The impending demise of No Depression magazine, brought on by declining ad revenues symptomatic of the music industry's general malaise, is undeniably sad. It likely didn't help matters that was a niche publication, and that its niche was alt-country, a genre whose hippest days are, at least for the time being, solely in its rearview. The height of alt-country's visibility and 's prominence coincided with the success of unpolished, deeply twangy throwbacks like Uncle Tupelo, Gillian Welch, and Whiskeytown. In recent years, however, the roots movement has cleaned up its act, and the emergence of competing rags like and that lack 's gritty legacy points to a new landscape where safer, less-regionalist performers like Norah Jones and Josh Rouse hold greater sway.