photo by Richard Markham

ROUTES & BRANCHES  
the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
July 17, 2017
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

Back in 2013, John Murry's Graceless Age found a place near the top of my year-end favorites list.  I wrote:  "Murry sings in a slurred baritone that resonates somewhere between the junkie hymns of Alejandro Escovedo and the American mythology of Springsteen."  More than any other album on that year's list, Graceless Age continues to haunt me.  Nearly five years later, "Penny Nails" and "Little Colored Balloons" still transport me like they were new.  This is an exceptionally rare thing when it comes to my relationship with music.

There's a brief promo for an in-the-works documentary about Murry that shares the title of his new record, Short History of Decay.  In the trailer, the writer returns from "exile" in Ireland to his Mississippi home, to explore the family history that connects him to William Faulkner.  Even with crashing waves, sprawling landscapes and haunting cityscapes, there's nothing more mesmerizing in this footage than John Murry himself.

Thanks to producer and Cowboy Junkie Michael Timmins, Murry's broken, wired, ramshackle, glorious spirit shines through the songs of Decay.  Whereas Graceless Age seemed a carefully, deliberately arranged mosaic of song, sound and spirit, new tunes like "Under a Darker Moon" and "Wrong Man" are barely held together, conveying the same reckless passion that seems to drive Murry's live sets.  The guitars buzz and shriek, piano enters tentatively, and Caitlin O'Riordan's backing vocals come across as a ghostly afterthought.

"Under a Darker Moon" is the record's most standard rocker, offering a steadily skittering beat and bass to cling to, as well as a surefooted melody.  With in-your-face guitar and a lack of definite resolution, it'll never be mistaken for radio bait.  But its urban late night street sounds bring to mind figures like Mark Lanegan and even Lou Reed at his most tuneful.  All I do is fix what I did the day before.

"Come Five & Twenty" is a prettier number, spectral lyrics brightened by a burbling organ and O'Riordan's subtly charming vocal.  Life is a gift / I don't recall taking  / I wear it till it fades.  With its delicate acoustic and midtempo percussion, it brings to mind Richard Buckner.  Matter of fact, I'd argue that Buckner's classic Devotion + Doubt is an apt comparison.  Despite the fact that it's generally a lighter, less intense set, both records employ silence and space to masterful effect.

More commonly, Decay plods along at a pallbearer's pace.  "One Day (You'll Die)" is a drowsy reflection that morphs unexpectedly into the 1959 instrumental "Sleep Walk".  It's one of a couple moments of relative levity that Murry forces into the thick dark.  "Wrong Man" is a Nick Cave-esque folk ballad no more substantial than smoke, with piano given a slight echo treatment and the sound of fingers sliding across frets as loud as anything else in the mix.  I'm the wrong man to ride shotgun / On your murder mile.

The songs on Decay aren’t entirely different than those on Murry’s effort of 5 years ago.  There is talk of mortality and meaning, lyrics couched in religious imagery, perhaps a pervasive lack of hope or trust.  He remains a smart and literate writer, drawn towards the sort of grand statements more common in philosophy and literature (the record’s title is borrowed from a book by Romanian nihilist philosopher Emil Cioran).  The dividing line between the two CDs comes down to the producer’s choices.  Michael Timmins has left more of the grain, the texture in Murry’s music, resulting initially in a more challenging listening experience.  But with repeated trips through Short History of Decay, the gradual familiarity carves a path towards a deeper appreciation of John Murry’s tortured art, and for the jumbled, raw setting that ultimately compliments his overall vision.  On “One Day (You’ll Die)”:  I’ll remain nothing more than a misquote in history’s back pages.  Bleak as it is, the music trades in genuine emotion.  

This week's Episode also brings new stuff from the Southern rock outfit Blank Range, as well as something decidedly fantastical from Ian Felice.  Also, Howling Bells' Juanita Stein launches her solo career, and Alex Williams is 4 real.

- James Elkington, "Wading the Vapors" Wintres Woma  (Paradise of Bachelors, 17)
- Nick Lowe, "Lovers Jamboree" Pinker and Prouder Than Previous  (Yep Roc, 17)
- Danny & Champions of the World, "Waiting For the Wheels to Come Off" Brilliant Light  (Loose, 17)
- Steelism w/Andrew Combs & Jessie Baylin, "Lonely Game" Ism  (Intoxicating Sounds, 17)
- Mastersons, "Don't Tell Me To Smile" Transient Lullaby  (New West, 17)
- Steve Earle, "News From Colorado" So You Wannabe An Outlaw  (Warner, 17)
- Robyn Ludwick, "Texas Jesus" This Tall To Ride  (Ludwick, 17)
- Tyler Childers, "Universal Sound" Purgatory  (Hickman Holler, 17)
- Will Hoge, "This Ain't An Original Sin" Anchors  (Edlo, 17)
- Matt Woods, "Fireflies" How to Survive  (Lonely Ones, 16)
- Whiskey Shivers, "Liquor Beer Wine & Ice" Some Part of Something  (Clean Bill, 17)
- Amanda Anne Platt & Honeycutters, "Brand New Start" Amanda Anne Platt & Honeycutters  (Organic, 17)
- Jeremy Pinnell, "Ballad of 1892" Ties of Blood and Affection  (Sofaburn, 17)
- Dead Volts, "Enough" Hate Ray  (Twang N Bang, 17)  D
- Alex Williams, "Little Too Stoned" Better Than Myself  (Big Machine, 17)  D
- Lee Bains III & Glory Fires, "Nail My Feet Down To the Southside of Town" Youth Detention  (Don Giovani, 17)
- Blank Range, "Opening Band" Marooned With the Treasure  (Sturdy Girl, 17)  D
- Yayhoos, "Bottle and a Bible" Fear Not the Obvious  (Bloodshot, 01)
- Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, "Find Yourself" Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real  (Concord, 17)  D
- GospelbeacH, "Kathleen" Another Summer of Love  (Alive Naturalsound, 17)
- Heartless Bastards, "Swamp Song" Stairs and Elevators  (Fat Possum, 04)
- Juanita Stein, "Cold Comfort" America  (Hand Written, 17)  D
- Moot Davis, "Shot Down in Flames" Hierarchy of Crows  (Wilburn, 17)  D
- Deer Tick, "Jumpstarting" Deer Tick Vol. 2  (Partisan, 17)
^ John Murry, "Under a Dark Moon" Short History of Decay  (Latent, 17)  D
- Ian Felice, "In the Kingdom of Dreams" In the Kingdom of Dreams  (New York Pro, 17)  D
- Spirit Family Reunion, "Put the Backseat Down" No Separation  (SFR, 12)
- Justin Townes Earle, "Graceland" single  (New West, 17)
- Sam Baker, "Moses in the Reeds" Land of Doubt  (Baker, 17)
- Zephaniah Ohora, "I Do Believe I've Had Enough" This Highway  (Ohora, 17)

ROUTES & BRANCHES  
a home for the americana diaspora
July 11, 2017
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

I know it's hard sometimes / Putting up with these old wicked ways of mine / Oh woman, be strong  

When I heard it, it was as though I'd struck gold.  A vein of pure, molten gold.  Why was nobody talking about Will Hoge?!  A genuinely soulful cry that could break both hearts and glass.  The Man Who Killed Love landed in early 2006.  Subsequent albums have seen Hoge embrace a more country sound.  He was nominated for several awards for his part in writing the Eli Young Band's big 2011 smash "Even If It Breaks Your Heart".  A couple years later, Hoge's  "Stronger" served as the soundtrack for a Chevy truck commercial.

Point is, the Will Hoge who melted me with "Woman Be Strong" wasn't necessarily the same guy who serenaded those slo-mo shots of muddy trucks bounding carefree over the ruts.  Songs like "When I Get My Wings" or "Guitar or a Gun" have shown him as a truly strong writer, capable of dripping soul and making good noise.  And while I respect any one who can pass through the mainstream country gauntlet with their integrity intact, what I've wanted from Hoge was that soul and the good noise.

In the meantime, I continued to pay attention to his music.  I was drawn in by the intimate stories of rural America.  I was snagged by Hoge's voice, a rough and gritty instrument that would flirt occasionally with its breaking point.  By the release of 2015's Small Town Dreams, I was back in the fold.  The album showed him settled into that lane between mainstream country and americana, a writer with a real story to tell and a sure handle on his sound.

Which brings us to Will Hoge's new Anchors record.  It arrives in the wake of Hoge's own realization that it was time for him to rediscover the joy in writing and performing.  He took to the road sans band, with just his guitar and keyboard in the backseat, facing the audience each night as one guy with a battered suitcase of songs.  My sense is that both Will and I are very pleased with the outcome.

Anchors trades in stories of adulthood, songs about marriage and fatherhood and work.  The things in our lives which serve as our anchors both in the best and the most challenging ways.  The CD launches with "The Reckoning", a song that looks inheritance straight in the eyes.  It's a midtempo  strummer that swells to an angry bridge:  What kills me the most / Is knowing that you don't even want to change.  "This Ain't An Original Sin" addresses a common cure to the midlife malaise, guitars blazing and drums banging.  It's a self-deprecating albeit tuneful look at our dumb choices:  So we won't be the first ones trying out this medicine / They've been using it for years / All our parents all our peers and all our friends / This ain't an original sin.  Hoge even throws Adam and Eve in the mix, the original sinners whose weakness flows through our veins to this day.  Later in the sessions, he sums up our condition with a blunt lyric: I'm older than Jesus / But still dumber than hell / And I'm so tired of fighting this war with myself.

The record's most melodic, single-worthy moments come with bits like "Baby's Eyes" and "Little Bit of Rust".  The latter finds Hoge alongside Sheryl Crow in a moment that likens our relationship to a Chevy that's seen better days (but can still be fired up for the occasional night on the town).  "Baby's Eyes" is a deceptively bright splash of country-pop, the sort of major key gem that can be found on a Reckless Kelly record, or on mainstream country radio.  Both songs bounce along on durable hooks and immediately relevant arrangements.

But these more positive and hopeful sentiments are balanced by the distance and doubt of slower numbers like "Grand Charade" or the title track.  The former presents moments of disconnect in a relationship that have become the rule rather than the exception:  The truth is that we made a mistake / We ain't that happy couple on the wedding cake.  These are painful but painfully necessary admissions in almost any lasting relationship.  "Anchors" presents the record's most adventurous musical moments, including a stormy bridge that verges on psychedelia a'la Sturgill Simpson.  The sins of the father / Drag like anchors on the kid.  And the creeping "Cold Night in Santa Fe" leaves room for the collection's most soulful delivery.

This ain't your grampa's nostalgia.  We acknowledge and cherish the people and the places of the past, but we also recognize "the reckoning", the inheritances and hand-me-down legacies that haunt us.  From the "grand charade" a couple plays for their kids and their friends to the clunker of a family truck that might be coaxed back on the road with a little new paint.  It's a nostalgia that makes room for both the charm and the curse.  Will Hoge isn't damning the hand he's been dealt.  He's just taking a more adult perspective.

Also this week, I give you Texas Gentlemen and "Habbie Doobie", counseling you to track down the video and to get yourself an armadillo.  And while you're at the armadillo store, pick up a copy of Danny & the Champions of the World's excellent new double CD.  And say hey to Charlie Parr, who loves his dog out loud.

- Wilco, "Dreamer in My Dreams" Being There  (Nonesuch, 96)
- Jeff Tweedy, "Ashes of American Flags" Together at Last  (dBPM, 17)
- Shakey Graves, "Pay the Road" And the Horse He Rode In On  (Dualtone, 17)  D
- Rod Melancon, "Dwayne and Me" Southern Gothic  (Blue Elan, 17)
- Robyn Ludwick, "Bars Ain't Closin'" This Tall to Ride  (Ludwick, 17)
- John Moreland, "It Don't Suit Me (Like Before)" Big Bad Luv  (4AD, 17)
- Ruby Force, "Church and State" Evolutionary War  (Force, 17)
- Alejandro Escovedo, "By Eleven" Gravity  (Watermelon, 92)
- Charlie Parr, "Dog" Dog  (Red House, 17)  D
^ Will Hoge, "Reckoning" Anchors  (Edlo, 17)
- Lee Bains III & Glory Fires, "Breaking It Down!" Youth Detention  (Don Giovani, 17)
- Matthew Ryan, "Summer Never Ends" Hustle Up Starlings  (Ryan, 17)
- Scud Mountain Boys, "Do You Love the Sun" Do You Love the Sun  (Ashmont, 13)
- Whiskey Shivers, "Southern Sisyphus" Some Part of Something  (Clean Bill, 17)  D
- Lilly Hiatt, "Trinity Lane" Trinity Lane  (New West, 17)
- Deslondes, "Muddy Water" Hurry Home  (New West, 17)
- Bohannons, "Dog Days" Luminary Angels  (Cornelius Chapel, 17)
- Hiss Golden Messenger, "Standing in the Doorway" single  (Merge, 17)   D
- Danny & the Champions of the World, "Waiting For the Right Time" Brilliant Light  (Loose, 17)  D
- Banditos, "Fine Fine Day" Visionland  (Bloodshot, 17)
- Cale Tyson, "Railroad Blues" Careless Soul  (Tyson, 17)
- Vandoliers, "Bluebonnet Highway" The Native  (State Fair, 17)
- Shelby Lynne & Allison Moorer, "Every Time You Leave" Not Dark Yet  (Silver Cross, 17)
- Texas Gentlemen, "Habbie Doobie" TX Jelly  (New West, 17)  D
- Waxahatchee, "8 Ball" Out in the Storm  (Merge, 17)
- Peter Case, "Brokedown Engine" Sings Like Hell  (Vanguard, 93)
- Slaid Cleaves, "Take Home Pay" Ghost On the Car Radio  (Candy House, 17)
- Ags Connolly, "Slow Burner" Nothin' Unexpected  (At the Helm, 17)
- Deep Dark Woods, "Drifting on a Summer's Night" single  (Six Shooter, 17)  D
- 16 Horsepower, "American Wheeze" Sackcloth & Ashes  (A&M, 96)

ROUTES & BRANCHES  
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
June 30, 2017
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

Debuts crowd our playlist this Episode, from unhinged moments with the Yawpers and Deer Tick to more measured contributions from Robyn Ludwick and David Ramirez.  Quiet and folky bits rub parts with more agitated sorts, and it's all good.  It's All Good.  And much of it this Episode happens to be both Good and Loud.  Rod Melancon digs a backyard hole to hell on one of two spoken word pieces.  The aptly named Ruby Force pays noisy tribute to Saint Vic Chesnutt.  And god bless the Bohannons for a lovingly disheveled album.

But nobody has generated more of a buzz 'n racket this year than Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires.  Youth Detention is punk.  And, like the best punk, the double-CD gives us reason to rage while also issuing a rallying cry and reminding listeners of what matters in the midst of a social shitstorm.  Youth Detention is a truly remarkable document, like a shoebox jammed full with a jumble of memories, impressions, frustrations and identities.

Lee Bains III formed his Glory Fires upon leaving the Dexateens, whose howling Southern punk lives on in his current music.  But Bains has traveled far since those days, and has breathed in the dust of blues, folk, gospel and country which clogs the grooves of Youth Detention.  The blazing anger of "Good Old Boy" contrasts with the more melodic reflections of "I Heard God!" or the acoustic "Picture of a Man".  "Breaking it Down!" invokes a stained glass congregation, while "Nail My Feet Down To the Southside of Town" is an anthemic Southern rocker.  While such a diversity of noise could threaten to force the collection off the rails, the cumulative effect is similar to being in the midst of that murmuring, restless congregation.

There is interstitial noise, studio patter and field recording throughout the record, providing both distraction and continuity.  And as a reviewer who prefers to pepper his pieces with lyrics, Bains doesn't make it easy to grasp his words as they fly by.  That said, between the buzz and the bang, what I can grasp is often pure poetry.

There we sat / In fluorescent halos / The tiny flowering redemptions / Of sharecroppers and miners and slaves / Offering up to our class / Beneath the TV the flag and the cross / Our ridge-and-valley twangs and drawls / Birthmarks to be scrubbed away  

He approaches the mic with a lifetime of stuff to say, unleashing a firehose of words that rarely lend themselves to singalong moments.  But parsing this torrent can produce moments of tremendous feeling and heartfelt emotion.

I still believe, children, in some kind of warm, forgiving light / That bears us away from our worn-out bodies and this wartorn life / And, I don't know, but if anybody in this world just fades to black / I'd think it's the man that lives off picking on them that're being held back

Listen to Youth Detention the way I did.  Pocket the lyric sheet and simply lay awash in the energy and the static.  "Sweet Disorder" and "Whitewash" will reveal the pure melody beneath all that noise.  The children's playground chorus that abides throughout "Crooked Letter" provides an indelible rhythm and an innocence that grounds some of the record's anger.  But after a couple listens, as the songs begin to become familiar, take a look at the lyrics (you can also find them here).  This isn't the Dexateens.  Heck, it's stuff that you'll have trouble finding anywhere else on a decade's worth of R&B playlists.  Bains doesn't give us easy listening (and it certainly can't be real easy to sing).  But it's smart, passionate and often painful.

Bains roots much of Youth Detention in a specific place and time.  But these 17 songs drag the lessons of Alabama social justice into the light of our present civil war.  As we trip and stumble and rage into the July 4th holiday, we tell the stories that matter and raise our voices in support of what we're in danger of losing, pushing and pushing against the god damned creeping darkness.  Like Drive-by Truckers' iconic Southern Rock Opera, Lee Bains III has produced a classic double-CD of Southern sound that rocks hard, points fingers and satisfies profoundly.  Happy Independence Day!

- Blitzen Trapper, "Man Who Would Speak True" Destroyer of the Void  (Sub Pop, 10)
- Micah Schnabel, "Cincinnatti, Ohio" Your New Norman Rockwell  (Last Chance, 17)
- Rod Melancon, "Lights of Carencro" Southern Gothic  (Blue Elan, 17)  D
^ Lee Bains III & Glory Fires, "Nail My Feet Down to the Southside of Town" Youth Detention  (Don Giovanni, 17)
- Bohannons, "Heart Go West" Luminary Angels  (Cornelius Chapel, 17)
- Robyn Ludwick, "Texas Jesus" This Tall to Ride  (Ludwick, 17)  D
- Jason Isbell, "Something to Love" Nashville Sound  (Southeastern, 17)
- Chris Canterbury, "Refinery Town" Refinery Town  (Backporch, 17)  D
- Sam Baker, "Feast of Saint Valentine" Land of Doubt  (Baker, 17)
- Zephaniah Ohora, "I Do Believe I've Had Enough" This Highway  (Ohora, 17)
- Amanda Anne Platt & Honeycutters, "Eden" Amanda Anne Platt & Honeycutters  (Organic, 17)
- Jeff Tweedy, "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" Together at Last  (dBPM, 17)
- Steph Cameron, "That's What Love Is" Daybreak Over Jackson Street  (Pheromone, 17)
- Lilly Hiatt, "Trinity Lane" Trinity Lane  (New West, 17)  D
- Will Hoge, "Baby's Eyes" Anchors  (Edlo, 17)
- Deer Tick, "It's a Whale" Deer Tick Vol. 2  (Partisan, 17)  D
- Ruby Force, "Ode to Vic Chesnutt" Evolutionary War  (Force, 17)  D
- Tyler Childers, "Whitehouse Road" Purgatory  (Hickman Holler, 17)
- Ray Wylie Hubbard, "Tell the Devil I'm Gettin' There ..."  Tell the Devil I'm Gettin' There As Fast As I Can  (Bordello, 17)  D
- Colter Wall, "Kate McCannon" Colter Wall  (Young Mary's, 17)
- Dan Auerbach, "Livin' in Sin" Waiting on a Song  (Nonesuch, 17)
- Angaleena Presley, "Dreams Don't Come True" Wrangled  (Mining Light, 17)
- James Elkington, "Sister of Mine" Wintres Woma  (Paradise of Bachelors, 17)  D
- Jolie Holland & Samantha Parton, "You Are Not Needed Now" Wildflower Blues  (Cinquefoil, 17)  D
- David Ramirez, "Watching From a Distance" We're Not Going Anywhere  (Sweetworld, 17)  D
- Nick Lowe, "Live Fast Love Hard Die Young" Nick Lowe & His Cowboy Outfit  (Yep Roc, 17)  D
- Yawpers, "Mon Dieu" Boy in a Well  (Bloodshot, 17)  D
- Nathaniel Rateliff, "Laughing" In Memory of Loss  (Rounder, 10)
- Matthew Logan Vasquez, "Red Fish" Does What He Wants  (Dine Alone, 17)  D
- Delta Spirit, "California" Delta Spirit  (Rounder, 12)