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 ...
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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!
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