ROUTES & BRANCHES   

featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
July 28, 2019
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

Fun is an underrated quality in our kind of music.  For my part, I prefer my songs dark and introspective with a strong shot of melancholy for good measure.  But too often we are sold "stupid" in the guise of fun.  On All Your Favorite Songs, Will Bennett & the Tells offer a satisfying dose of Good Smart Fun.

This isn't to say that everything is kittens 'n rainbows for the Chicago foursome.  Relationships are in the balance, and we're not entirely certain where home is anymore.  Bennett spent much of his boyhood in small town Iowa, prior to shifting to Ohio and then up to Chicago.  On the title cut of his second full-length, he is heading back home on the news of his father's illness:  I got the news today / From a couple states away / You said I shouldn't worry yet / But I caught the next bus west / Cause I couldn't stand to be alone right now / I just need to be at home right now / Where the stereo keeps playing all your favorite songs.  Will Bennett's 2016 debut, Wichita, introduced us to his boyish delivery and his penchant for jangly guitar and shuffling drums.  While lyrics were thoughtful, songs rambled by with an appealing looseness and pop punch that might bring to mind Rhett Miller and his Old 97s.  Songs like "I Hope You Hear This On the Radio" and the subsequent standalone single, "Tumblin' Down" whet my ears for more.

There's a definite country element to Will Bennett & the Tells, though they're quick to dismiss any connection to Nashville's grinding gears.  They rage against the country music machine on "In Nashville":  Everyone's a starlet, a charlatan or harlot in Nashville / The suits on Music Row don't know a songbird from a crow in Nashville / They're picking at the bones of the Cashes and the Joneses / Til the cops can't even make out the remains.  With its pedal steel and keys, the song fits snugly within Chicago's notorious outsider tradition.

Bennett does know his country, though it's run through a decidedly alt filter, and blended with a generation of college radio - think a less backwoods Violent Femmes or a twangier approach to They Might Be Giants.  "Charades" speaks both to the band's pop shades and to the writer's barbed smarts:  What you don't know can't hurt ya / But I've got way too much inertia / To stop myself from asking you right now.  I'll give you a couple minutes to find another country song that uses 25 cent words like languish or intuition.  "Linger On" owes as much to the country jangle of Buddy Holly as it does to the punk pop of Elvis Costello.

With its ill-fated relationships and perennial self-doubt, All Your Favorite Songs is thematically a bit overcast.  But the Good Smart Fun is in the propulsive rhythms and the youthful spirit through which the set is delivered.  Like early Old 97s, Bennett's music speaks to small town restlessness without the self-serious romanticism (though he cleverly cites Springsteen: We race to find our Wendys for our everlasting kiss).  Because they're still a new act, having switched out half their lineup since that first CD, there's a charming wide-eyed recklessness that prevents any of these Important Life Issues from being taken too seriously.

It's a great time to discover a band, as they drift a bit nearer the warmth of a national spotlight.  Will Bennett is a refreshing talent, and he's brought some worthy supporting musicians to the table with him.  "Rabbit's" is one of my dark horse candidates for favorite song of the year.  It's the album's most country-leaning cut, an undeniably catchy ode to a hometown dive that draws us together only to spit us back onto the street after last call.  But give Bennett room and he'll gladly exceed your expectations:  Spinning cigarette soliloquies on cinema and sex / As we cling with rigid fingers out of fear for what comes next ...

--------------------------

Oh, that's right.  It's time for this:

WHAT's SO GREAT ABOUT JULY?!! 

What's so great indeed?  It's hot and there's mosquitoes.  But between the incessantly clicking fans and the hissing of summer lawns, these were the five records that served as the soundtrack for my past couple weeks (in order of appearance):

Joseph Huber, Moondog  (Huber, Jul 12)
Have Gun Will Travel, Strange Chemistry  (Mile Wide, Jul 12)
Joe Pug, Flood in Color  (Nation of Heat, Jul 19)
Rod Picott, Tell the Truth & Shame the Devil  (Welding Rod, Jul 19)
Angie McMahon, Salt  (Dualtone, Jul 26)

And what's August got that July didn't have?  Well, I'm especially looking forward to new stuff from Tyler Childers, Spirit Family Reunion, Eilen Jewell, Dalton Domino and Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster.  But I'd happily accept any musical surprises too.

- Karen Jonas, "It Takes a Lot to Laugh It Takes a Train to Cry" Lucky Revisited  (Yellow Brick, 19)  D
- Bad Livers, "Death Trip" Blood and Mood  (Sugar Hill, 06)
^ Will Bennett & the Tells, "All Your Favorite Songs" All Your Favorite Songs  (Jewel Box, 19)
- Them Coulee Boys, "Midnight Manifestos" Die Happy  (TCB, Aug 23)
- Chance McCoy, "Jitterbug Bayou" Wander Wide  (McCoy, Sep 20)
- Paul Cauthen, "Holy Ghost Fire" Room 41  (Lightning Rod, Sep 6)
- Ana Egge, "Hurt a Little" Is It the Kiss  (StorySound, Sep 6)
- Vincent Neil Emerson, "25 & Wastin' Time" Fried Chicken & Evil Women  (La Honda, Sep 13)  D
- Clem Snide, "Fill Me With Your Light" End of Love  (Snideco, 12)
- Jason Hawk Harris, "I'm Afraid" Love & the Dark  (Bloodshot, Aug 23)
- Charley Crockett, "The Valley" The Valley  (Son of Davy, Sep 20)  D
- Darrin Bradbury, "Talking Dogs & Atom Bombs" Talking Dogs & Atom Bombs  (Anti, Sep 20)  D
- Catherine Irwin, "Sugar Cubes & Glue" Pine Mountain Sessions Vol. 1 & 2  (OK, 19)  D
- Pine Hill Haints, "Say Something Say Anything" Ghost Dance  (K Records, 07)
- Highwomen, "Crowded Table" Highwomen  (Elektra, Sep 6)
- Will Johnson, "Solitary Slip" Wire Mountain  (Keeled Scales, Sep 27)
- Jeff Tweedy, "Family Ghost" WARMER  (dBpm, 19)  D
- Tom Brosseau, "Cradle Your Device" Grass Punks  (Burnside, 13)
- Chuck Cleaver, "Flowers & the Devil" Send Aid  (Shake It, 19)
- Rod Picott, "Folds of Your Dress" Tell the Truth & Shame the Devil  (Welding Rod, 19)
- Joe Pug, "Stranger I've Been" Flood in Color  (Nation of Heat, 19)
- Carrie Rodriguez, "I Made a Lover's Prayer" Love and Circumstance  (Ninth St Opus, 12)
- Have Gun Will Travel, "Tidal Wave" Strange Chemistry  (Heckabad, 19)
- Allah-las, "In the Air" LAHS  (Mexican Summer, Oct 11)  D
- Replacements, "Talent Show (Matt Wallace Mix)" Dead Man's Pop  (Warner, Sep 27)  D
- Mountain Goats, "Going to Georgia" Zopilote Machine  (3 Beads of Sweat, 07)
- Jordan Moser, "Road to Trouble (feat. Molly Tuttle)" Long Night  (Keeled Scales, 19)
- Erisy Watt, "Ellwood" Paints in the Sky  (Watt, 19)
- Dori Freeman, "That's How I Feel" Every Single Star  (Freeman, Sep 27)  D
- Lori McKenna, "Stealing Kisses" Return to Bittertown  (CN, 19)  D

These days, just about every week begins with me thinking it'll be a quiet time for new release announcements.  By the time I piece the Episode together, however, It becomes a matter of which among the two dozen or so additions I'll showcase here.  Which pretty much means you'll have to click on A Routes & Branches Guide To Feeding Your Monster to see the list in all its glory.  Taylor Hollingsworth has played a part in acts like Dexateens and Dead Fingers and Conor Oberst's Mystic Valley Band.  This week he announced his first true solo effort since 2011, Tap Dancin Daddy due on August 2.  Later in August, Aaron Lee Tasjan will be sharing Karma for Cheap: Reincarnated, a stripped out and fully re-recorded take on last year's full-length.  Come September, we'll be enjoying Live at the Ryman from Old Crow Medicine Show.  Cale Tyson issued an EP back at the start of 2019.  September 20 marks the release of another EP, this one the first since he's moved to Los Angeles.  Also on that Friday Charley Crockett will be presenting The Valley, and the larger world will meet Darrin Bradbury via his first project for ANTI-, Talking Dogs & Atom Bombs.  Looking towards October, Clifton Forge, VA's Alexa Rose is planning her debut, Medicine For Living, and Angel Olsen will counter with All Mirrors on the Jagjaguwar label.  The Allah-Las have decided upon October 11 as the birthday for their next full-length, LAHS.  And now, your weekly ROUTES-cast:

> ROUTES-casts from 2019 have been removed; subscribe to our Spotify page to keep up with all our new playlists!

pic by Anna Stockton

ROUTES & BRANCHES  

featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music

July 21, 2019

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

I begin most of my reviews by looking back, by listening to an artist's earlier work.  Especially if I'm less familiar with their recorded output, this can set the stage for writing about their new stuff.  In preparing to address Chuck Cleaver's first proper solo record, I went back to survey the music he made with Ass Ponys and with Wussy.  And that's pretty much where I stayed.  My musical reach is wide and deep, and I know a little about a whole lot.  Sad fact is, while neither act is new to me (I know I've shared stuff from both on past R&B playlists), until this week I hadn't realized what I've been missing for the past thirty years.  Thirty Years!  Working in a record store, serving as Music Director at two radio stations, blogging for more than a decade.  Never had I thought, "Hm ... maybe I should give these Ass Ponys and/or Wussy a bit of my time".  Well, mea damn culpa.

Cleaver and friends haven't necessarily needed my help.  They've garnered some key critical acclaim over the years, and while neither act is a household name, they are embraced by a community of dedicated fans.  Most impressively, through Ass Ponys and Wussy, Cleaver and his cohort have managed to evolve while keeping true to their muse.  With the exception of my basketball game, it's difficult to work on something for nearly four decades without sharpening your skills.  Even as they are fond of letting their ragged edges show, the great secret is that Wussy has become quite a band, making more noise and writing better songs with each project.

Wussy is effectively the shared vision of Chuck Cleaver and Lisa Walker, joined by bassist Mark Messerly and Joe Klug, with former Ass Pony John Erhardt on pedal steel and guitar.  But the heart of the act lies in the remarkably complimentary work of the two writers and vocalists.  Following the release of last year's What Heaven is Like, Cleaver found himself wading through a collection of songs he says weren't worthy of the band, and Send Aid ensued.

Cleaver has admittedly never felt especially at home on a stage without his bandmates.  Wussy itself was an organic outgrowth of an attempt to surround himself with collaborators during a solo show in the wake of the Ass Ponys' dissolution.  Without Walker and co., the songs of Send Aid actually sound like the fringes of the Ponys roots-oriented sound, albeit with a backyard shed full of studio odds and ends.  Hardly a true solo record, the songs find Cleaver surrounded by longtime friends and collaborators from fellow Cincinnati acts.  But left to his own devices, it's still his own idiosyncratic  vision that dictates the direction for the brief, lo-fi, shambling collection.

Admittedly, Send Aid doesn't serve as a healthy place for listeners to begin their journey through the mind of Chuck Cleaver.  But folks who have followed him throughout his musical wanderings will understand and appreciate the odds 'n sods nature of the album.  As the title would hint, "Mess" sounds like it was recorded from within a closet next to a cavernous room where the band was performing.  It's capped off by a perfectly glorious mess of electric guitar squall.  Few of these tunes summit the 3-minute mark, with most simply introducing the listener to the musical concept before seeing itself out.

A number of these cast-offs are folksongs at heart, even as they are tangled with bits of sonic detritus such as programmed drums or sitar.  Like "Devil May Care", however, the notorious curmudgeon can't hide his masterful ability to pen a catchy song.  Cleaver layers his vocal atop a bright retro synth line: The saints are concerned / And the devil may care / But I don't.  It would appear he doesn't even want you to enjoy his company.  "Terrible Friend" showcases a pounding bass drum and strumming guitars, the soundtrack to a self-damning confession: I'll leave you hanging down at the gallows tree / 'Cause I'm a terrible friend.

Yet, like its creator Send Aid can't help but be charming, even at its most frayed.  The pieces might've been written with tongue-in-cheek, though Cleaver wears his heart perpetually on his sleeve.  Loud guitars have served an ever increasing role in Cleaver's work.  A really messed up hootenanny, "Children of the Corn" includes a twangy mouth harp alongside a classic guitar riff.  The writer references Stephen King's titular novel/film: We've been reborn / Like Malachi from Children of the Corn.  No matter the vehicle, it's impossible to escape the singer's trademark vocal.  While Cleaver will be quick to dismiss his abilities, there's no denying that the years have taught him to apply his voice to its full extent.  Layered deep within the mix, he's augmented by a click rhythm track and a repeated beatbox grunt on "Weekend That It Happened".  Awash in staticky sworls: Welcome to this life on Mars / We save our seed in mason jars.  It's almost disruptive when we're presented with the relatively straightforward "Night We Missed the Horror Show".

"Anything" is Send Aid's most direct moment, a heartfelt appeal to the fleeting encounters that haunt our lives.  Chuck Cleaver's songs for Wussy aren't always this simple or this loose.  Even in this atypical setting, these fragments betray his abiding commitment to that immediate melodic appeal.  Like Scott McCaughey, he is a deceptively sharp songsmith, writing behind a lifetime of musical engagement.  Cleaver has scheduled a calendar of dates featuring a writers-in-the-round arrangement with Lisa Walker and Mark Messerly, and he has alluded to the possibility of a future project of work with just himself and Walker (each of these would be unmissable opportunities).  With its jagged and jaded soul, Send Aid has at least provided me with an occasion to explore a couple decades' worth of the remarkable noises and primal visions that have brought us to this point.

- Wussy, "Soak it Up" Funeral Dress  (Shake It, 05)
^ Chuck Cleaver, "Devil May Care" Send Aid  (Shake It, 19)
- Angie McMahon, "Pasta" Salt  (Compass, Jul 26)
- Jesse Malin, "Meet Me at the End of the World" Sunset Kids  (Wicked Cool, Aug 30)
- Cave Singers, "Black Leaf" No Witch  (Jagjaguwar, 11)
- Wilco, "Love is Everywhere" Ode to Joy  (dBpm, Oct 4)  D
- Brittany Howard, "Stay High" Jaime  (ATO, Sep 20)
- Hiss Golden Messenger, "Cat's Eye Blue" Terms of Surrender  (Merge, Sep 20)
- Sylvan Esso, "Slack Jaw" What Now  (Loma Vista, 17)
- Whitney, "Valleys (My Love)" Forever Turned Around  (Secretly Canadian, Aug 30)
- Andrew Combs, "Save Somebody Else" Ideal Man  (New West, Sep 20)
- Larry & His Flask, "Goodbye Ghost (Tennessee Sessions)" Everything Besides  (Xtra Mile, 19)
- Pieta Brown, "Ask for More"  Freeway  (Righteous Babe, Sep 27)
- Joseph Huber, "Moondog" Moondog  (Huber, 19)
- Hurray for the Riff Raff, "Settle" Navigator  (ATO, 17)
- Highwomen, "Redesigning Women" Highwomen  (Elektra, Sep 6)  D
- Whiskey Myers, "Gasoline" Whiskey Myers  (Wiggy Thump, Sep 27)
- Dalton Domino, "Cheap Spanish Wine" Songs From the Exile  (Lightning Rod, Aug 23)
- Leslie Stevens, "Depression Descent" Sinner  (LyricLand, Aug 23)
- Rod Picott, "80 John Wallace" Tell the Truth & Shame the Devil  (Welding Rod, 19)
- Joe Pug, "Blues Came Down" Flood in Color  (Nation of Heat, 19)
- Chuck Ragan, "Landsick" Flame in the Flood  (Ten Four, 16)
- Beth Bombara, "Tenderhearted" Evergreen  (Bombara, Aug 9)
- Rodney Crowell, "What You Gonna Do Now (feat. Lyle Lovett)" TEXAS  (RC1, Aug 15)
- Corb Lund, "Cover of the Rolling Stone (feat. Hayes Carll)" Cover Your Tracks EP  (New West, Sep 13)  D
- Miranda Lambert, "Locomotive" single  (Sony, 19)  D
- Joan Shelley, "Cycle" Like the River Loves the Sea  (No Quarter, Aug 30)
- Molly Sarle, "Human" Karaoke Angel  (Partisan, Sep 30)  D
- Brent Cobb, "Shine On Rainy Day" Shine On Rainy Day  (Elektra, 16)
- Karen Jonas, "Oklahoma Lottery" Lucky Revisited  (Yellow Brick, 19)  D


This proved a terrific week for new release announcements, all of which are painstakingly documented in our Routes & Branches Guide To Feeding Your Monster.  Every week we keep one eye on the 'net for news of what's on the musical frontiers (the other eye tends to be restless and wandering, which ends up making us look dangerous).  Been a productive year for the trio of artists known as Mountain Man.  Amelia Meath has kept herself busy with her Sylvan Esso duo, as well as some studio work.  Alexandra Sauser-Monnig released a solo project under the Daughter of Swords moniker.  Now Molly Sarle is preparing for the September 20 release of Karaoke Angel.  Paul Westerberg was never too happy with the Replacements' 1989 record, Don't Tell a Soul.  The sessions have been remixed, and will be issued with gobs of other material for the September 27 release of Dead Man's Pop.  Also in September, Corb Lund will share an EP of covers, Cover Your Tracks, while we await his next real CD.  Louisville folker Joan Shelley is joined by friends James Elkington, Nathan Salsburg and Bonnie Prince Billy for Like the River Loves the Sea  (No Quarter, Aug 30).  All that you've heard is true.  September 6 marks the date for the Highwomen, featuring an allstar lineup of Maren Morris, Natalie Hemby, Brandi Carlile and Amanda Shires.  After keeping to himself for seven years, Chris Knight has set an October 11 date for Almost Daylight.  Also in October, Wilco will be offering Ode to Joy.  And who knows what's in the wings for Sturgill Simpson, whose next project will be a really sleazy, steamy rock n roll record ... to be accompanied by a futuristic dystopian post-apocalyptic samurai film.  Hm.  It's called Sound & Fury, and it's due wherever music matters sometime this Fall.  Deep breath.  Your ROUTES-cast:

> ROUTES-casts from 2019 have been removed; subscribe to our Spotify page to keep up with all our new playlists!

ROUTES & BRANCHES 
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
July 14, 2019
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

If I'm going to be honest (finally), one of the best things I've done as a man is to raise three children into young adulthood, each with their own appreciation of music.  Granted, none of them seem to give a rip about our kind of music, but I'm just one man.  The other day I asked one of my progeny to name a song or an artist that surprised them in the past year, some music that came out of nowhere and sounded like nothing else.  I've mentioned previously how important the element of surprise is to my musical experience.  Eager to dismiss my question, they turned the spotlight back on me.  Between hemming and hawing, I think I mentioned Yola, Caleb Elliott, Daniel Norgren and Lucette.  This elicited a great chasm of silence which continues to this day ...

Anyhow, nothing sounds like Angie McMahon's full-length debut, Salt (Dualtone, July 26), and I'm grateful for the Australian artist's fierce originality.  McMahon is apparently successful enough in her homeland that there are videos online of great crowds of festival-goers shouting along with songs that have already carved a place in their ears.  Here in the U.S., her pending arrival was heralded in March with a near-perfect four-song EP appropriately named A Couple of Songs.  Early publicity called McMahon a twenty-something heroine you can relate to and root for - lofty praise for a soft-spoken young woman who assembled her first CD from bedroom demos.

Fortunately, McMahon and co-producer Alex O'Gorman have honored the spirit of those tapes, never forcing the intimate songs beyond a guitar/bass/drum setting.  "Push" is representative, focusing on the singer and her electric guitar, her throaty voice almost a whisper until she erupts into a soaring howl, punctuated by her accompanists.  Like PJ Harvey, Salt is primal, not primitive, a blues that bursts from a raw and honest place.  "Missing Me" is a more traditional blues-rocker, a fiery dose of electricity repeating the damning refrain, Loving you is lonely.

Angie McMahon has said that these songs were written in the span of several years, a time when the 24-year-old was exploring her identity and her space in the world.  Relationships are the topic de jour, though not so much desire for another person.  Salt is the portrait of a young woman yearning to connect, striving to maintain integrity and identity.  I don't know how to play the game / You say that we're not playing / We're not playing well she wails on "Play the Game", just that bare electric guitar until she's joined by skittering drums.   "Standout" features an uncharacteristically finessed jazz-inspired guitar line and a crushing vocal.  As an instrumentalist and a writer, McMahon does communicate from a position of confidence, though she's also willing to be vulnerable: I felt it all change today / But I still let my dress come undone.

Comparisons to fellow Australian guitar slinger Courtney Barnett are only tangentially accurate.  McMahon dives deeper emotionally, and presents a much more varied array of musical perspectives.  Nevertheless, both mine everyday details in constructing their songs, and both can wield a barbed sense of humor.  The record's most ready melody, "Slow Mover" could be one of my favorite songs of the year: Friend, old friend it's 4am / What are we doing in the street / I don't want to buy fried chicken / I wish I was going to sleep.  Another highlight (and a crowd favorite), "Pasta" begins, My bedroom is a disaster / My dog has got kidney failure.  Halfway through, the song pushes forward on a head of steam, McMahon growling like a young Chrissie Hynde.

She's not a heroine.  Angie McMahon is simply too busy being a young woman, lost as often as she is found, whip smart and temperamental but exceedingly genuine.  Oh there's cracks in me, she confesses on another of Salt's strongest moments.  But later on "Keeping Time", conducting slicing guitar and big banging drums: I want someone who's funny looking when they dance / I wanna dance with them.  The collection delivers countless pitch-perfect moments, connecting with solid emotional punches throughout.  She bares it all in the remarkable "And I Am a Woman", building to a raw cry that will cut deeply.

I have a sense that Angie McMahon will prove to be the largest artist on the Dualtone label - heck, they've had quite a year so far.  Her message will likely land on countless young ears at a critical time.  She will have the opportunity to grow as an artist, to try new things with her voice and her guitar, and one hopes/trusts that the refreshing integrity she exhibits on Salt will follow her into these new places. I'm taking flight / Or at least I'm about to ...

- Steve Earle, "Don't Let the Sunshine Fool You" single  (New West, 19)  D
- Good Luck Thrift Store Outfit, "Highway Religion" Old Excuses  (Heckabad, 12)
- Have Gun Will Travel, "American History" Strange Chemistry  (Mile Wide, 19)
- Lillie Mae, "Terlingua Girl" Other Girls  (Third Man, Aug 16)
- Joseph Huber, "Centerline" Moondog  (Huber, 19)
- Matt Harlan, "Like Lightning (Way Out of Town)" Best Beasts  (Eight 30, 19)
^ Angie McMahon, "Missing Me" Salt  (Dualtone, Jul 26)
- Matt Woods, "Hey Heartbreaker" Natural Disasters  (Lonely Ones, 19)
- Broken West, "Hale Sunrise" I Can't Go On I'll Go On  (Merge, 07)
- Purple Mountains, "That's Just the Way That I Feel" Purple Mountains  (Drag City, 19)
- David Wax Museum, "Uncover the Gold" Line of Light  (Nine Mile, Aug 23)  D
- Smooth Hound Smith, "One in the Morning" Dog in a Manger  (SHS, Aug 9)
- Jade Jackson, "Wilderness" Wilderness  (Anti, 19)
- Bright Eyes, "Another Travelin' Song" I'm Wide Awake It's Morning  (Saddle Creek, 05)
- Jeremy Ivey, "Diamonds Back to Coal" Dream and the Dreamer  (Anti, Sep 13)
- Steel Wheels, "Under" Over the Trees  (Big Ring, 19)
- Charlie Parr, "Jubilee" Charlie Parr  (Red House, Sep 27)  D
- Kelsey Waldon, "Anyhow" White Noise / White Lines  (Oh Boy, Oct 4)  D
- Esther Rose, "The Game" Mashed Potato Records Vol 2  (Mashed Potato, Aug 9)
- Will Bennett & the Tells, "Charades" All Your Favorite Songs  (Jewel Box, Jul 26)
- Michaela Anne, "Child of the Wild" Desert Dove  (Yep Roc, Sep 27)
- Phosphorescent, "Tell Me Baby (Have You Had Enough)" Here's to Taking It Easy  (Dead Oceans, 10)
- Them Coulee Boys, "Pray You Don't Get Lonely" Die Happy  (TCB, Aug 23)  D
- John Hiatt & Lilly Hiatt, "You Must Go" single  (New West, 19)  D
- Pieta Brown, "Morning Fire" Freeway  (Righteous Babe, Sep 27)  D
- Eilen Jewell, "79 Cents (Meow Song)" Gypsy  (Signature Sounds, Aug 16)
- Nels Andrews, "Welterweight" Pigeon and the Crow  (Andrews, Aug 9)  D
- Erisy Watt, "Treasure Maps" Paints in the Sky  (Watt, Jul 26)  D
- John Calvin Abney, "Turn Again" Safe Passage  (Black Mesa, Sep 27)  D
- Ronnie Fauss, "The Last" I Am the Man You Know I'm Not  (New West, 12)


Routes & Branches Guide To Feeding Your Monster is our obsessively maintained calendar of roots music release dates.  This means every blessed day we add new stuff to our list.  This week, f'rinstance, we included forthcoming records from the likes of Seth James, Chris Gantry and Dallas' garage-country Ottoman Turks.  If you're one of those types that complains that nobody makes rock music anymore, you'll want to get in line September 13 for the release of The Weeks' 5th full-length, Two Moons.  You might be asking yourself, "Didn't Leeroy Stagger just release a record a couple months ago?!!"  I know, right?  Well, the Canadian sees Strange Path as a more contemporary companion to May's americana offering.  Seems you can't throw a playlist without hitting some modern-day singer-songwriter.  July 26 marks the release date for the debut of Rose City resident Erisy Watt.  Freeway, Pieta Brown's September project, will be her first for Ani Difranco's Righteous Babe label.  Kelsey Waldon's got herself a rare spot on John Prine's Oh Boy Records.  Expect White Noise/White Lines come October 4.  Finally, John Calvin Abney's been keeping himself busy lately collaborating with Beth Bombara and with John Moreland.  He's apparently also found time to assemble Safe Passage, due in my eager ears September 27.  Every week is a wonderland!  Speaking of which, your weekly ROUTES-cast awaits:

> ROUTES-casts from 2019 have been removed; subscribe to our Spotify page to keep up with all our new playlists!

ROUTES & BRANCHES  

featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music

July 7, 2019

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

Happy to leap onto the wagon headed heedlessly into the second half of 2019.  We're setting our sights on all that good forthcoming stuff after taking a week to look back on what happened to us musically during the last six months.

Perhaps the best place to start talking about Have Gun Will Travel is with 2015's Science From An Easy Chair.  The Tampa area's last record was an ambitious project that told the tale of Ernest Shackleton's ill-fated 1914 Antarctic exploration.  Here at R&B we called it an audacious move that brings to mind more theatrically oriented bands like Okkervil River, Frontier Ruckus or Decemberists.  We also likened it to a deep South episode of Schoolhouse Rock.  Heh.  While it's not entirely fair to define HGWT's entire discography by one collection, that last album was typical in its smarts and literary reach.

More things we've learned to expect from Have Gun Will Travel:  Frontguy and writer Matt Burke demonstrates a knack for narrative songs, always melodic and typically propulsive.  While moments of fiddle or strummy acoustic guitar have resulted in a reputation as a roots act, a commitment to confident evolution since their 2008 debut has embraced just as much folk, pop and even punk.  That said, it's my pleasure to ask, with the arrival of Strange Chemistry (Mile Wide, July 12):  Think You Know HGWT?

Credit much of this new spirit to Burke's decision to switch from that narrative style to a more personal perspective, an alteration that opens these songs to a new range of expression.  Rather than pieces emerging from his interest in history or biography, Strange Chemistry is inspired by the writer's own story.  "Blood On the Stage" addresses the band's indelible Florida roots: All the late nights in the 813 / At the Crowbar and the New World Brewery.  Like much of this new work, it's a rocking cut with an anthemic spirit, exploring the rock edge of Burke's delivery and the heavier frontiers of co-producer Scott Anderson's guitar.  Like "Tidal Wave", a punk-like bouncer, the song finds Burke pulling back the curtains on an ongoing struggle with anxiety.  Nothing to fear but fear itself he declares, But fear itself can be a fate far worse than death.

Have Gun have populated previous CDs with driving, upbeat cuts built largely on those strummed acoustic guitars and more drums than one might expect from a roots band.  With Strange Chemistry, the group tips the balance to the rock side of their musical equation.  "Infinite Traveler" sets a slightly unsettling mood with a biting electric guitar and impressionistic lyrics: It started with a choir of angels / Turned into a murder of crows.  The song speaks to those uncertain moments when we might feel unstuck in space, a message encouraged by time signature changes and even a guitar solo or two.  "Justified" enters on a jagged squall of feedback before settling into a more familiar shuffle, the singer indulging in a moment of personal accounting:  I don't need to be forgiven / I don't need to be justified / And when I meet my creator I'll look him in the eye / Say heaven knows I tried.

Co-produced by Matt Burke and guitarist Scott Anderson, Strange Chemistry is simply a different, more current sounding record than we're used to from HGWT.  We're also caught off guard by moments of beauty such as "Against the Grain", an ode to the strange chemistry of a lasting relationship.  The yearning synth line which overlays the chorus is a subtle but moving touch.  The last 90 seconds of "Mystery of Mine" reach gorgeously for the heavens with chimes and backing vocals.  The record closes on a career high point with the Byrds-like "Dark and the Light".

The songs of Strange Chemistry still tell a story, though it's on a deeper personal level than Have Gun's earlier work.  We're treated to an extension of the sound we've come to appreciate from a band that's ready to entertain some new challenges. Atop the bright horns of "American History", Burke urges his cohort to share his vision: We're not ready to surrender / We can render our own American history.

- Mic Harrison, "Shake Your Faith" Pallbearer's Shoes  (Harrison, 04)
- Hollis Brown, "Do Me Right" Ozone Park  (Mascot, 19)
- Angie McMahon, "Keeping Time" Salt  (Compass, Jul 26)
- Shinyribs, "Crazy Lonely" Fog & Bling  (Mustard Lid, 19)
- Matt Woods, "My Southern Heart" Natural Disasters  (Lonely Ones, 19)
- Shane Smith & the Saints, "Heaven Knows" Hail Mary  (Geronimo West, 19)
- Jade Jackson, "Don't Say That You Love Me" Wilderness  (Anti, 19)
- Erik Koskinen, "Pony to Ride" Burning the Deal  (Real Phonic, 19)
- Pony Bradshaw, "Jehovah" Sudden Opera  (Rounder, 19)
- 6 String Drag, "Ghost" High Hat  (Schoolkids, 97)
- Kacy & Clayton, "Forty-Ninth Parallel" Carrying On  (New West, Oct 4)
- Purple Mountains, "Margaritas At the Mall" Purple Mountains  (Drag City, Jul 12)
- Sara Watkins, "When It Pleases You" Sun Midnight Sun  (Nonesuch, 12)
- Leland Sundries, "Song For the Girl With the Replacements Tattoo" Pray Through Gritted Teeth  (L'Echequier, 19)  D
- Western States, "Give This Town Away" From the Center Out  (Marquette, Jul 19)
- Giant Sand, "Hard Man To Get To Know" Recounting the Ballads of the Thin Line Man  (Fire, Sep 20)  D
- Larry & His Flask, "Pace That It Belongs" Everything Besides  (Xtra Mile, Jul 19)
- Waxahatchee, "Dixie Cups and Jars" Cerulean Salt  (Don Giovanni, 13)
- Erin Enderlin, "I Can Be Your Whiskey" Chapter Two: I Can Be Your Whiskey  (Black Crow, 19)  D
- Angela Perley, "4:30" 4:30  (Perley, Aug 2)
- Esther Rose, "Sex and Magic" You Made It This Far  (Father/Daughter, Aug 23)
- Chance McCoy, "Wander Wide" Wander Wide  (McCoy, Sep 20)
- Spirit Family Reunion, "Ease My Mind" Ride Free  (SFR, Aug 9)
- Will Bennett & the Tells, "In Nashville" All Your Favorite Songs  (Jewel Boy, Jul 26)
- Matt Harlan, "Best Beasts" Best Beasts  (Eight 30, Jul 12)  D
- Turnpike Troubadours, "Southeastern Son" Goodbye Normal Street  (Bossier City, 12)
- Goodnight Texas, "Tennessee" Senseless Age  (Cent Back Check, Jul 19)  D
- Jordan Moser, "Road to Trouble (feat. Molly Tuttle)" Long Night  (Keeled Scales, Jul 26)
- Lindi Ortega, "Little Lie" Little Red Boots  (Last Gang, 11)
- Bill Callahan, "Ballad of the Hulk" Shepherd In a Sheepskin Vest  (Drag City, 19)

And it's been a couple weeks since we formally ushered you into A Routes & Branches Guide To Feeding Your Monster, our puzzlingly accurate roots music release calendar.  Since we last checked in, new stuff has been added to the schedule from acts like Goodnight Texas and Leslie Stevens.  Rachel Harrington has planned a late August date for Hush the Wild Horses, and we couldn't be more pleased at the news of Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster's Take Heart Take Care, he of the Water Liars and Marie/Lepanto.  Paul Cauthen is backed by the ever-welcome Texas Gentlemen on Room 41 (Lightning Rod, Sep 6), and that same day we'll be welcoming a new project from Ana Egge that reportedly favors her more country-leaning side.  Longtime followers of R&B are aware of my abiding fondness for Alabama Shakes, so imagine my pleasure upon hearing Brittany Howard's announcement of her first solo CD (ATO, Sep 20).  You'll want to see also new news about Michaela Anne, Dead South and North Mississippi Allstars.  Plus, on September 27 Charlie Parr will be releasing a self-titled mix of re-recordings and new songs on Red House Records.  To start catching up on all the sounds associated with these words, your weekly ROUTES-cast:

> ROUTES-casts from 2019 have been removed; subscribe to our Spotify page to keep up with all our new playlists!