ROUTES & BRANCHES  
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
September 19, 2015
Scott  Foley

So yes, thanks to all who pledged for Routes & Branches and KRFC during our Fall 2015 Membership Drive.  To be honest, we're always open to donations, and our official drive lasts thru Fri 9/25.  Your continued support means R&B won't be bumped and replaced with some less worthy sort of musical monster.

As usual, the drive means that our playlist is briefer (tho no less chill-inducing).  Lookit:  New noise from Colorado's own Yawpers, who got their start playing in our studios.  Also, I've always been of the opinion that Dave Rawlings makes Gillian Welch more fun.  And Corb Lund needs to outside encouragement to have a good time.  Plus, those first four spins focus on recipients of this year's Americana Honors and Awards.  Because americana is so hot right now ...

And speaking of hot fun, there aren't too many bands more devoted to good-time music than Bottle Rockets.  "Monday (Everytime I Turn Around)" is a 4 minute ode to the weekend, in addition to launching a hooky earworm and one of the better guitar solos you'll hear this year.  Brian Henneman and co. have been proudly sporting their blue collar brand of alt.country since the early 90s, surfing the fickle waves of the music industry's short attention span while remaining constant to their working class muse.  From their new South Broadway Athletic Club, "Building Chryslers" displays B'Rox mission as plainly as a worn cotton shirt: "He's building Chryslers / He don't care how they turn out / Thinks being union means he's here to stay".  Bottle Rockets have never set out to dazzle with lyrical calisthenics.  With such a commitment to melody and groove, it makes sense that my favorite Bottle Rockets record is 2001's sweet Doug Sahm tribute, Songs Of Sahm.  Henneman speaks from a genuine, unadorned musical vernacular that says what it means and means what it says.  And they do it all behind a wall of guitars suitable for Crazy Horse.  Follow the cord from the gritty electric strings on "I Don't Wanna Know" and you'll end up where the whole thing began, with Uncle Tupelo, Doug Sahm and the Mekons.  "Something Good" bounces by on jangly guitar and an indelible spirit.  South Broadway is simply feel good music, perfect for those time when the last thing you need from your music is another reminder of how hard the world can be:  "I love my dog / He's my dog / If you don't love my dog / That's okay / I don't want you to / He's my dog / ... Sometimes life is really just this simple".  A masterpiece of simplicity. 



* Sturgill Simpson, "Turtles All the Way Down"  Metamodern Sounds In Country Music  (High Top Mt, 14)
* Lucinda Williams, "Stowaway In Your Heart"  Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone  (Hwy 20, 14)
* Shakey Graves, "Big Time Nashville Star"  And the War Came  (Dualtone, 14)
* Mavericks, "Pardon Me"  Mono  (Valory, 15)
* Whitney Rose, "Devil Borrowed Me Boots"  Heartbreaker Of the Year  (Cameron House, 15)  D
* Turnpike Troubadours, "Doreen"  Turnpike Troubadours  (Bossier City, 15)
^ Bottle Rockets, "Smile"  South Broadway Athletic Club  (Bloodshot, 15)
* Supersuckers, "Georgia On a Fast Train"  Holdin' the Bag  (Acetate, 15)
* Yawpers, "Burdens"  American Man  (Bloodshot, 15)  C
* Lonesome Wyatt & Rachel Brooke, "Miles and Miles"  Bad Omen  (Tribulation, 15)
* Legendary Shack Shakers, "Christ Alrighty"  Southern Surreal  (Alt.Tentacles, 15)
* Lucero, "Young Outlaws"  All a Man Should Do  (ATO, 15)
* Los Colognes, "Cherry"  Dos  (Los Colognes, 15)
* Dave Rawlings Machine, "The Weekend"  Nashville Obsolete  (Acony, 15)  D
* Los Lobos, "Made To Break Your Heart"  Gates Of Gold  (429, 15)
* Magnolia Electric Co, "I've Been Riding With the Ghost"  Songs:Ohia  (Secretly Canadian, 03)
* White Buffalo, "Modern Times"  Love and the Death Of Damnation  (Unison, 15)
* Anderson East, "Find 'Em Fool 'Em and Forget 'Em"  Delilah  (Elektra, 15)
* Wood Brothers, "American Heartache"  Paradise  (Thirty Tigers, 15)
* Jason Isbell, "If It Takes a Lifetime"  Something More Than Free  (Southeastern, 15)
* John Moreland, "Sad Baptist Rain"  High On Tulsa Heat  (Old Omens, 15)
* Corb Lund, "Washed Up Rock Star Factory Blues"  Things That Can't Be Undone  (New West, 15)
* Spirit Family Reunion, "It Does Not Bother Me"  Hands Together  (SFR, 15)
* Secret Sisters, "Pocket Knife"  Put Your Needle Down  (Republic, 14)