ROUTES & BRANCHES
July 14, 2012
Scott Foley

Had a good time assembling the second half of my program this week, pulling together a bunch of Woody Guthrie covers by folks of our ilk.  It was especially rewarding to dig a bit into Guthrie's story, learning about the man behind the increasingly mythologized legend.  This gave me pause to wonder who among today's crop of artists could we place in the lineage of Woody Guthrie?  A quick and popular answer might be Dylan or Springsteen, though I don't think Woody ever knew the luxury familiar to such superstars.  It might be more accurate to construct a Franken-guthrie hybrid boasting the humor and wanderlust of Todd Snider, the sharp sociopolitical ear of Billy Bragg and the pure songsmanship of ... who?

Back in the "regular half" of this week's Episode, we enjoy a new covers EP from one of the strongest female voices in americana, Zoe Muth.  And one of my favorite blues-leaning artists, Kelly Joe Phelps, prepares a beautiful, stripped down album inspired by the Book of Jonah. 


*  Dale Watson, "Hey Brown Bottle"  Carryin' On  (E1, 10)
*  Justin Townes Earle, "Nothing's Gonna Change ..."  Nothing's Gonna Change ...  (Bloodshot, 12)
*  Giant Sand, "Lost Love"  Tucson: Country Rock Opera  (Fire, 12)
*  Jason Isbell, "Seven Mile Island"  Jason Isbell & 400 Unit  (Lightning Rod, 09)
*  Zoe Muth, "Heart Like a Wheel"  Old Gold  (Signature Sounds, 12)   D
*  Chris Daniels, "Good Ole Beast"  Better Days  (Self, 12)   D
*  Sunny Sweeney, "Staying's Worse Than Leaving"  Concrete  (Republic, 11)
*  Radney Foster, "Nobody Wins"  Del Rio TX Revisited: Unplugged & Lonesome  (Devil's River, 12)   D
*  Freakwater, "Loserville"  Thinking of You ...  (Thrill Jockey, 05)
*  Brothers Comatose, "Modern Day Sinners"  Respect the Van  (Self, 12)
*  Kelly Joe Phelps, "Talking to Jehovah"  Brother Sinner & the Whale  (Black Hen, 12)   D
*  Mosey West, "Gone"  Merica  (Self, 12)
*  Civil Wars, "From the Valley"  Mercyland: Hymns for the Rest of Us  (Mercyland, 12)
*  Diamond Rugs, "Hightail"  Diamond Rugs  (Partisan, 12)
*  Lyle Lovett, "More Pretty Girls Than One"  Step Inside This House  (MCA, 98)
*  Ry Cooder, "Do Re Mi"  Ry Cooder  (Reprise, 70)
*  Tim Barry, "Hobo Lullaby"  40 Miler  (Chunksaah, 12)
*  Jimmy LaFave, "Oklahoma Hills"  Trail  (Bohemian Beat, 99)
*  Magic Slim & the Teardrops, "Going Down the Road"  Midnight Blues  (Blind Pig, 08)
*  Ethan Daniel Davidson, "Tom Joad"  Better Living Through Creative Selling  (Times Beach, 04)
*  Billy Bragg & Wilco, "Against the Law"  Mermaid Avenue  (Nonesuch, 12)
*  Mary Gauthier, "I Ain't Got No Home"  Genesis  (Self, 08)
*  John Doe, "Vigilante Man"  For the Best of Us  (Yep Roc, 06)
*  Buck 65, "Talking Fishing Blues"  This Right Here Is Buck 65  (V2, 05)
*  Old Crow Medicine Show, "Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)"  Songs of America  (Split Rock, 07)
*  Byrds, "Pretty Boy Floyd"  Sweetheart of the Rodeo  (Columbia, 68)
^  Woody Guthrie, "This Land Is Your Land"  Woody At 100  (Smithsonian, 12)