Sunday, December 28, 2014

 ROUTES & BRANCHES  
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
December 27, 2014
Scott Foley

Peppered this Episode with a couple New Year themed tunes,  none of which seem especially optimistic.  I generally launch into a new year with a certain amount of eagerness with regards to new releases, having put my lists for the old year behind me.  The dearth of releases this time of year also gives me the opportunity to focus on some strong releases that didn't quite make the cut, great stuff from Lydia Loveless, Tim Barry and Bloodshot records. 

We've also been gifted recently by some fine new Colorado releases, represented here by folks like longtime Yonder Mountain String Band-er Jeff Austin, Nederland's Todd Adelman, and Jim Dalton (who works with Roger Clyne, Railbenders and Hickman Dalton Gang).  Denver's Strange Americans issued on of 2014's biggest steps forward with That Kind of Luster, which brings to mind elements of more recent Son Volt.  Incidentally, I've adjusted my previously announced plans, and will play some of my favorite Square State music from 8-10am (MT) on Monday 12/29. 

Other promising debuts this Episode include a stellar new tune from Joe Pug's forthcoming record, and an uncharacteristically gritty bit from Allison Moorer.  We also wrangle a couple outliers in Roger Alan Wade and Joey Allcorn, and enjoy what could be an early candidate for the album of early 2015 from American Aquarium. 

Which leaves me to talk about Justin Townes Earle, issuing the companion piece to last year's excellent Single Mothers.  Appropriately termed Absent Fathers, the record was initially intended as a double album, which would've competed with Lucinda Williams' Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone for the year's worthiest double release.  Mothers ended up as my 9th favorite of the year.  After enjoying both records,  I really can't see a line between the two.  Fathers' songs might be a touch more upbeat, and Mothers strikes me as perhaps more personal, but both find JTE in a comfortable place.  New songs like "Call Ya Momma" and "Round the Bend" are representative of his recent explorations of a more contemporary country-soul sound.  As with Lucinda, there are plenty of heartbreakers, downbeat pieces like "Least I Got the Blues" or the beautiful "Looking For a Place To Land" which augment Earle's fragile but expressive vocals with some sweet pedal steel.  Logistics might be the strongest argument as to why the albums were released 4 months apart.  Just for fun, I listened to them on a "random" setting, with their respective songs blending perfectly from one to the next.  I can also attest that this is a perfect way to pass a snowbound afternoon in the early winter. 

Day and Night / Change and uncertainty / What can I say / What will I have to show / Will I be remembered for the love I made / And everything I've stolen  / Now the sun is going down / and I'll be damned if it don't look like snow ...

*  Ray Wylie Hubbard, "New Year's Eve At the Gates of Hell"  Grifter's Hymnal  (Bordello, 12)
*  Low Anthem, "Champion Angel"  Oh My God Charlie Darwin  (Nonesuch, 09)
*  Lydia Loveless, "Wine Lips"  Somewhere Else  (Bloodshot, 14)
*  M Lockwood Porter, "Different Kind of Lonely"  27  (MLP, 14)
^  Justin Townes Earle, "Round the Bend"  Absent Fathers  (Vagrant, 15)
*  Dead Volts, "Late Again"  We Are Already Dead  (Twang N Bang, 14)
*  Jim Dalton, "Have a Drink On Me"  single  (Dalton, 14)  C, D
*  Todd Adelman, "Cold Mississippi Blues"  Highways & Lowways  (Porch Lantern, 14)  C, D
*  Charlie Robison, "New Year's Day"  Good Times  (Dualtone, 04)
*  Strange Americans, "Le Central"  That Kind of Luster  (Strange Americans, 14)  C
*  American Aquarium, "Wolves"  Wolves  (American Aquarium, 15)  D
*  Drive-by Truckers, "Women Without Whiskey"  Southern Rock Opera  (Lost Hwy, 01)
*  Patterson Hood, "Rising Son"  Killers and Stars  (New West, 04)
*  Allison Moorer, "Like It Used To Be"  Down  To Believing  (E1, 15)  D
*  Whitey Morgan, "Another Wine"  Grandpa's Guitar  (Whitey Morgan, 14)
*  Roger Alan Wade, "Things I Been Blamed For"  Bad News Knockin'   (Johnny Knoxville, 14)  D
*  Joey Allcorn, "South Montgomery Blues"  Nothing Left To Prove  (Blue Yodel, 14)  D
*  Carolyn Mark, "Last To Know"  While No One Was Looking  (Bloodshot, 14)
*  Lone Bellow, "Fake Roses"  Then Came the Morning  (Descendant, 15)
*  JD McPherson, "Let the Good Times Roll"  Let the Good Times Roll  (Rounder, 15)
*  Jeff Austin, "What the Night Brings"  Simple Truth  (YepRoc, 15)
*  Tim Barry, "No News From the North"  Lost & Rootless  (Chunksaah, 14)
*  Joe Pug, "If Still It Can't Be Found"  Windfall  (Lightning Rod, 15)  D
*  Hurray For the Riff Raff, "Little Black Star"  Look Out Mama  (Loose, 11)
*  Bottle Rockets, "Another Brand New Year"  Brand New Year  (New West, 99)
*  Districts, "4th & Roebling"  Flourish & a Spoil  (Fat Possum, 15)
*  Robert Earl Keen, "Wayfaring Stranger"  Happy Prisoner: Bluegrass Sessions  (Dualtone, 15)
*  Slaid Cleaves, "New Year's Day"  Wishbones  (Rounder, 04)

Sunday, December 21, 2014

ROUTES & BRANCHES
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
December 20, 2014
Scott Foley



So this is Christmas ...  

A lot of people who like a lot of music don't much care for holiday music, and I get it.  I'll admit that there's a trainload of bad seasonal stuff out there, and that's what we're most subject to on radio, tv and in stores.  I see it as my mandate to take a left turn at "All I Want For Christmas Is You" (still a great Christmas original from a sweet scene in a generally fine picture) and trip thru the kudzu of the internets to find the worthy bits.  As with my non-holiday fare, it's not enough to be obscure, but the mistletunes with which I emerge also must earn their keep as good music.

This year brought a frequently fine compilation from the folks at Amazon, All Is Bright, and New West's holiday blend of the old and new in An Americana Christmas.  Frequent tourmates Blind Boys of Alabama and Taj Mahal exceeded expectations with a collection that is both original and meaningful.  And Over the Rhine continues their streak of peerless winter (re: depressing) song - I can't recall the last year I didn't play one of their tracks on my Holiday Show.  Clinging to the runners of my musical sleigh, as they have for years, are the former Mr and Mrs Steve Earle with their unrivaled statement of seasonal purpose, "Nothing But a Child".   I'll actually features new tunes from both their 2015 releases on next week's R&B Episode.   

More than any other holiday, on Christmas we are asked to feel warm and fulfilled on demand, and ofttimes that's just not possible.  There's a great deal of clutter and noise to distract us from this kernel of meaning at the heart of it all - but for me it's there.  I spent the great majority of my vocational life in the retail sector, reminded that Christmas was a'comin' by the increasing lines and the mounting frustration of the shoppers.  For all it was, that hubbub served as an Advent calendar of sorts for me.  Now that I've departed that realm, it's not necessarily as easy to tell the time, but it's also a far more relaxing season. 

Sometimes we cast judgment on the season, mistaking all that sparkle and crowding for the point of it all.  It's my experience that the noise of Christmas can serve as both a door and a wall - capable of either blocking you from that kernel of peace or ushering you towards its warmth.  With my weekly two hours of airtime, it's never my intention to do the former, to be part of the Noise.  On the contrary, my hope is that the musical choices I've made will at least serve as a quality soundtrack to another Saturday afternoon.  At best, I hope to be part of the ceremony that ushers you into the best that the season has to offer. 

"I like me. My wife likes me. My customers like me. 'Cause I'm the real article. What you see is what you get."  ~  Del Griffith 

*  Jamey Johnson w/Secret Sisters, "Mele Kalikimaka"  Christmas Song EP  (Bag Gassed, 14)  D
*  Dwight Yoakam, "Santa Can't Stay"  Come On Christmas  (Reprise, 97)
*  Corb Lund, "Just Me and These Ponies"  An Americana Christmas  (New West, 14)
*  Mother Merey & Black Dirt, "Run Rudolph Run"  Noise To the World  (Converse, 13)
*  Xmas-Men, "Have a Holly Jolly Xmas"  Santa Is Real  (Rosetta, 14)
*  Walt Wilkins, Josh Grider & Drew Kennedy, "If We Make It Through December"  single  (3 Amigos, 14)  D
*  Love Tractor, "Linus and Lucy"  Before and After Christmas  (Fundamental, 06)
*  Jimmy Reed, "Christmas Present Blues"  In the Christmas Groove  (Strut, 09)
*  JJ Grey & Mofro, "Santa Claus, True Love and Freedom"  Ol' Glory  (Provogue, 15)  D
*  Mavericks, "Santa Claus Is Back In Town"  Christmas Cookies  (MCA, 01)
*  Over the Rhine, "First Snowfall"  Blood Oranges In the Snow  (Great Speckled Dog, 14)
*  Eleven Hundred Springs, "Christmas Is a Time To Say I Love You"  Light Connected  (Kirtland, 12)
*  Houndmouth, "Blue Christmas"  All Is Bright  (Amazon, 14)
*  Nick Lowe, "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day"  Quality Street  (Yep Roc, 13)
*  JD McPherson, "Twinkle (Little Christmas Lights)"  single  (Rounder, 12)
*  Tom VandenAvond, "South Texas Christmas"  Tom VandenAvond  (Hillgrass Bluebilly, 05)
*  Norah Jones, "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear"  single  (Blue Note, 12)
*  Blue Rodeo, "Jesus Christ"  A Merrie Christmas To You  (Warner, 14)  D
*  Grant Farm, "Christmas Time's a-Coming"  An East Nashville Christmas  (PhBalanced, 12)  C
*  Laura Gibson, "Silver Bells"  Walker In a Winter Wonderland  (Pink Smoke, 13)
*  Mark Kozelek, "2,000 Miles"  Sings Christmas Carols  (Caldo Verde, 14)  D
*  Vic Chesnutt & Liz Durrett, "Somewhere"  Somewhere Compilation  (Liz Durrett, ??)
*  Blind Boys of Alabama & Taj Mahal, "Do You Hear What I Hear"  Talkin' Christmas  (Sony, 14)  D
*  Bobby Womack, "White Christmas"  Tradition  (Capitol, 99)
*  Anthony Hamilton w/ZZ Ward, "Away In a Manger"  Home For the Holidays  (RCA, 14)  D
*  Nikki Lane, "FaLaLaLaLove Ya"  An Americana Christmas  (New West, 14)
*  Vintage Trouble, "Soul Noel"  single  (Ty Taylor, 13)
*  Ron Sexsmith, "Maybe This Christmas"  Winter's Night Vol 2  (Nettwerk, 03)
*  Marc Cohn, "Coldest Corner in the World"  single  (Marc Cohn, 14)  D
*  Lucinda Williams, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"  All Is Bright  (Amazon, 14)
*  Steve Earle & Alison Moorer, "Nothing But a Child"  to: Kate  (Western Beast, 05)

Finally, please join me on Monday, 12/22 as I share some of my favorite songs of 2014, from the americana world and beyond.  And if we don't cross paths until next Saturday, have yourself a merry little Christmas, however you're able to define it.

Ho  ~
Scott

Sunday, December 14, 2014


ROUTES & BRANCHES  
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
December 13, 2014
Scott Foley

FAVORITE ALBUMS of 2014

Every year is a good year for music.  You just have to know where to look.  As with past years, my Favorites for 2014 are a mix of stuff that's been given a good deal of radio attention nationally and stuff that has flown under all but the most discerning radars.  There are artists whose releases have perennially shown up on my lists and others who were unknown to me in January.  As always, I'm blessed and honored to be able to continue broadcasting R&B from the KRFC studios, where I also serve as Music Director (that's right, I'm paid to juggle music).  Over the past couple years, this blog has become an essential part of Routes & Branches, inseparable for me from the broadcast itself.  One of my musical resolutions for 2015 is to include a podcast for those who are unable to tune in on Saturdays.  Watch this space, as they say. 


1.  Sturgill Simpson, Metamodern Sounds In Country Music  (Hilltop Mt, 5/13)
Despite my Routes & Branches tagline, looking down my list there is a lot that is only tangentially linked to country music, if at all.  Sturgill Simpson, however, stands for all that I love about the genre.  If you're not paying attention to the lyrics of "Turtles All the Way Down," it's as classic and traditional a vocal delivery as you're bound to find.  "Long White Line" is pure honky tonk.  But then there's the incredible instrumental freakout which closes "It Ain't All Flowers," or the left-field cover of When In Rome's 1980s hit "The Promise".  Metamodern Sounds is not only firmly rooted in the immediately recognizable traditions, it has arguably preserved the genre during a time when what passes for mainstream country has largely unmoored it from its past. 
2.  Delines, Colfax  (El Cortez, 4/29)
My initial taste of the Delines created a desperate feeling in me.  The melancholy country-soul of  "I Won't Slip Up" announced the arrival of something that would change my year.  A longtime fan of Richmond Fontaine, I also happened to be reading Willy Vlautin's most recent novel, The Free.  Vlautin teamed with members of the Damnations, Decemberists and his day band to create this subtly moving monster.  As sung by Amy Boone, Vlautin's hard luck stories take on a new beauty.  Between his two bands and his writing career, I lose sleep these days worrying that Vlautin can't keep this up for long ... 
3.  Hiss Golden Messenger, Lateness of Dancers  (Merge, 9/09)
MC Taylor's work has never been as accessible, or as eloquent as it is on Lateness.  It is a deeply personal record, both for me and for Taylor, I imagine.  Like Joe Henry's Invisible Hour (celebrated below), it seems such a carefully arranged document, with lyrics so poetic that they stand on their own.  It's no coincidence that Taylor borrowed/stole the title of the album from Southern laureate Eudory Welty.  The looseness of HGM's November appearance on Letterman was revelatory (and, incidentally, proved that nobody supports worthy music like Dave).  
4.  Hurray For the Riff Raff, Small Town Heroes  (ATO, 2/11)
I'm far from the first to note that Hurray's Alynda Lee Segarra is one of the most interesting figures in roots based music. Segarra set the stage for Heroes by paying tribute to her predecessors on 2013's understated My Dearest Darkest NeighborHeroes wouldn't have been the same without that earlier touchstone.  While the record's alt.country moments are engaging, I would argue that the more defining moments come with less direct pieces like "St. Roche Blues" or "Body Electric". 
5.  Benjamin Booker, s/t  (ATO, 8/19)
Booker landed in my CD player with a bang.  I played it over and over, knowing that I had found something that could largely define my 2014 musical experience.  Why not connect the dots between blues and gospel?!  Then let's shred it up by dragging it through the garage with a good dose of punk!  
6.  Old 97s, Most Messed Up  (ATO, 4/29)
Here's a vote for vulgarity.  Hooray for profanity, for immaturity and good loud fun!  After so many years on the scene, I don't think that anyone would have argued that Old 97s every really fully lost the youthful thread that runs from their earliest music.  Nevertheless, the abandon on Most Messed Up is so refreshing, and it's simply reassuring that the guys can still rock out like college idiots when needed. 
7.  Christopher Denny, If the Roses Don't Kill Us  (Partisan, 8/05)
Christopher Denny's voice is the most unique sound on this year's list.  I've jokingly compared it to "Jiminy Cricket as crossed with Jimmie Dale Gilmore," though the truth is that Denny's soulful croon serves his songs well.  The personal struggles that defined the seven years between his debut and this sophomore album serve to strengthen the urgency of his work.  There's a deep romanticism here as well, grounded in country and soul, as well as gospel.  
8.  Nikki Lane, All Or Nothin'  (New West, 5/06)
This is The One That Stuck Around for 2014.  Of course, the immediate impression was strong and positive.  With edge and appeal aplenty, producer Dan Auerbach has helped Lane come into her own.  As the year progressed, repeated plays revealed new depths and nuances to Lane's songs.  Front to back, there are more unforgettable tunes on All Or Nothin' than on any other collection on this list.  
9.  Justin Townes Earle, Single Mothers  (Vagrant, 9/09)
There's nothing showy to Single Mothers, nothing as catchy as "Harlem River".  Instead, Earle goes for the slow burn, the more subtle approach, putting his retro stuff on the back burner in favor of a more contemporary, soulful sound.  I look forward to the January release of Earle's companion piece, Absent Fathers 
10. Shakey Graves, And the War Came  (Dualtone, 10/06)
Yes.  Me and everyone else.  After two low key self-releases, I eagerly anticipated Alejandro Rose-Garcia's full fledged debut.  With contributions from Colorado's Esme Patterson, its long awaited arrival exceeds expectations.  Songs add new shades to the Shakey Graves sound, proving that he's more than a one dimensional busker.  Having said that, my hope is that future records remain well rooted in his lo-fi past.  
11. Caleb Caudle, Paint Another Layer On My Heart  (This Is American Music, 6/24)
I put North Carolina's Caudle in a similar category as John Moreland, with whom he toured in 2014.  Brilliant with a turn of phrase, he's a songwriter in the classic tradition who deserves a breakout moment about now.   "Come On October" and "Missing Holidays" are songs for the ages. 
12. Tweedy, Sukierae  (dbPm, 9/19)
With two Wilco retrospectives and this double solo record, Jeff Tweedy is apparently responsible for no fewer than 8 CDs worth of music in 2014.  The revelation here is how natural it all sounds, freed from the studio trickery and more experimental noise of his day band.  Tweedy has long been an excellent writer, but it's never sounded so basic, personal and direct as on Sukierae.  
13. Lucinda Williams, Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone  (Hwy 20, 9/30)
With Lucinda, Justin Townes Earle and Delines, 2014 was a year I was thirsty for country-soul.  Like the late JJ Cale (whom Williams honors here with a patient cover of "Magnolia"), her music can be Memphis incarnate.  Especially on the country numbers, she demonstrates that her worn and ragged voice is still capable of such expression.  Down Where the Spirit is a generous record, but never indulgent, with every cut earning its place.  
14. Ryan Adams, s/t  (PaxAm, 9/09)
As much as the mainstream media rides Adams for some of his more ill advised public moments, I can never seem to shake his music.  While he remains elusive and overly prolific, he's also reached such a consistent level of songcraft on his "official" releases.  Most impressively, Adams does it all without straining to achieve the Big Statement.  Songs like "Gimme Something Good" are immediate and seemingly effortless.  
15. Cory Branan, No Hit Wonder  (Bloodshot, 9/19)
Let's hope this self-deprecating gem doesn't mark the end of Branan's attempts at being taken seriously as a writer.  Shot through with both humor and classic storytelling, Wonder stands as Branan's most consistent collection to date.  More focused than Todd Snider (but who's not?), with hooks almost as sharp as Rhett Miller.  
16. Joe Henry, Invisible Hour  (Worksong, 6/03)
 Such beautiful and evocative work, self-produced and pared to its essence.  It's almost as though Henry has drifted into a genre all his own over the past decade.  More than any other album on this list, Invisible Hour is pure poetry.  
17. Robert Ellis, Lights From the Chemical Plant  (New West, 2/07)
I've pegged Ellis as a potential game changer for records to come.  A bright songwriter, he makes unexpected choices, and adds textures to his music uncommon to most americana.  My hope is that he'll continue to evolve in challenging directions.  Ellis also branched out as producer in 2014, behind the boards for Whiskey Shivers' new release.  
18. Old Crow Medicine Show, Remedy  (ATO, 7/01)
"Dearly Departed Friend" will compete for my Favorite Song of 2014.  It's OCMS' strongest record since their debut a decade ago.  Always sharp musicians, here they buckle down and prove themselves to be worthy writers as well.  
19. Elliott BROOD, Work and Love  (Paper Bag, 10/20)
Once fond of incorporating bits of Canadian history in their songs, the BROOD boys keep things closer to home on this one, with tunes about getting older and raising kids.  While that doesn't immediately say "good time record",  the trio's tuneful blend of roots pop has matured in a great direction. 
20. Bloodhounds, Let Loose!  (Alive Naturalsound, 11/04)
Another band from East L.A.  This one seems to make more noise, do more drugs and have more fun.  It's garage music at its finest, with echoes of blues, pop and punk.  One of my favorite surprises of the year.  
21. JP Harris & Tough Choices, Home Is Where the Hurt Is  (Cow Island, 9/23)
22. Fire Mountain, All Dies Down  (This Is American Music, 5/20)
23. Hard Working Americans,  s/t  (Melvin, 1/21)
24. Sons of Bill, Love and Logic  (Thirty Tigers, 9/30)
25. Parker Millsap, s/t  (Okrahoma, 2/04)
26. Otis Gibbs, Souvenirs of a Misspent Youth  (Wanamaker, 8/19)
27. Rosanne Cash, River and the Thread  (Blue Note, 1/14)
28. John Fullbright, Songs  (Blue Dirt, 5/27)
29. Whiskey Shivers, Whiskey Shivers  (Self, 9/23)
30. Joe Fletcher, You've Got the Wrong Man  (Wrong Reasons, 10/06)

Next Saturday, please join me for my annual R&B holiday show - music that's both seasonally and musically relevant.  Looking forward, I think I'll actually be airing a wide selection of my favorite songs on KRFC's Monday Mix on December 22 (8-10am Mountain Times), and my Colorado favorites on Monday, January 5 during those same hours.  I'll post both my Songs and Colorado lists on this blog soon after they air. 

Monday, December 08, 2014

ROUTES & BRANCHES
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
December 6, 2014
Scott Foley

This morning I finalized my Favorite Albums list for 2014.  I think.  Next Saturday's Episode, I'll unveil the results.  The list will show up online soon thereafter.  As part of this process, I looked back to lists from years passed, reminded of #1s gone by:

2013:  Jason Isbell / Southeastern
2012:  Arliss Nancy / Simple Machines
2011:  Lydia Loveless / Indestructible Machine
2010:  Robert Plant / Band of Joy
2009:  Son Volt / American Central Dust
2008:  Alejandro Escovedo / Real Animal

Not bad company, really.

Also coming up, I'll be airing my annual Holiday Episode on 12/20 - time will tell if any of my kids will be in tow this year.  I'll be presenting a Favorite Songs list 12/29 on my Monday Morning Mix 8-10am (mt), and my Colorado artists list during a weekday Mix sometime early in 2015.  I'll also be publishing these on my site, though both will messily overflow the americana genre. 

Time and again on R&B, we ask:  What becomes of the angry young punk?  In cases like Chuck Ragan, Jon Snodgrass, Michael Dean Damron and others, there's a relatively graceful evolution that follows: punk - protest - folk.  Half a lifetime ago, Virginia's Tim Barry switched trains.  Once the frontman for Richmond's Avail, Barry's solo music retains much of the honesty, the emotion and the earnest commitment of punk, but channels them through the vehicle of folk and americana.  In a very DIY punk move, he recorded his 6th album, Lost & Rootless, in a cold, jerry-rigged backyard shed,  "I wanted to make a wooden record."  That rough hewn spirit shines through on "Poppa's Porch":  Pull up a seat and ice them knuckles / Poppa's front porch has got plenty of open chairs


As punks age, they put pictures of their wife and newborn on the front of their record.  They invite their family to play on their songs, and even write their children into a couple tunes.  Barry's sister Caitlin Hunt adds a sweet violin to a handful of pieces, most notably a stirring re-recording of "No News From North," an early song from the songwriter's first album of demos.  The song highlights a dichotomy which serves as a thread running through much of the record.  Despite the hominess and prevailing hearth/friends/family vibe, there's an undeniable nomadic yearning to Lost & Rootless (note the title).   Home's just a distraction I invent / When I can't make rent.  "Older and Poorer" tells the story of his wedding, and on "All My Friends" he sings You are all welcome here / You are welcome here / You're welcome here / It's safe.  Contrast this with pieces like "I'm Only Passing Through" or the tremendous title track, songs that reflect a road weary restlessness:  I'm feelin' lost and rootless this fall / Just countin' birds and wastin' time / and prayin' this ain't all.   One of the year's strongest cuts. 

Despite all these fine Tim Barry originals, on this Episode I chose to highlight the record's sole cover, a take on Blaze Foley's classic "Clay Pigeons".  No relation, but a big fan, it's a song whose big hearted spirit fits perfectly on Lost & Rootless

*  Wooden Wand, "Winter In Kentucky"  Briarwood  (Fire, 11)
*  Crane Wives, "White Winter Hymnal"  Very Crane Wives Christmas  (Crane Wives, 14)  D
*  Rosanne Cash, "Etta's Tune"  River & the Thread  (Blue Note, 14)
*  M Ward, "Just the Other Side of Nowhere"  Transistor Radio (reissue)  (Merge, 05)
*  Lisa LeBlanc, "Katie Cruel"  Highways Heartaches & Time Well Wasted  (Bonsound, 14)
*  Dead Volts, "Ain't Dead Yet"  We Are Already Dead  (Twang N Bang, 14)
*  Whiskey Shivers, "Give Me a Reason"  Whiskey Shivers  (Whiskey Shivers, 14)
*  Steve Earle, "You're the Best Lover I Ever Had"  Terraplane Blues  (New West, 14)
*  Shelby Lynne, "Old #7"  Tears Lies & Alibis  (Everso, 10)
*  Ben Weaver, "Littleman"  I Would Rather Be a Buffalo  (Hymie's Record Label, 14)
^  Tim Barry, "Clay Pigeons"  Lost & Rootless  (Chunksaah, 14)
*  John Statz, "Amsterdam in Autumn"  Tulsa  (John Statz, 15)
*  Whitey Morgan, "Grandpa's Guitar"  Grandpa's Guitar  (Whitey Morgan, 14)
*  Hillstomp, "Don't Come Down"  Portland, Ore  (Fluff & Gravy, 14)
*  JP Harris & Tough Choices, "South Oklahoma"  Home Is Where the Hurt Is  (Cow Island, 14)
*  Chuck Berry, "Christmas"  Back Home  (Chess, 70)
*  Xmas-Men  "Little Drummer Boy / Linus & Lucy"  Santa Is Real  (Rosetta, 14)  D
*  Kathleen Edwards, "Mint"  Voyageur  (Rounder, 12)
*  Wilco, "Burned"  Alpha Mike Foxtrot: Rare Tracks  (Nonesuch, 14)
*  Centro-Matic, "Through the Fog Then Down"  Take Pride In Your Long Odds  (Centro-Matic, 14)
*  Sons of Bill, "Brand New Paradigm"  Love & Logic  (Thirty Tigers, 14)
*  Longest Day of the Year, "Black Horse Canyon"  Carapace  (Mulewax, 14)  C, D
*  New Basement Tapes, "Stranger"  Lost On the River  (Harvest, 14)
*  Bonnie "Prince" Billy & Dawn McCarthy, "Christmas Eve Can Kill You"  single  (Drag City, 12)
*  Ryan Bingham, "Radio"  Fear and Saturday Night  (Axster Bingham, 15)
*  Scruffy the Cat, "One Bad Apple"  Time Never Forgets: The Anthology '86-'88  (Sony, 14)  D
*  Whitehorse, "Downtown"  Leave No Bridge Unburned  (Six Shooter, 15)
*  Cale Tyson, "Fool Of the Year"  Cheater's Wine  (Cale Tyson, 14)