ROUTES & BRANCHES
May 26, 2012
Scott Foley

Despite the impressive sheen and polish of a Routes & Branches Episode, I have to admit I don't prep my programs per se.  Owing to my obligations at KRFC, I spend most of the week previewing new albums for addition to the station's general library. About an hour before airtime, I'll grab some older CDs from the shelves.  Fifteen minutes prior to the program I'll peruse the stuff on the new shelves. While some programmers map out their shows carefully beforehand, I trust that I'm familiar enough with everything that it won't prove too taxing to decide on the fly what comes next. 

I do attempt some balance on your average R&B Episode.  For instance, I shoot for a nice representation of Colorado music.  While the show skews radically towards the new, lately I've been trying to inject more music from past years.  I'm also mindful of representing the female artists among us, which isn't always easy in a fairly dude-centric genre (from last week's Americana radio charts, only eleven of the top 40 were either solo woman artists such as Nanci Griffith or female-led acts such as Alabama Shakes). 

That said, I'm chagrined to see so darn many beards on this site over the past few weeks.  A woman hasn't graced the coveted photo on an Episode playlist since Nanci Griffith did so in early April.  Prior to that, it was beard city until a February entry featuring Susan Cowsill, albeit alongside token dudes Jon Dee Graham and Freedy Johnston.  So let's hear it for Kelly Hogan, the Rosa Parks of the R&B site!  Is it truly true that it's been a decade since Hogan's previous solo effort?  Granted, she is a perennial contributor to the albums of others, most notably Neko Case.  Her new release, I Like To Keep Myself In Pain, features only one original, alongside other new cuts from M Ward, Robbie Fulks, Catherine Irwin and more.  Hogan's band is fronted by the legendary Booker T, ably supported by a trio of younger aces, adding a layer of deep soul to the singer's eclectic vocal talents. 

Also on this Episode, Marley's Ghost celebrates 25 years of music with a new star-studded collection, alongside luminaries such as Old Crow Medicine Show and Emmylou Harris.  Walt Wilkins continues to be one of our finest Texas songwriters on a new, more acoustic outing.  And when the dBs last issued a new album, I was a fresh-faced undergrad, naive in the ways of the world and the wonders that awaited me. 


*  Lydia Loveless, "More Like Them"  Indestructible Machine  (Bloodshot, 11)
*  Leeroy Stagger, "Dirty Windshields"  Radiant Land  D
*  Buddy Miller, "I Believe In You"  Mercyland: Hymns For the Rest Of Us  (Mercyland, 12)
*  Pieta Brown, "El Guero"  Shimmer  (Red House, 09)
*  Marley's Ghost, "It's All Over Now"  Jubilee  (Sage Arts, 12)  D
*  Robert Cline Jr, "All the Right Reasons"  All the Right Reasons  (Mockingbird, 12)
*  Billy Bragg & Wilco, "Chain Of Broken Hearts"  Mermaid Avenue Vol 3  (Nonesuch, 12)
*  Honeycutters, "Fancy Car"  When Bitter Met Sweet  (Buttons Down, 12)
*  Chris Stalcup & Grange, "Pawnshop"  Dixie Electric Co  (Dirt Leg, 12)
*  Marty Stuart, "Sundown In Nashville"  Tear the Woodpile Down  (Sugar Hill, 12)
*  Megan Redmond, "Dreamland"  Dreamland  (Aspen Top, 12)
*  Devil Makes Three, "This Life (live)"  Stomp and Smash  (Milan, 11)
*  Hem, "Stupid Mouth Shut"  Rabbit Songs  (Waveland, 01)
*  Arliss Nancy, "St Forget"  Simple Machines  (Suburban Home, 12)
*  Hellbound Glory, "Lost Cause"  Damaged Goods  (Rusty Knuckles, 11)
^  Kelly Hogan, "Dusty Groove"  I Like To Keep Myself In Pain  (Anti, 12)
*  Walt Wilkins, "Maybe Everybody Quit Drinking"  Plenty  (Ride, 12)  D
*  John Fullbright, "Jericho"  From the Ground Up  (Blue Dirt, 12)
*  Slaid Cleaves, "Hard To Believe"  Everything You Love ...  (Music Road, 09)
*  Mosey West, "Gone"  Merica  (Self, 12)
*  Ray Wylie Hubbard, "South Of the River"  Grifter's Hymnal  (Bordello, 12)
*  Rhett Miller, "As Close As I Came To Being Right"  Dreamer  (Maximum Sunshine, 12)
*  Bonnie & the Beard, "Lightin' Up"  Cascavel  (Self, 12)  D
*  I See Hawks In LA, "Hunger Mt Breakdown"  New Kind Of Lonely  (Western Seeds, 12)
*  dBs, "That Time Is Gone"  Falling Off the Sky  (Bar None, 12)  D
*  Neko Case, "Don't Forget Me"  iTunes Session  (Anti, 09)
*  Jon Dee Graham, "Unafraid"  Garage Sale  (Freedom, 12)

ROUTES & BRANCHES
May 19, 2012
Scott Foley

Complacency is a dangerous thing - sitting back and resting on the knowledge that things are going just fine.  Putting out a "pretty good" album, secure in the knowledge that your past work will assure success.  Um ... assuming that your favorite radio station will continue to exist without your monetary support.  I try to approach every Episode of Routes & Branches with a sense of urgency, working hard to assure that I'm sending forth the very best product I'm able to construct.  Every week, I head home with a similar sense of compromised success.  Sure, there's some fine music here, much of which you won't hear anywhere else on your radio dial (or even your internet feed).  There are lots of programs out there attempting a similar outcome, but if I don't say so myself, R&B is one of a kind.   Nevertheless, I remain vaguely dissatisfied and perennially optimistic for next week's Episode.

Langhorne Slim demonstrates a similar restlessness on his new Way We Move, his first release on Ramseur Records.  There is an urgency to his songs, from his vocal delivery to the rambling banjos and crashing drums, his fourth album is a ball of nervous energy.  I'd call it his most accomplished work to date, but it's also his most ragged and unpolished, even with the added horns and keyboards.  Even on the calmer tracks, the punk roots of his music have never been more exposed.  Perhaps (Avett Bros) the remedy to our need for progress is not to tighten up, but to let loose like Mr Slim. 

Also on this Episode, I'm looking forward to digging deeper into the sophomore effort from Amanda Platt and her Honeycutters.  The ensemble's debut, Irene, proved one of the most unexpected pleasures of 2009.  And while I'm a lukewarm fan of Shawn Colvin's more recent work, I harbor a tentative hope for her Buddy Miller produced All Fall Down. 

Oh, and hey:  Follow this link to the podcast for that KRFC Live @ Lunch program to which I referred last week with Nathaniel Rateliff, Joe Sampson and Brent Cowles.  Three of Colorado's most worthy songwriters.  

*  Grant Farm, "Times Have Changed"  Grant Farm  (Self, 12)
*  Cory Branan, "Survivor Blues"  Mutt  (Bloodshot, 12)
*  Patty Griffin, "One Big Love"  Flaming Red  (A&M, 98)
*  Yarn, "Dirt Road"  Almost Home  (Self, 12)
*  Justin Townes Earle, "Am I That Lonely Tonight"  Nothing's Gonna Change ...  (Bloodshot, 12)
*  Kelly Hogan, "Golden"  I Like To Keep Myself In Pain  (Anti, 12)
*  Willie Nelson, "Every Time He Drinks He Thinks Of Her"  Heroes  (Columbia, 12)
*  Oakhurst, "Hallelu"  Barrel  (Self, 12)
*  Deer Tick, "Dirty Dishes"  War Elephant  (Feow, 07)
*  Lucero, "Who You Waitin' On"  Women & Work  (ATO, 12)
*  Kate Campbell, "Red Clay After Rain"  1000 Pound Machine  (Large River, 12)
*  Mindy Smith, "If I"  Mindy Smith  (Giant Leap, 12)
*  Trampled By Turtles, "Keys To Paradise"  Stars & Satellites  (Thirty Tigers, 12)
^  Langhorne Slim, "Way We Move"  Way We Move  (Ramseur, 12)  D
*  Drive-by Truckers, "Like a Rolling Stone"  Blessing and a Curse  (New West, 06)
*  Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires, "Righteous Ragged Songs"  There Is a Bomb In Gilead  (Alive NS, 12)
*  John Doe, "Seven Holes"  Dim Stars Bright Sky  (BMG, 02)
*  Arliss Nancy, "40s"  Simple Machines  (Suburban Home, 12)
*  Nanci Griffith, "Hell No (I'm Not Alright)"  Intersection  (Proper, 12)
*  Andre Williams & the Sadies, "I'll  Do Most Anything For You"  Night & Day  (Yep Roc, 12)
*  Kasey Anderson, "Just Kids"  Heavy Heart  (Red River, 12)  D
*  Honeycutters, "Penny"  When Bitter Met Sweet  (Buttons Down, 12)  D
*  Turnpike Troubadors, "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead"  Goodbye Normal Street  (Bossier City, 12)
*  Old Crow Medicine Show, "I Hear Them All"  Big Iron World  (Nettwerk, 06)
*  Jekylls, "You're Probably Right"  Sweet Factory  (Self, 12)
*  John Fullbright, "All the Time In the World"  From the Ground Up  (Blue Dirt, 12)
*  Doc Marshalls, "Why I'm Leaving"  Look Out Compadre  (Self, 12)
*  Shawn Colvin, "All Fall Down"  All Fall Down  (Nonesuch, 12)  D
*  Iguanas, "If You Should Ever Fall On Hard Times"  If You Should Ever Fall  (Yep Roc, 08)
*  JP Harris & the Tough Choices, "Two For the Road"  I'll Keep Calling  (Cow Island, 12)

ROUTES & BRANCHES
May 12, 2012
Scott Foley

Vince Herman of Leftover Salmon and Great American Taxi joined us for a phone interview on this Episode, chatting about LoS's new Aquatic Hitchhiker and the band's free street party in downtown Denver on Sunday.  Pictures I've seen show the crowd stretching for blocks.  I'm certain that my 15 minute phoner was the catalyst for at least half of that group.  You're welcome, Leftover Salmon.  

Couple especially strong debuts this Episode.  From Okemah, Oklahoma, John Fullbright shows up as a fully formed songwriter on his first studio album.  Depending on where you set the laser, you might be reminded of James McMurtry, Hayes Carll or Mando Saenz.   Fullbright composes on both piano and guitar, smart songs able to captivate whether intimate ballads or full band arrangements.  Despite the fact that he claims it's simply a songwriting tool, spiritual and biblical imagery show up on several tunes, such as "Gawd Above":  So I’ll tip my hat to all of your creations / You can fly like birds, destroy entire nations / Go and curse my name with your last breath / ‘Cause all I brought to your life was death.  This Episode also marks the auspicious debut of Sara Watkins' second solo effort, which will likely land on my favorite albums list when this year is all spent.  Having cut her musical teeth as a young woman in Nickel Creek, her debut album proved a very introverted affair.  Watkins opens up big time on Sun Midnight Sun, sporting brash production and guest stars like Jackson Browne and Fiona Apple (?!) without losing the thread that has always made her worth following. 

Finally, one of the reasons to peek in at KRFC's website is the archived podcasts of our patented Live @ Lunch program.  Head over there today and you can track down hour-long sessions with Johnny Hickman, Oakhurst, Tony Furtado and more.  I grabbed a file recorded just last week, featuring a dream pairing of Nathaniel Rateliff, Joe Sampson and Brent Cowles of You Me & Apollo.  Hope to see it on KRFC's podcast site soon, since it's among the very best L@L I've heard. 


*  Jerry Douglas & Peter Rowan, "Wayside Tavern"  Yonder  (Sugar Hill, 96)
*  Wood Brothers, "Smoke Ring Halo (live)"  Live Vol One: Sky High  (Southern Ground, 12)  D
*  Lee Bains III & Glory Fires, "Centreville"  There Is a Bomb In Gilead  (Alive Natural Sound, 12)
*  Dead Fingers, "Lost In Mississippi"  Dead Fingers  (Big Legal Mess, 12)
*  Fiction Is Fun, "Whiskey 101"  You Die Every Time Always  (Self, 12)
*  Leftover Salmon, "Sing Up To the Moon"  Aquatic Hitchhiker  (Self, 12)
*  Leftover Salmon, "Keep Driving"  Aquatic Hitchhiker  (Self, 12)
*  Willie Nelson, "Come On Back Jesus"  Heroes  (Columbia, 12)
*  Wandering, "If I Had Possession"  Go On Now You Can't Stay Here  (Songs Of the South, 12)
*  Civil Wars, "From the Valley"  Mercyland: Hymns For the Rest Of Us  (Mercyland, 12)  D
*  New Ben Franklins, "Miserable"  peter gabriel  (Self, 12)
*  Turnpike Troubadors, "Gin Smoke & Lies"  Goodbye Normal Street  (Bossier City, 12)
*  Tift Merritt, "Diamond Shoes"  Bramble Rose  (Lost Hwy, 02)
*  Jon Dee Graham, "Orphan's Song"  Garage Sale  (Freedom, 12)  D
*  Cory Branan, "Bad Man"  Mutt  (Bloodshot, 12)  D
*  Alejandro Escovedo, "Party People"  Big Station  (Fantasy, 12)
*  Jonell Mosser, "Saint John the Gambler"  Around Townes  (Winter Harvest, 96)
^  John Fullbright, "Gawd Above"  From the Ground Up  (Blue Dirt, 12)  D
*  Mastersons, "Fool"  Birds Fly South  (New West, 12)
*  Kane Welch Kaplin, "To the Harvest Look Ahead (live)"  Live At the Bluebird  (Dead Reckoning, 12)
*  Mosey West, "In Tune"  Merica  (Self, 12)
*  Wood Brothers, "Pay Day (live)"  Live Vol One: Sky High  (Southern Ground, 12)
*  Sara Watkins, "You and Me"  Sun Midnight Sun  (Nonesuch, 12)  D
*  Marvin Etzioni w/Buddy Miller, "Living Like a Hobo"  Marvin Country  (Nine Mile, 12)

ROUTES & BRANCHES

May 5, 2012

Scott Foley

My kids sometimes refer to the music I play as "country" music.  "Dad," asked my youngest last year, "Does all bluegrass music sound like this?"  A coworker recently damned it as "folk".  My reaction that one was not so gentlemanly.  I regard myself as a champion of hybrids, music that crosses genre and earns its hyphens:  roots-rock, indie-folk, country-blues, alt-country, et al.  Fact is, artists like Oklahoma's Turnpike Troubadours likely regard their own music as country.  With their fine pedal steel, fiddle and banjo, the quintet certainly fit the bill for traditional country.  Their new Goodbye Normal Street just seems to fall into that category called Too Country For Mainstream Country, which often lands an album on Routes & Branches.  Another oddity, Turnpike Troubadours write songs whose quality is generally more typical for singer-songwriters, a'la Hayes Carll.  While the group was spawned from Oklahoma's "red dirt" music scene, these songs range much further afield, and deserve a wider listenership. 

Thanks to all who contributed during KRFC's Spring 2012 Membership Drive.  Kudos as well to percussionist and guitarist Josh Vogeler and to Turn 4 and Roadhouse Radio's Andy for helping out.  Next week, on a very busy Episode of R&B, we'll feature interviews with Wood Brothers and with Leftover Salmon. 

*  Ray Wylie Hubbard, "Train Yard"  Grifter's Hymnal  (Bordello, 12)
*  Chelle Rose, "I Need You"  Ghost Of Browder Holler  (Lil' Damsel, 12)
*  Gourds, "Country Love"  Haymaker  (Yep Roc, 09)
*  Eilen Jewell, "I Remember You"  Queen Of the Minor Key  (Signature Sound, 11)
*  Grant Farm, "I Come From the Country"  Grant Farm  (Self, 12)  D
*  New Ben Franklins, "Miserable"  peter gabriel  (Self, 12)  D
*  Holler, "Good People Strange Places"  Gratitude  (Self, 11)
*  Leftover Salmon, "Kentucky Skies"  Aquatic Hitchhiker  (Los Records, 12)
*  Billy Bragg & Wilco, "Chain Of Broken Hearts"  Mermaid Ave Vol 3  (Nonesuch, 12)  D
*  Sarah Borges, "Daniel Lee"  Silver City  (Blue Corn, 05)
*  Marty Stuart, "Tear the Woodpile Down"  Tear the Woodpile Down  (Sugar Hill, 12)
^  Turnpike Troubadours, "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead"  Goodbye Normal Street  (Bossier City, 12)  D
*  Johnny Hickman, "Measure Of a Man"  Tilting  (Self, 12)  D
*  Wood Brothers, "Make Me Down a Pallett"  Loaded  (Blue Note, 08)
*  Nanci Griffith, "High On a Mountain Top"  Intersection  (Proper, 12)
*  Joe Sampson, "Moon Up Above"  Kill Our Friends  (Fellow Creature, 12)
*  Sons Of Bill, "Radio Can't Rewind"  Sirens  (Thirty Tigers, 12)

ROUTES & BRANCHES
April 28, 2012
Scott Foley

Thanks to all who made our first stab at KRFC's Spring Membership Drive a success.  Special gratitude to Jeremy and Darren from Turn 4, who joined us to testify about the station's value to Colorado music, and to Andy from Roadhouse Radio, who also helped to keep things more or less on the rails.  You'll have at least two more opportunities to get your charity on, during my Thursday Morning Mix stint (10-noon) and next Saturday's Episode of R&B.

In the meantime, privileged to have Alejandro Escovedo's Big Station in our big station, in its entirety.  Produced by Tony Visconti, largely cowritten with Chuck Prophet, name checking Austin and Mexico, primed with edgy bits ...  Escovedo's eleventh album hangs comfortably alongside his other recent releases.  So what sets it apart?  It's the energy.  Between an unexpectedly lengthy summer tour schedule and a fire unheard since his earlier albums, Escovedo has seemingly found the fountain of musical youth.  He spits his lyrics like a punk, and wields a guitar loud and rude, like he's back in the Nuns or True Believers with Jon Dee Graham.  The rediscovered attitude and spirit may bring to mind earlier days, but Escovedo hasn't sounded this alive in years. 



*  Turn 4, "Cheap Guitar"  What You Do About It  (Fuck All Y'all, 11)
*  Far West, "Town Called Lonesome"  Far West  (Wooden Tapes, 11)
*  Haunted Windchimes, "Wanderin' Heart"  Out With the Crow  (Blank Tape, 12)
*  Supersuckers, "Paid"  Paid  (Mid-fi, 06)
*  Patterson Hood, "After It's Gone"  internet single  (Protect Downtown Athens, 12)
*  Mosey West, "Hometown Heroes"  Merica  (Self, 12)
^  Alejandro Escovedo, "Bottom Of the World"  Big Station  (Fantasy, 12)
*  Tin Horn Prayer, "Stumble"  Grapple the Rails  (Self, 12)  D
*  Bottle Rockets, "Man Of Constant Anxiety"  Blue Sky  (Sanctuary, 03)
*  Little Willies, "Wide Open Road"  For the Good Times  (Milking Bull, 12)
*  Ryan Adams, "My Winding Wheel"  iTunes Session  (iTunes, 12)  D
*  Marty Stuart, "Tear the Woodpile Down"  Tear the Woodpile Down  (Sugar Hill, 12)  D
*  Johnny Hickman, "Measure Of a Man"  Tilting  (Self, 12)  D
*  Lukas Nelson & Promise Of the Real, "Ain't No Answer"  Wasted  (Tone Tide, 12)
*  Turn 4, "Buckhannon Line"  What You Do About It  (Fuck All Y'all, 11)
*  Buddy & Julie Miller, "Wallflower"  Buddy & Julie Miller  (Hightone, 01)
*  Chris Stalcup & the Grange, "Dixie Electric Company"  Dixie Electric Company  (Dirt Leg, 12)  D
*  Jason Isbell, "Heart On a String"  Here We Rest  (Lightning Rod, 11)
*  Kelly Hogan, "We Can't Have Nice Things"  I Like To Keep Myself In Pain  (Anti, 12)  D
*  Todd Snider, "Continuing Saga Of the Classic Bummer ..."  Time As We Know It  (Aimless, 12)  D
*  Paul Thorn, "Don't Let Me Down Again"  What the Hell Is Goin' On  (Perpetual Obscurity, 12)  D