong version of Jerry Reed’s The Likes Of Me.

The audio guy may have set his drink down on the mute button for the banjo mic, and you can sure hear the drums. The joys of capturing live acoustic music in a club setting…

There is one other clip from the show available on YouTube.

The Billy Block Show airs live on Tuesday and Sunday evenings on 103WKDF in Nashville, and via online streaming.