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!