ROUTES & BRANCHES

August 25, 2012

Scott Foley

So last week I vowed to give some R&B airlove to some of the CDs that had been sitting on my desk for weeks or months without my attention.  For this Episode, the final 6 albums fulfill that promise with some very good music.  The fact remains, however, that if I want to play some excellent music I sometimes have to push aside some very good music.  Hope to be able to spin more of these in the weeks to come. 

Have I said recently what a fine year it has been for Colorado music?  4H Royalty, Arliss Nancy, Glowing House, Johnny Hickman, Lumineers, etc etc.  Add to this auspicious line up Boulder's Yawpers, whose Capon Crusade arrived inconspicuously (passed onto me in the form of a home burned disc) but has been burning up my car and at my desk all week.  Last year's Savage Blue EP, a worthy couple songs for certain, barely hinted at the promise realized on the new full length album. Fueled by fuzzed out guitars and the borderline schizophrenic howls of Nate Cook the Yawpers might bring to mind Black Keys as crossed with Deer Tick (on a good day).  Time will tell, but there's no reason Capon Crusade shouldn't find itself the subject of some national attention. 

Also here, Iris Dement emerges from her sixteen year prairie exile with what promises to be an album that mixes the more mature songwriting of Way I Should with the more pastoral spirit of Dement's first two classic releases.  After nearly two decades, you'd certainly hope for something good ... 

Oh, and this weekend (Sat 8/2) I'll be hangin' around post-R&B to handle the mic for Andy's Tarnation! show.  Please keep me company as I occupy the airwaves for four full hours this Saturday. 

*  Elliott BROOD, "Lindsay"  Days Into Years  (Paper Bag, 11)
*  Brothers Comatose, "Van Song"  Respect the Van  (Self, 12)
*  Denver, "Way It Is"  Way It Is  (Self, 12)
*  Amanda Shires, "I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass"  Lowe  Country  (Fiesta Red, 12)
*  Butch Hancock, "Wind's Dominion"  Own & Own  (Sugar Hill, 89)
*  Flatlanders, "I Know You"  Odessa Tapes  (New West, 12)
*  Iris Dement, "Sing the Delta"  Sing the Delta  (Flariella, 12)  D
*  Sofie Reed, "Outside the City"  Simplicity Chased Trouble Away  (Self, 12)
*  Blackberry Smoke, "Pretty Little Lie"  Whippoorwill  (Southern Ground, 12)
*  Ry Cooder, "Take Your Hands Off It"  Election  Special  (Nonesuch, 12)  D
*  Spirit Family Reunion, "I Want To Be  Released"  No Separation  (Self, 12)
^  Yawpers, "Mother"  Capon Crusade  (Self, 12)  D
*  Hackensaw Boys, "Oh Girl"  Look Out  (Nettwerk, 07)
*  Old Crow Medicine Show, "Steppin' Out"  Carry Me Back  (ATO, 12)
*  Tift Merritt, "Still Not Home"  Traveling Alone  (Yep Roc, 12)
*  Tin Horn Prayer, "Stumble"  Grapple the Rails  (Paper + Plastick, 12)
*  Graham Weber, "Sweet Virginia Brown"  Women  (Self, 12)  D
*  Dwight Yoakam, "Take a Hold of My Heart"  3 Pears  (Warner, 12)  D
*  Patty Griffin, "When It Don't Come Easy"  Impossible Dream  (ATO, 04)
*  David Wax Museum, "Will You Be Sleeping"  Knock Knock Get Up  (Self, 12)  D
*  Malcolm Holcombe, "Down the River"  Down the River  (Gypsy Eyes, 12)
*  Gun Street Ghost, "Fine"  One Home  (Self, 12)
*  Carsie Blanton, "Smoke Alarm"  Idiot Heart  (Self, 12)  D
*  Washers, "Good Ole Days"  Tired Eyes  (Self, 12)  D
*  Brett Detar, "Devil's Gotta Earn"  Bird in the Tangle  (Self, 11) 
*  Mark Collie, "I Could've Gone Right (live)"  Alive at Brushy Mt State Penitentiary  (Wilbanks, 12)  D
*  Barker Band, "Bad Thing"  Dig Me a Hole  (Self, 12)  D
*  Jon Gant, "And I Always Will"  Rough Start To the Night  (Self, 12)  D

ROUTES & BRANCHES
August 18, 2012
Scott Foley

I was wading through my desk this week, in an attempt to catch up on a couple (tall) stacks of CDs.  When I preview new albums, I'll give them each a quick once-over and distribute them into one of three piles:   1) This is a good one that I'll add to the KRFC library; 2) This one doesn't quite pass muster and I'll pass on it; or, 3) This one merits further listening.  Of course, pile 3 quickly becomes more of a mountain, and after a time these new CDs are no longer too new.  You might be surprised with how many pretty good albums there are out there. This week, I chose to give mountain #3 much more of my attention than usual, and I did come across at least a couple really good albums - I'll introduce at least a few of them on next week's Episode.

For this week, a couple gospel-influenced releases have grabbed my attention lately.  While I think the gospel tradition has had a great influence over our kind of music, over the past few months there have been a handful of CDs that pay a more direct homage.  Think Elizabeth Cook's excellent Gospel Plow EP, the consistently fine Mercyland compilation or even Driftwood Singers' debut.  Spirit Family Reunion doesn't make a deliberate effort to proselytize or preach, but borrows liberally from the traditional gospel song structures.  A recent NPR piece called it "music for church basements", revival music.  One bandmember calls it "open door gospel".  Like the very best of spirit-driven music, Spirit Family Reunion make a decidedly unholy racket, a sound just this side of lo-fi, driven by rattly drums, scratchy banjo and enthusiastically shouted vocals.  The Brooklyn band's humble No Separation arrives with little fanfare, packaged in a seemingly hand-stamped sleeve and a folded sheet of typed lyrics.  Unlike my growing mountain of possible passes, I knew from a first listen that this was one of my favorites for the year. 

Also this week, a tremendous introduction (for  me) to Sofie Reed, a Denver artist by way of Sweden who plays her blues on a dulcimer and sings not unlike Lucinda Williams' early recordings.  Also, the newly prolific John Hiatt's best album in years, and some prime alt.country from that hotbed of the genre, Ohio ... 


*  Lydia Loveless, "Alison"  internet single  (Bloodshot, 11)
*  Sonny & the Sunsets, "Pretend You  Love Me"  Longtime Companion  (Polyvinyl, 12)
*  Trishas, "Little Sweet Cigars"  High Wide & Handsome  (Self, 12)
*  Lyle Lovett, "Brand New Tennessee Waltz"  Quiet About It  (Mailboat, 12)  D
*  Bonnie & the Clydes, "Take Me Home"  Wrong Side Up  (Self, 12)
*  Langhorne Slim, "Way We Move"  Way We Move  (Ramseur, 12)
*  Ryan Bingham, "Heart of Rhythm"  Tomorrowland  (Axster Bingham, 12)
*  Tift Merritt, "In the Way"  Traveling Alone  (Yep Roc, 12)
*  Flatlanders, "Number Sixteen"  Odessa Tapes  (New West, 12)  D
*  Corb Lund, "Mein Deutsches Motorrad"  Cabin Fever  (New West, 12)
*  Black Prairie, "How Do You Ruin Me"  Tear In the Eye Is a Wound ...  (Sugar Hill, 12)  D
^  Spirit Family Reunion, "100 Greenback Dollar Bills"  No Separation  (Self, 12)
*  Sofie Reed, "Simplicity Chased Trouble Away"  Simplicity Chased Trouble Away  (Self, 12)  D
*  Lindi Ortega, "Day You Die"  Cigarettes & Truckstops  (Last Gang, 12)  D
*  Radney Foster, "Just Call Me Lonesome"  Del Rio TX Revisited  (Devil's River, 12)
*  Rhett Miller, "Wreck Of the Old 97 (live)"  We Walk the Line  (Legacy, 12)
*  Alone at 3am, "Another Round"  Midwest Mess  (Suburban Home, 12)  D
*  4H Royalty, "Itchy Blood"  Where UFOs Go To Die  (Self, 12)
*  Elizabeth Cook, "If I Had My Way"  Gospel Plow  (Thirty One Tigers, 12)
*  Kasey Chambers, "Return of the Grievous Angel"  Storybook  (Sugar Hill, 12)
*  John Hiatt, "It All Comes Back Someday"  Mystic Pinball  (New West, 12)  D
*  Derek Hoke, "Lonely Street"  Waiting All Night  (Electric Western, 12)
*  Gun Street Ghost, "Block of Stone"  One Home  (Self, 12)
*  Mavericks, "Come Unto Me"  Suited Up and Ready  (Valory, 12)
*  Driftwood Singers, "Come Across the Tracks"  Driftwood Singers  (Trailer Fire, 12)
*  Hayes Carll, "(I'm Gonna Start) Living Again If It Kills Me"  Lowe Country  (Fiesta Red, 12)
*  Jimmy LaFave, "It Just Is Not Right"  Depending On the Distance  (Music Road, 12)  D
*  Denver, "I'm Going Home"  Denver  (Self, 12)

ROUTES & BRANCHES
August 11, 2012
Scott Foley

Nope.  No R&B Broadcast this week, with KRFC broadcasting boldly from Fort Collins' Bohemian Nights at New West Fest.  BH@NWF is one of the highlights of Colorado's festival season, with a predictably stellar line up of locals acts and a couple national acts to keep people hanging around long past dark.  This year, in addition to Alison Krauss & Union Station, BH@NWF boasts Arliss Nancy, Bad Weather California, Devotchka, Great American  Taxi, Haunted Windchimes, Mosey West, Slim Cessna's Auto Club, Patti Fiasco, and You Me & Apollo just to name a handful of the nearly hundred Colorado acts strewn from stage to stage over 3 days.  Of course, KRFC is broadcasting every day from the Mountain Avenue Stage (while I putter around the studio waiting for performers to cuss or computers to spark - both of which happen more often than you might guess).

So maybe for this week's post, I'll turn our attention towards some prime stuff that will likely hit the airwaves next week.  As I blog, I'm sitting in a coffeeshop with my iced decaf mocha and a cratefull of stuff I need to preview in the next several days.  For notable starters, we have Jimmy LaFave and the Mavericks.  Also on the docket are Amy Cook, Mic Harrison, AJ Downing and Leyla Fences.  FYI: I'm not complaining ....

One curious album I'm presently consuming features Austinite Graham Weber and a studio full of talented women sharing the mic.  It's aptly called Women.  The album's sleeve depicts Weber, this side of husky, looking sort of out of place in a white suit jacket and a mohawk.  Unfolding the package, you see he is in a dark bar (it's daylight outside) surrounded by glamorous women.  Having not had the privilege to have heard Weber's three previous releases, I wasn't quite expecting the eloquent lyrics and sensitive songs within.

Remember when I wore a hat and you had your hair all tangled up with chopsticks? / Love was in the air and I knew we had found it / Times were tough but times were always tough for us / Now I can't decide if I want you back because / You said you'd had enough / But I need you now and you're not there

Not words nobody has ever used before, but they all fit so comfortably alongside one another, and the heart and soul shine through so readily.  Even as impressive, the tempo for Weber's songs rarely ventures beyond a gentle roll.  When an electric guitar finally crackles to life on track 10 ("All About You"), it's nearly jarring.  Makes it almost secondary that Weber shares the stage with folks like Carrie Rodriguez, Amanda Shires, Leslie Stevens and BettySoo.  While Women was officially unleashed in November, I might have to fudge the rules a bit to fit this on my favorites list for 2012.

Next week, we'll hear the dapper Weber and his Women, as well as a rare tribute album to Nick Lowe, and here's hoping for another unexpected surprise in my crate by Saturday!  

ROUTES & BRANCHES
August 4, 2012
Scott Foley

So Ryan Bingham has released the first single from his forthcoming, self-released Tomorrowland album.  Due in stores/online Sept 18, the rockabilly-esque romp certainly marks a departure from his standing body of work.  I trust him as a songwriter, however, and expect the final project to be consistent with the quality of work we've come to expect from him.  Which isn't to say that "Heart of Rhythm" is bad.  It's just, well ...  here:  "Come on honey let me turn you on / Let's get it right from the start / We got us more than silver & gold / We got a heart full of rhythm and the rock & roll".

Hey, and Will Johnson has issued forth the first single from his forthcoming solo album, Scorpion.  Known as the voice behind bands like Centro-Matic and South San Gabriel (and a recent collaborator on the New Multitudes project), Johnson is a vastly underrated songwriter.  "You Will Be Here, Mine" is a gorgeously scarred alt.country ballad worthy of a  home in  your ears.  I look forward to hearing the rest of the new release.

Finally, Tift Merrit's last couple CDs have been just fine, but they haven't always lived up to the great promise of Bramble Rose and Tambourine.  Fortunately, her new album, Traveling Alone, achieves an impressive balance between Merritt's earlier country-influenced work and her more recent pop-leaning efforts.  With an atmospheric bent to certain tunes, Traveling occasionally brings to mind Emmylou Harris' classic Red Dirt Girl album.  Merritt's voice also evolves a bit in that direction, leaving in just the right amount of flaws and vocal breaks that lend a song its vulnerability and humanity.  

Next week's R&B Episode will be preempted by KRFC's live broadcast of Bohemian Nights at New West Fest, featuring a wealth of Colorado entertainment, from Great American Taxi to Arliss Nancy.  Plus, Alison Krauss & Union Station.  If a week without me seems too much to bear, remember that I'll always be there for you on Thursday mornings from 10 to noon.  


*  Southern Culture On the Skids, "Smiley Yeah Yeah Yeah"  Mojo Box  (Yep Roc, 04)
*  Jason Eady, "AM Country Heaven"  AM Country Heaven  (Underground Sound, 12)  D
*  Chatham County Line, "Alone In New York (live)"  Sight & Sound  (Yep Roc, 12)
*  Ana Egge, "Sitting In the Midday Sun"  Lazy Days  (Parkinsong, 07)
*  Ryan Bingham, "Heart of Rhythm"  Tomorrowland  (Axster Bingham, 12)  D
*  Arliss Nancy, "St Forgot"  Simple Machines  (Suburban Home, 12)
*  Be Good Tanyas, "Draft Daughter's Blues"  A Collection  (Nettwerk, 12)
*  Corb Lund, "Bible On the Dash"  Cabin Fever   (New West, 12)
*  Malcolm Holcombe, "In Your Mercy"  Down the River  (Gypsy Eyes, 12)
*  Joe Ely, "Dallas"  Best Of Joe Ely  (MCA, 00)
*  Kasey Chambers, "Too Long In the Wasteland"  Storybook  (Sugar Hill, 12)  D
*  Bonnie & the Clydes, "My Love Will Keep"  Wrong Side Up  (Self, 12)
*  Trishas, "Mother Of Invention"  High Wide & Handsome  (Self, 12)  D
*  Eleven Hundred Springs, "Northside Blues"  Bandwagon  (Palo Duro, 04)
*  Coal Porters, "Heroes"  Find the One  (Prima, 12)  D
*  Will Johnson, "You Will Be Here, Mine"  Scorpion  (Undertow, 12)  D
*  Robert Cline Jr, "Praying For An Angel" All the Right Reasons  (Mockingbird, 12)
*  Buddy Miller, "Hey Porter (live)"  Johnny Cash: We Walk the Line  (Legacy, 12)  D
*  Amy Cook, "Levee"  Summer Skin  (Roothouse, 12)
*  Steve Earle, "Johnny Come Lately"  Copperhead Road  (UNI, 88)
*  Patterson Hood, "Come Back Little Star"  Heat Lightning Rumbles in the Distance  (ATO, 12)
*  Kelly Hogan, "Haunted"  I Like To Keep Myself In Pain  (Anti, 12)
^  Tift Merritt, "Still Not Home"  Traveling Alone  (Yep Roc, 12)  D
*  Jon Snodgrass, "More Buddies"  More Buddies More Fun  (Paper + Plastick, 12)
*  Kelly Joe Phelps, "Goodbye To Sorrow"  Brother Sinner & the Whale  (Black Hen, 12)
*  Dwight Yoakam, "Alright I'm Wrong"  Tomorrow's Sounds Today  (Reprise, 00)

ROUTES & BRANCHES
July 28, 2012
Scott Foley

There are certain artists whose every album I eagerly await, confident in their consistent quality.  Malcolm Holcombe is one of those stalwarts.  While he's grown as a songwriter over the years, his albums have been charmingly predictable - swampy country-folk, propelled by a hard strummed guitar and a stomping boot, Holcombe's unmistakable vocals growling and spitting backwoods story after story.  Some albums feature little more than the boot, guitar and voice, while more recent efforts are more instrumentally fleshed out.  Holcombe's new release is his most ambitious to date.  Backed by a band composed of Ken Coomer, Viktor Krauss, Tammy Rogers, Darrell Scott and more, he is also joined here and there by Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle and Kim Richey.  This is a huge step for a man who seemed content to keep his musical light under the proverbial bushel.  

Also on this Episode, we encounter another gruff voice in the person of Reverend Peyton and his Big Damn Band, taking a step towards more robust songwriting on their new album.  We also enjoy one of the most wonderful voices in americana in Bonnie Phelps and her Clydes (from beautiful downtown Longmont) on their sophomore release. 


*  Driftwood Singers, "Band of Diamonds House of Gold"  Driftwood Singers  (Trailer Fire, 12)
*  Flatlanders, "Way We Are"  Hills and Valleys  (New West, 09)
*  Turnpike Troubadors, "Southeastern Son"  Goodbye Normal Street  (Bossier City, 12)
*  Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds, "Millie Mae"  Pound of Dirt  (Self, 12)
*  Rev Peyton's Big Damn Band, "Big Blue Chevy '72"  Between the Ditches  (Side One Dummy, 12)  D
*  Johnny Hickman, "Another Road"  Tilting  (Self, 12)
*  Jayhawks, "I'd Run Away"  Tomorrow the Green Grass  (American, 95)
*  Tift Merritt, "To Myself"  Traveling Alone  (Yep Roc, 12)  D
*  Billy Joe Shaver, "Black Rose (live)"  Live at  Billy Bob's Texas  (Smith, 12)  D
*  Rev Horton Heat, "I'm Mad (live)"  25 to Life  (Yep Roc, 12)  D
*  Great Unknowns, "Homefront"  Homefront  (Self, 12)
*  Gun Street Ghost, "Fine"  One Home  (Self, 12)  D
*  Kate Campbell, "Boulder to Birmingham"  Twang On a Wire  (Large River, 03)
*  Mary Karr & Rodney Crowell, "My Father's Advice"  Kin  (Vanguard, 12)
^  Malcolm Holcombe, "Trail o'Money"  Down the River  (Gypsy Eyes, 12)   D
*  Two Cow Garage, "Saturday Night"  Wall Against Our Backs  (Shelterhouse, 04)
*  Bonnie & the Clydes, "Feel the Wheels Turn"  Wrong Side Up  (Self, 12)  D
*  Bonnie "Prince" Billy, "I See a Darkness"  Now Here's My Plan  (Drag City, 12)  D
*  Sonny & the Sunsets, "Pretend You Love Me"  Longtime Companion  (Polyvinyl, 12)  D
*  Kasey Chambers, "Sweetest Waste of Time"  Rattlin' Bones  (Sugar Hill, 08)
*  Old Crow Medicine Show, "Mississippi Saturday Night"  Carry Me Back  (ATO, 12)
*  Felice Brothers, "Lincoln Continental"  God Bless You Amigo  (Self, 12)  D
*  Zoe Muth & the Lost High Rollers, "Heart Like a Wheel"  Old Gold  (Signature Sounds, 12)
*  Longest Day of the Year, "Eloise"  Turn Into the Ground  (Mulewax, 12)
*  Shovels & Rope, "Keeper"  O' Be Joyful  (Dualtone, 12)
*  Townes Van Zandt, "Standin"  High Low & In Between  (Tomato, 72)
*  Catherine Irwin, "Mockingbird"  Little Heater  (Thrill Jockey, 12)  D
*  Radney Foster, "Nobody Wins"  Del Rio Tx Revisited  (Devil's River, 12)