ROUTES & BRANCHES
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
December 31, 2019
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust


It's one thing to indulge me as I share my own year-end lists (or decade-end lists, as the case may be).  It's a value-added to share what our favorite artists have been enjoying over the past twelve months.  This is our third post highlighting stuff from these guest editors, each of whom has been exceptionally generous with their time and their perspective, introducing us to new artists and/or helping us understand the influences behind their work. I tend to extend the invite to at least a dozen artists, and have been pleased in years where I've received three or four responses.  This year I distributed those invitations a bit late, but have been thrilled that all but a couple have come back with contributions.  I've always hoped R&B to be a conversation, so this kind of thing is heartening.

With that, we'll head into our most recent submissions.

Matthew Ryan has added to our year-end favorites lists in past years, and his picks have always been well considered.  This year, he released a 7-song collection called The Future Was Beautiful, much of which ended up on our ROUTES-cast playlists.

These aren’t listed in a preferential order per say. And certainly this list could go on and on. Sometimes I’d rather not do this at all because I don’t wish to hurt any of my friends via exclusion in something that might look so considered. This list isn’t, it’s simply what came to mind. Some are obvious heroes that I was so happy to hear from this year with songs that knocked me out and lifted me off the ground. Others are friends and acquaintances that I feel have quietly done some of their best work to date and I wanted to offer some small encouragement to keep going. So here’s my list....

1. Leonard Cohen - Thanks for the Dance

2. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Ghosteen

3. Hammock - Silencia

4. Joe Henry - Bloom

5. Will Webb - Wherever You Are

6. Micah Schnabel - The Teenage Years of the 21st Century

7. Jeremy White - Live! From a Room

8. Justin Townes Earle - The Saint Of Lost Causes

9. Molly Thomas and the Rare Birds - Honey’s Fury

10.  Jesse Malin - Sunset Kids

11. Sammy Kay - Civil/War

Erin Enderlin shared one of our favorite records of the year.  We wrote, Ultimately, Faulkner County tells stories, leaving listeners with the picture of a town haunted by lost souls and dark secrets, folks drifting away from last call with nobody to go home to.  After all, that's country.  Even so, some of Enderlin's most impressive pieces boldly challenge the long established country music traditions. Erin took a moment to shine a light on a couple collections that defined the year for her, with a special note about her number one:

Tanya Tucker - While I’m Livin’
Randy Houser - Magnolia
Reba McEntire - Stronger Than The Truth
Yola - Walk Through Fire

Tanya’s album is my favorite of the year. It’s absolutely perfect. She’s maybe singing better than she ever has - and she’s always been incredible - and the songs and production are the perfect compliments. So awesome to watch her shine.

We heaped some digital praise on Simon Joyner a couple months ago, on the occasion of the release of another of our favorite LPs of 2019, Pocket Moon.  Simon appropriately brings this year's artist picks posts to a close.  Here at R&B HQ, we frequently espouse the health benefits of music discovery, pawing through virtual crates of stuff in search of a sound that we haven't heard before.  For his entry, Joyner has written a brief appreciation of ten projects that check that box for us.

Brian Crook: This World Just Eats Me Up Alive (Ba Da Bing)
“Dark, shambolic songs of life and death from a New Zealand underground music legend (The Terminals, The Renderers).”

Bingo Trappers: Elizabethan (Morc Tapes/Almost Halloween Time)
“I’m not ashamed to admit I recently stood atop a shaky barstool in a crowded bar in Amsterdam after a few beers and proclaimed the BT’s as the best band ever to come out of the Netherlands. This album, the first in six years from the lo-fi, home-tape pioneers, is another masterpiece.”

Peter Laughner: Peter Laughner 5xLP box set (Smog Veil)
“This collects virtually everything Laughner did outside the famous Cleveland bands he was kicked out of before dying in 1977. It apparently took years to compile and it’s worth the wait. One of my favorite songwriters and guitarists (and rock critics!) I don’t know how many songs I’ve written after listening to ‘Baudelaire,’ ‘Cinderella Backstreet,’ ‘Sylvia Plath,’ or ‘Amphetamine.’ His songwriting is the earnest, naked street poetry Springsteen affects. There will be plenty of talented people dying young, as long as the world turns, unfortunately, but there will never be another Peter Laughner.”

Peter Jefferies: Last Ticket Home (Grapefruit)
“A collection of incredible unreleased songs and early singles from the 40-year career of the NZ artist who’s enjoying a renaissance due to reissues of records by his groundbreaking bands, Nocturnal Projections and This Kind of Punishment. His solo records are really important to me. This one is as good as his 90’s records, ‘Electricity’ and ‘The Last Great Challenge in a Dull World,’ in my opinion. Full disclosure, I released this on my Grapefruit Records label but I really do think he gave us one of the albums of the year!”

Roy Montgomery and Emma Johnston: After Nietzsche (Aguirre)
“A collaboration of brooding voices and electric guitars that make for a haunting, cathartic symphony on this under the radar album. It’s as if Glenn Branca and Nico made an album together.”

Jim Shepard: Heavy Action (Ever/Never)
“Another hero who died too young and whose many various essential releases have yet to be reissued. This album gathers unreleased songs from the private collection of one of Shepard’s close friends and it should be a revelation for any fan of Shepard’s bands: V-3, Vertical Slit, Ego Summit, or Columbus underground music in general.”

Mdou Moctar: Ilana, the Creator (Sahel Sounds)
“A trance-inducing psychedelic Saharan rock album from the Tuareg guitarist and his band. Mdou might be the best rock guitarist on the planet right now and he makes it look effortless. Seeing them live is even better than the record too.”

Jim Sullivan: If the Evening Were Dawn (Light in the Attic)
“A gorgeous coda of stripped down acoustic demos of songs from Sullivan’s masterpiece, ‘UFO’ and other unheard songs from a 1969 recording session. It’s so great to have more of his music unearthed and released. Light in the Attic does it again!

Arthur Russell: Iowa Dream (Audika)
‘Love is Overtaking Me’ is one of my favorite albums and ‘Iowa Dream’ continues where that one left off. More posthumous, heartfelt and surprising singer-songwriter pop songs shared by the estate of the avant-garde cellist/composer.”

Carla dal Forno: Look Up Sharp (Kallista)
“Excited to have more mesmerizing experimental electronic pop music from this Australian singer-songwriter. I loved ‘You Know What It’s Like’ from 2016 and this album is even more revelatory. Everyone should check out this music even if it’s not for everyone.”

Great Thanx to all the artists who participated in this year's poll!  I post this from one of my favorite coffee shops deep in the wilds of the Colorado Front Range, a warm retreat from the weather of the world.  My hope is that a little of that warmth finds its way to you readers, and that you disperse it among your own music community.  It's that strong spirit that we carry forward into the new days, years and decade to come.

Happy New Year.

ROUTES & BRANCHES 

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

December 29, 2019

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

WHAT's SO GREAT ABOUT the 2010's?!!

We have just one more of these lists to send your way before we head into the first weeks of the new decade.  Appropriately, this one showcases my favorite records of the past ten years.  On the surface, it's an easier challenge than our recurring year-end lists.  I finished the initial run-through several weeks ago, and felt pretty good about the results.  As usual, doubts and whatabouts crept in, and I created a second list of things that might belong on that first one.  That addendum soon became longer than the initial list, and I crumbled like a discarded sheet of Christmas wrap.  What was I thinking?  How did I ever leave off CDs X Y or Z?!!  Is it better to include two projects by one artist, or to err on the side of diversity?  Anyhow, what we have here today is simply the stuff that I enjoyed more than a lot of the other stuff.

As with previous lists, I've pulled comments from my past posts when possible. The parenthetical part reads (Label, Month and Year of Initial Release).

30. Benjamin Booker, Benjamin Booker  (ATO, Aug 14)
I knew Booker was my man as soon as I launched into the first track of his debut and realized that I had no idea of the lyrics he was spitting. From New Orleans, the 24 year old cites Gun Club, T Rex and Blind Willie Johnson among his influences - my initial take planted him in an unkempt garden between early Shane McGowan and Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott. As a guitarist, he seemingly plays with his knuckles, rattling away with a Chuck Berry riff on "Violent Shiver", or exploding into pure, unrecognizable (lovely) distortion on cuts like "Chipewa" or "Have You Seen My Son" (not to mention that unholy howl of a voice). Most impressively, he is one of the few artists since Violent Femmes who cut a rare line between gospel and punk.

29. Mount Moriah, How to Dance  (Merge, Feb 16)

Heather McEntire is as strong a writer and vocalist as Heartless Bastards' Erika Wennerstrom or Hurray For the Riff Raff's Alynda Segarra.  Where Wennerstrom trades in heavy, darker shades, McEntire's music (esp. her new songs) works in bright, natural colors.  Upon first listen, songs like "Baby Blue" and "Calvander" burst with nature imagery.  It's my habit to listen to an album once or twice through before looking at other reviews or promo material.  It was only after looking into the packaging that I found the album's dedication:  This album is dedicated to anyone who has ever felt the cold shadows of oppression or discrimination; to the misfits, the outcasts, the loners, the misunderstood, the underdogs ...

28. Will Johnson, Hatteras Night a Good Luck Charm  (Undertow, Mar 17)

It's the record I was praying Will Johnson would make.  Some songs allow him to explore his untapped skill as a TVZ-type troubadour, while others permit him to indulge in noisy Centro-matic squall.  Like the LP's cover, Hatteras Night is a whole lotta dark, shot through with a cold but abiding little light.  It's a short story (or maybe a cinema vignette) masquerading as an album.

27. Lydia Loveless, Real  (Bloodshot, Aug 16)
I remember heading into a record store during my mid-teens in Grants Pass, Oregon. I can't even recall the name, though I do remember searching my soul in deciding whether to purchase the Ramones' End of the Century, Pretenders' classic debut, or Rachel Sweet's Protect the Innocent. The fact that I opted for the latter speaks loudly for my state of mind at the time. Nevertheless, Lydia Loveless' new album would've fit fine beside all of the above, a retro punk-fueled slice of pop glory that surpasses all expectations. You'll still hear twang now and then, primarily in Loveless' inescapable drawl, but it's nothing more than an ingredient in the mix rather than the driving spirit.

26. Courtney Marie Andrews, May Your Kindness Remain  (Mama Bird, Mar 18)

At a time when decency is hard to find in the public sphere, kindness can be revolutionary, and personal connection can be essential:  When you're trying to be tender / But instead you come off cold / When your sweetness surrenders / To the cruelness of this world.  The songs on May Your Kindness Remain aren't political in the protest sense of the term.  But Andrews does indirectly acknowledge the current state of affairs through these stories.  The title track locates some small salvation in the simple wish that we hold fast to that spark of kindness, of humanity, even as our other trappings may fade:  If your money runs out / And your good looks fade / May your kindness remain ...

25. Lee Bains III & Glory Fires, There is a Bomb in Gilead  (Alive Naturalsound, Mar 12)

Once a member of Dexateens, Bains' new group is currently touring with another hot Alabama band, the Alabama Shakes.  His Glory Fires achieve that difficult balance between deep Southern soul and hard alt.country. On tracks like "Ain't No Stranger" and "Centreville", Bains howls in front of a band that will please any fan of the garage-y grunge of bands like Black Keys.  Other tunes sound like they could've been penned by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham. 

24. Chris Stapleton, Traveller  (Mercury, May 15)

The popular response pegs him as an "outlaw" country guy, and “Might As Well Get Stoned”,  “Outlaw State of Mind” and  “Devil Named Music” assure that the “o” word will be easily attached to Stapleton’s resume, though he’s far bigger than the tired outlaw sub-genre. In the midst of all this hard livin’, heavy drinkin’ and deep sinnin’, there is a brutal honesty to Chris Stapleton’s music.  When too much country is played with a wink or a tongue jammed in cheek, there’s none of this pretense to The Traveller.  Perhaps no song speaks to this better than “Daddy Doesn’t Pray Anymore”, a stark, barebones story that quietly breaks hearts.  Molasses slow, with wheezing harmonica mimicking the sound of a miles-away train.  Daddy doesn’t pray anymore / Guess he’s finished talking with the lord / He used to fold his hands and bow his head down to the floor / But Daddy doesn’t pray anymore

23. Patterson Hood, Heat Lightning Rumbles in the Distance  (ATO, Sep 12)

It's just that for every great Patterson Hood DBT tune, there was another where I felt he tried a bit hard to be dark and gritty.  More recent albums have seen his writing relax a bit, still focused on the down and out, but less cartoonish, more nuanced.  That trend is realized on his third solo work, the stellar Heat Lightning Rumbles In the Distance, which offers Hood's most poetic, diverse material to date.  DBT members crop up throughout a record that boasts more careful arrangements than we've seen from Hood's previous work.  Like all of his songs, these are character-driven pieces, so haunted and steeped in the mythology of the South that it's not hard to imagine that Heat Lightning reportedly began as a semi-autobiographical novel.  From the title track, Heat lightning rumbles in the distance / The sun's falling west of the trees / The old oak's gone and the house is falling down / But the ghosts are a comfort to me ...

22. Hiss Golden Messenger, Lateness of Dancers  (Merge, Sep 14)

But at the moment the sun is shining right on me / And the road is shimmering in the haze / Oh Ione, your daddy's just as dark as can be / But I can be your little rainbow too ... It's a jewel of a record that comes at the perfect time in our collective discovery of Hiss Golden Messenger.  It's a wandering through the wilderness that will eventually lead back home.  A plunge into a chilly creek that heightens the senses and makes us feel more alive. 

21. Margo Price, Midwest Farmer's Daughter  (Third Man, Mar 16)

With her name on the credits of nearly every song here, Margo Price proves herself a country writer who should be gratefully embraced by the powers behind her genre.  Midwest Farmer's Daughter offers yet another generous lifeline to mainstream country's drowning masses.  Americana crowds have already grabbed ahold as they did with Brandy Clark and Sturgill Simpson.  I killed an angel on my shoulder / With a fifth of Evan Williams / When I found out / You were never comin' home.

20. Austin Lucas, Between the Moon and the Midwest  (Last Chance, May 16)

More than anything it's his voice, a remarkable and otherworldly instrument I first heard on 2007's Putting the Hammer Down.  The following year brought a collaboration with Chuck Ragan exploring bluegrass, gospel and old timey sounds on the beautiful Bristle Ridge.  I can do no better than to introduce Lucas' new record by quoting the opening lines:  I've been told to walk away / Nearly every time I've made an album / I hear there's no good men left / Everyone in Nashville's deaf / And sad songs are a thing of the past / But if I'm an old photograph / Worn and torn and fading fast / In a frame that's shattered, laying on the floor / Maybe this old picture/ Like an old vinyl record / Could be dusted off and loved just like before. 

19. American Aquarium, Burn Flicker Die  (Last Chance, Aug 12)

A number of my favorite blogs have already championed Raleigh's American Aquarium and their sixth album Burn Flicker Die.  Recorded in Muscle Shoals with Jason Isbell at the helm, the new songs boast the best of both of those influences, with the blues and soul inherent in Alabama's legendary studios and the grit and lyrical grace of Isbell's own work.  There's a definite working class toughness to BJ Barham's songs:  You're just a two pack habit with a southern accent / I'm a pearl snap poet with bad tattoos.  But like the best writers, Barham is not ashamed to allow light shine through the cracks or to wear his tattered heart on his sleeve.  Nights like these the drugs don't work / They just get in the way instead of picking me up / I wish my addictions didn't mean so much / But we all can't be born with that kind of luck

18. Delines, Colfax  (El Cortez, Apr 14)

There's great songwriting and then there's the writing of Willy Vlautin.  Previously a musician who also wrote novels, Vlautin has morphed into a novelist who also writes songs.  The frontman for Richmond Fontaine, Vlautin is the author of four excellent stories, including February's The Free.  He'll also go down in my book as the force behind what just might be my favorite record of 2014, the Delines' Colfax.  While his is not the voice you hear (that'd be the Damnations' Amy Boone), those are his words, so perfectly couched in the latenight country/soul groove created by Boone, Richmond Fontaine's Sean Oldham, Decemberists' Jenny Conlee "and friends" (including Tucker Jackson's pedal steel and Freddy Trujillo's bass).  I'm a tremendous fan of Vlautin's previous work, but in some ways the music on Colfax seems to have more in common with his books than his albums.

17. Brittany Howard, Jaime  (ATO, Sep 19)

As the undeniable force behind Alabama Shakes, Howard announced her arrival with 2012's Boys & Girls, an album that largely altered the musical swath we cut for Routes & Branches.  The follow-up, Sound & Color boldly widened that lane, as Howard expanded the Shakes' sound into unforeseen territories of funk 'n soul.  For my purposes, I wanted nothing more than more of the same.  But for the brashest, boldest vocalist in our kind of music, that meant pushing again.  Pushing so far beyond expectations that Jaime merited a separation from Howard's band.  It demanded nothing less that redefining her cut of alien funk, song after song finding her exploring a new pocket, stretching that uncommonly warm and expressive voice in ways that bring it all back home.  She is our Nina Simone.

16. Yola, Walk Through Fire  (Easy Eye, Feb 19)

Where Brittany Howard sought new avenues of expression, Yola's debut full-length warms with the familiar trappings of roots and soul.  With producer Dan Auerbach, she  delivers her songs in arrangements that remind us of these elements that helped birth out kind of music, sounds that should have been there all along.  With baskets of award nominations and end-of-year plaudits, there is the sense that Yola is poised to attract the attention of even more listeners as we head into the next decade.  As she proves on a newly-released take on Elton John's notoriously difficult to sing "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", she really can sing anything.  For that reason, we're so lucky that Yola has chosen to stake her claim using americana music as her home base.  

15. Alejandro Escovedo, Burn Something Beautiful  (Concord, Oct 16)

Whether with True Believers, Rank & File or as a solo veteran, no artist has more thoroughly and successfully explored the full range of musical expression possible in roots music.  He's also proven himself a worthy collaborator over the years, pairing with Stephen Bruton, Jon Dee Graham, John Cale, Chuck Prophet or Tony Visconti for worthy results.  Burn Something certainly rises to these lofty standards, a true pooling of talents with Scott McCaughey and Peter Buck, along with contributions from John Moen, Kurt Bloch, Corin Tucker, Kelly Hogan and Steve Berlin.  With guitars just this side of rude, and some of Escovedo's most relevant writing in years, it's nothing less than a rebirth.

14. John Murry, Graceless Age  (Evangeline, Apr 13)

Murry sings in a slurred baritone that resonates on a level somewhere between the junky hymns of Alejandro Escovedo and the American mythology of Springsteen.  But this is far from your grandpa's americana.  Some songs are almost unbearably sparse, with others slogging through thick levels of feedback, gospel backing vocals and the mumble of barely audible conversation. Murry admits that he is largely influenced by the literature of Faulkner and others, and that touchpoint is evident from start of finish here.  Whether these are intensely personal recollections or the ghosts of an overactive literary imagination, John Murry's Graceless Age is anything but.  

13. Jason Isbell, Southeastern  (Southeastern, Jun 13)

Fresh off an Americana Music Award for his "Alabama Pines" song, Jason Isbell returns with the album of his career.  In addition to the award recognition, Southeastern arrives in the wake of a newfound sobriety and a marriage to Amanda Shires.  None of which means that these new songs are necessarily more upbeat and positive than anything else he has ever written.  Matter of fact, Isbell's victories have seemingly prompted a bout of artistic self-reflection.  Only "Super 8" demonstrates the raucous, devil may care spirit that might have permeated Isbell's earlier work with the Drive-by Truckers.  "Elephant", for instance, is a brutally, beautifully honest portrayal of a man in love with a woman ravaged by cancer:  But I'd sing her classic country songs and she'd get high and sing along / She don't have a voice to sing with now / We burn these joints in effigy and cry about what we used to be. / And try to ignore the elephant somehow, somehow

12. Lucero, All a Man Should Do  (ATO, Sep 15)

Based on a recent on air appearance at R&B's home station, the guys from Lucero continue to make bad choices, to drink too much and to make uncommonly good music.  That said, the young romantic punks from earlier records have more or less grown into soul searching romantics.  Lucero's music has evolved as well, from hard spitting alt.country punk to Memphis roots soul replete with horns and barroom piano.  The commonality through it all is the maturing vision of frontman Ben Nichols, who continues to live it all and to sing about it. When it landed on my desk late this summer, I dearly wanted/needed/expected the record to be this good.

11. Lee Bains III & Glory Fires, Youth Detention  (Don Giovani, Jun 17)

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 rally 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.

10. Yawpers, American Man  (Bloodshot, Oct 15)

Even as I praised the Yawpers' earlier work, I recognized that the band was a step or two away from self-sabotage.  True, punk isn't punk if it's pretty.  Danger and unease are an essential part of the equation in a band like Cook's.  I'm cautiously encouraged by American Man, however, and we should be eager to follow the trio's story as they cope with the bright lights of relative success - ie, landing near the top of the Routes & Branches year-end favorites list ...  

9.  John Moreland, High on Tulsa Heat  (Old Omens, Apr 15)

Time will gradually decide how High On Tulsa Heat stacks up against John Moreland's earlier classic.  A week into the experience, it's my sense that the album's return to Moreland's fuller sound will earn it a wider audience, and it certainly won't hurt that there's already more promotional effort behind it than there was for the entirety of the Throes campaign.  It still remains to be seen if the mainstream can recognize and embrace such a broken and beautiful body of music, let alone a stained two-day shirt, a worn trucker's hat and hair that probably hasn't seen a comb for a good while.  I've not doubt that the folks who have already so strongly embraced Moreland's work will take the same ownership of Tulsa Heat. 

8.  Alabama Shakes, Boys & Girls  (ATO, Apr 12)

More than a year ago, in a written intro to my November 12, 2011 playlist, I made brief mention of an unknown band, and linked to a live recording of "You Ain't Alone".  "This link," I wrote, "just might change your life". 

7.  Sturgill Simpson, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music  (Hilltop Mt, May 14)

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. 

6.  Drive-by Truckers, American Band  (ATO, Sep 16)

Freed's colorful art projects a cartoon-like impression of Southern life.  We recognize the faces and the broad caricatures, the dark and almost sinister proposition of working class existence.  On American Band, Drive-by Truckers set aside the fables and stories to talk about the warm blood flowing from real people on our streets.  For a band that's flirted for nearly two decades with the edge, it's an impressively mature, measured and heartfelt gesture.  The guitars continue to play loud and the ghosts of Muscle Shoals continue to haunt these songs, even as we struggle to understand the weight that's bringing down the country and our possible role in raising the flag.

5.  Arliss Nancy, Simple Machines  (Suburban Home, Nov 12)

Even once I fell hard for Fort Collins' own Arliss Nancy, it wasn't until I had spent some quality time with Simple Machines that I realized it was worthy of being more than just my favorite Colorado album.  Arliss Nancy's appeal is more elusive.  They have definite punk roots, but also demonstrate an ability to write and play with an atypical finesse.  Lyrically, there is a working class mythology to Arliss Nancy's songs, a youthful disillusion that might even place them in a similar vein as later Replacements or earlier Hold Steady.

4.  Neko Case, Hell-On  (Anti, Jun 18)

Each year, I do my best of honor our commitment to playing music that matters (insert fancy trademark sign here).  This year, that means recognizing one of the most fearless, uncompromising voices in all of music.  While the music world pats itself awkwardly on the back for a cursory celebration of women in music, I'd say that there's not an artist that has presented such a literary masterpiece, not a performer who has exhibited such strength and such fury in the past twelve months.  Case not only stares down the monster, she grabs it by the jaws and devours it.  In a year when Important Statements are in fashion, she simply does what she has done for years.  Neko Case messes with our mythologies, and defines 2018.  

3.  Jason Isbell, Something More Than Free  (Southeastern, Jul 15)

I’ve lived with the record for about a week, to the point where “that new CD smell” has faded a bit.  My relationship with an album is not entirely unlike that with a sweetheart  (wrote the blogger who’s been married for 25+ years): the initial novelty and euphoria, the subsequent “getting to know you” period, and the gradual settling, familiarity and recognition.  I return to this page to confidently announce that I think this is the real thing.  Jason Isbell’s Something More Than Free might just be a masterpiece.

2.  John Moreland, In the Throes  (Last Chance, Jun 13)

Fact is, I am here to praise a man whose new album seems to have shown up on most of my favorite blogs over the past two weeks.  John Moreland's In the Throes is as big a thing in these circles as an artist like John Moreland can be.  And still he deserves more.  Even with all these preliminary accolades, a friend told me of a brilliant Moreland show recently in Denver, attended by almost nobody.  This might be the nature of our kind of music but, if justice prevails, Moreland will have a good deal more company on his next trip thru the state. 

1.  Lydia Loveless, Indestructible Machine  (Bloodshot, Sep 11)

One of the things that first drew me to Bloodshot was the fact that underneath nearly every early release lay a consistent ethos. Their music sounded dangerous. Waco Brothers, Whiskeytown, Old 97s, Split Lip Rayfield. Music that might scare your grandmother, altho it was all inspired by stuff in your grandfather's collection. Reportedly from small town Ohio, Lydia Loveless' music makes alt.country sound dangerous again. So much that sets out to meld country music with punk spirit simply comes off sounding clownish and empty. Loveless' music sounds honest. And honestly dangerous. As a singer, her voice recalls classic country pipes, while at the same time spitting and growling and cursing - Bloodshot actually sent two discs: The original, as well as the censored, with sonic holes punched throughout (like where she advises to, "Write me a love letter / In the gravel with your piss ...").

Couple things stand out about these blurbs.  First, I find it remarkable how my writing has changed over the past ten years, or how writing has become more of a focus of the blog than our playlists.  Of course, a decade ago I was firmly ensconced at a radio station.  My liberation from that servitude redefined the latitudes of what we do here, even as it posed new challenges and new reasons to be frustrated.  I'd also note that the online playing field has been redefined, with several prominent blogs coming, going and evolving.  Today, R&B stands as one of the few purveyors of longform original commentary, a rarity in a field that's increasingly defined by cut-and-paste content and audio/video streaming.

That's it.  Now we reset the tables for the next decade of americana, alt.country and roots music.  We clear the deck in hopes of more excellence and evolution of our kind of music, fully expecting to be thrown into orbit by new artists, musical ideas and unreasonable whims.  As I say, even though I have an alarming tendency to drift into the collective we, ours is a radically individual vision, just the opinions of one guy.  And this one guy is greatly appreciative of anyone else who might find some worth in what happens here, maybe even sending a friend or three our way.  And it's especially heartening when an artist, label or promoter recognizes the reciprocal nature of what we're doing and recommends our site to fans and followers.  Our numbers are growing every year, folks looking for something Else.  But I'm guessing we'll still be here even if those levels flatten out or take a downturn.  In the end, it's just how I encounter and interact with some of the music I appreciate.  God help us all.

Scott

by Raaber Way

ROUTES & BRANCHES  

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

December 23, 2019

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

A couple Episodes ago, we shared some year-end favorites lists from a few of our favorite artists.  I find these consistently enlightening, a quick glance behind the curtain at the stuff that might make an artist tick.  As luck would have it, we've got a couple additional contributors who have handed in their homework.

The enigmatic Mat Davidson of Twain made some beautiful noise in 2019.  Beginning the year by releasing a pair of EPs, he followed in November with the full-length Adventure (all on the really reliable Keeled Scales label).  Here's what's been fueling Mt. during these prolific months:

Little Mazarn - IO (Self Sabotage)
Little Wings - People (Kyle Field)
Erin Durant - Islands (Keeled Scales)
Arthur Russell - Iowa Dream (Audika)
Aldous Harding - Designer (4AD)
0 Stars - Blowing On a Marshmallow in Perpetuity (Babe City)

Matt Woods' Natural Disasters earned a place on both our favorite songs and albums list for 2019. The past year has seen Matt looking for musical fulfillment in heavier sounds and worthy writing:

I have definitely been enjoying the most recent release from our Florida pals Have Gun Will Travel, Strange Chemistry. They are bringing a more rock and roll vibe on this one. I have also been listening to the new Sturgill Simpson album which has also tapped into a more rocking vibe. I think a lot of folks have tapped into that lately, including myself. I have been getting my solid songwriter fix from the likes of John R Miller's new one, The Trouble You Follow, and Robert Ellis' Texas Piano Man.  

We reviewed Robbie Fulks' full-length labor-of-love, 16 back in the innocent days of early November.  In addition to a couple 2019 releases, Robbie provided what's definitely the most wide-ranging list we've shared to date.  While R&B is driven by new stuff, the spirit of musical discovery encompasses music from earlier years as well.  On any given 30-song ROUTES-cast, we'll feature 24 current tracks alongside a half-dozen songs from the past.  The search for these can be as rewarding as our neverending hunt for novelty.  Here's the list Robbie Fulks shared:

Carly Simon - every record from Hotcakes on
Wendy Waldman - self-titled
Jems - self-titled
Pistol Annies - Interstate Gospel (Sony, 18)
Eric Dolphy - Out There (Concord, 60)
Arto Lindsay - Cuidado Madame (Northern Spy, 17)
Junglepussy - all
Ludacris - Chicken-n-Beer (Island, 03)
Jenny Scheinman & Allison Miller - Parlour Game (Royal Potato, 19)
Jamie Drake - Everything's Fine (Anti-Fragile, 19)
Chris Stapleton - Traveller (Mercury, 15)
Buddy & Julie Miller - Breakdown on 20th Ave South (New West, 19)
Dallas Frazier, Tell It Like It Is (Capitol, 67)
Brennen Leigh - album in progress

Talk about diversity!


Recently, I was laying awake wondering what makes Kill County purveyors of such an original sound.  The Austin-based act (who I called one of the best kept secrets in our kind of music) issued Everything Must Die in August, their fourth full-length of uncompromising dark 'grass-n-country.  Ringo responded to our request with the following:

My list for 2019 (and for any year really) includes new and new-to-me records. I used to be embarrassed about these kinds of late discoveries (only just now hearing Fred Eaglesmith's 6 Volts for example). However, I have come to understand and appreciate the delay of discovery as a function of life; they dovetail into all the other things (namely any number of assorted lessons and skills) I probably should have already known.

1.  Daniel Bachman - The Morning Star - So this record came out in 2018, and If I had had my shit together, I would have included it in that list. Truth be told I actually bought this record in 2018, but didn't really get into it, for one reason or another, until this year.  That said, this is my favorite of his records-not a record 'tethered to the past', but open and exploratory and free.  I keep coming back to this record and wonder how someone is able to conjure up this sound; it is so patient and weird and beautiful.

2.  Simon Joyner - Paper Moon - This record is more like the previous Grass, Branch, and Bone than the heroic Ghost centered records, and I tend to prefer this style- the straight forward but clear production, the imagery, and writing is front and center.  Some other review of his record this year said something to the effect of, 'nobody writes a song like Simon Joyner' and that, amid a beguiling potential points of entry into his work, might be the most succinct thing you can say about him.  Either way, this record spent a lot of time on my record player this year and it is just another example of his extraordinary work.

3.  Pharis and Jason Romero - Sweet Old Religion - Pharis and Jason not only are great song writers and players, they maintain a rural banjo workshop that produces some of the world’s finest banjos.  Another 2018 record, and the first of two Canadians on the list, they drawn instant comparison with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, but I think those fade quickly; Jason and Pharis easily hold their own in songwriting style and skill.

4.  Fred Eaglesmith - 6 Volts - This record came out of nowhere and slayed me.  A friend told me to look up ‘Trucker Speed’ and I spent the next two weeks listening to the record non-stop.  I became an instant fan of his Springsteen-like Nebraska vibe and wit.  I’ll be spending 2020 catching up on Fred Eaglesmith.

5.  Tyler Childers – both Purgatory and Country Squire - I think Tyler Childers is a great songwriter, and if on paper he isn't anything we haven't already seen in 50 years of traditional country-bluegrass American music, he has a great (if understated) band and songs that make you hit repeat.  Which is not something we have already (readily) seen in 50 years of traditional country-bluegrass music.

6.  Mississippi Records Mix Tapes – Assorted - I spent a lot of time in 2019 listing to a whole bunch of cassette tapes purchased from Mississippi Records.  I am not sure how to explain these mix tapes, as they represent a massive spectrum of American and international music curated by the iconoclastic Mississippi Records.  the tapes are cheap (4 bucks) and contain an incomprehensible range of styles beyond what I can try to describe but ballpark fits between early Bakersfield to Nina Simone to Ethiopian piano composers - all gems.

7.  JD Crowe and the New South – ‘Rounder 0044’ - The oldest record of the list and potentially bearing some evidentiary provenance for a number of above listed music.  I have only recently begun to accept, beyond previous claims, that I actually like bluegrass music.  However, this was only made possible by records like this (and the near constant companion of Norman Blake records).  

Finally, Big Thanks to Ags Connolly, who also accompanied his selections with some insightful reflections.  Ags' Wrong Again reached us in November, narrated by one of my favorite voices in all of country music.

Jason James - Seems Like Tears Ago (Melodyville) - Jason is always the first name out of my mouth when anyone asks me who is making the best traditional country music these days. He loves George Jones but he's no tribute act. His original songs easily stand up alongside the classics. The production on this album is also exquisite.

Michael Dart - Fightin' the Wars (Dart) - This is the best under-the-radar record I've heard all year, and probably beyond that. Mike is a friend from Austin who I rate highly. I backed his crowdfunder for Fightin' the Wars to be supportive but had no idea how good this thing was gonna turn out. It's full of excellent guest musicians and the co-production job by Mike and guitar player Chris McElrath is awesome. Most of all though, the songs are great. This album is definitely Mike's magnum opus.

Leo Rondeau - Right On Time (Rondeau) - Another one that went under the radar. Leo and I did a UK and Ireland tour in support of this album back in April. I was already a big fan of his songwriting having seen him in Austin before, but I think this might be his best album. Leo has a lot of great songs that haven't even been released yet, and it's kind of criminal that he's not better known 

Roger Alan Wade - Simmering Rage (Knoxville) - Roger is one of my favourite songwriters ever and, in my view one of the best around today. Any album release of his is a big event for me. This one is very much in the vein of his last few, in that it's a mostly-serious voice and guitar affair. He's perhaps better known for his funnier songs (some of which were used in Jackass by his cousin Johnny Knoxville), but I think Simmering Rage represents him at his best.  

Chris Knight - Almost Daylight (Drifter's Church) - As with Roger Alan Wade, a new Chris Knight album is always a big thing for me. This is the first one from him in seven years, which makes it even more special. Chris has a very distinctive style that he doesn't deviate from much which is what people love about him. It's gritty, gravelly and sometimes grim. A song like 'Send It On Down' is typical of the great slice-of-life type songs he can write, and which I'm very envious of.  

Honourable mention: The Country Side of Harmonica Sam - Broken Bottle, Broken Heart (El Toro) - I was familiar with this Swedish band from the Ameripolitan world but this album is by far their best in my opinion. It includes a lot more original stuff, plus the excellent 'My First Broken Heart (Since My Last Broken Heart)' penned for them by Jake Penrod. They have mastered the classic honky tonk sound in the same way Jason James has. It's just a lot of fun to listen to.

God I love my work.  As previously announced, we'll be looking back at our favorite albums of the past decade for next week's Episode (debuting the week of January 5).  I was talking to my son yesterday, who told me that the 2010's actually draws to a close this time NEXT year.  I simply don't care.  That train is leaving the station, son.  I'd just as soon cast my lot alongside every other blogger and their dog, who have been posting their own lists over the past couple weeks.

So enjoy your Christmas.  Sink into the melancholy, embrace the joy.  Check the porch for wryly smiling packages.  And in those rare moments when obligations are few and you can retreat to a quiet corner in your mind, maybe between the pages of a book or the grooves of a record, revel.

It's a new year / And you don't look your age / Everyone seems so happy celebrating winter this way / What time does it end / And when can I go / Get into that car / And drive through the snow  --  Simon Joyner, "New Year's Song"

ROUTES & BRANCHES  

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

Christmas 2019

Scott Foley, purveyor of gift receipts

I was a lucky kid when it came to Christmas.  Every year, the family would select the most sprawling, shapeless Oregon fir for our tree.  After we festooned the beast with ornaments, my mother would spend a couple days hanging tinsel, strand by strand until the thing shone like a star.  Wider than it was tall, the tree held court over its own ecosystem in the corner of our living room, gradually attracting carefully wrapped presents around its base until they overflowed and had to be piled in front of the fireplace on Christmas morning.  Even if we got an early start, unwrapping could last well until the afternoon, with my mother always last to open her gifts.  Damn straight my brothers and I were spoiled.

Even in the midst of a tsunami of tinsel, there were still moments of solemnity, silent nights to offset silver bells.  I credit at least some of that to evenings spent in a living room lit only by tree lights reflected off tinsel, playing LPs by Barbara Streisand, Neil Diamond, Ray Conniff Singers and Andy Williams.  In the ensuing years, when I've been able to harness that spirit it was often because of music.  Sure, Paul Anka and Kingston Trio were replaced by Phil Spector and "Fairytale of New York", but it hasn't been Christmas until we've dug into our crate of hymns, carols and songs about snow.

Which is why you'll find holiday music on our blog about this time every year.  For me, it's about stirring that spirit, capturing what can be an increasingly elusive thing.  It's about the peace that might be found above all this bustle.  There can be a lot of stress and resentment surrounding the holidays, but for me it's always been about mining the days for moments of meaning and space for reflection.  Of course, since it's R&B we're still talking about music that matters.  Even through the holidays when new music can be sparse, we never stray from the mission that guides us during the unholiday months.

So during the week(s) to come, you'll enjoy new tracks in the snow from favorites like Hiss Golden Messenger and Molly Burch.  You'll stare longingly into your late night hot chocolate to the tune of Samantha Crain and Los Lobos.  And perhaps you'll gather beneath the still bright star above the stable beside Ass Ponys and Fruit Bats.  And if it kindles something small and warm in your heart, then we've done our work.

For my dollars, there's not a warmer seasonal offering than A Molly Burch Christmas Album.  As I've written several times, our best Christmas records are those that are also really good albums, period.  Those classics tend to blend a few strong originals with thoughtful passes through seasonal classics.  From Austin, Burch has brought us a pair of recent albums of dreamy indie folk, melancholy originals with a bit of a wink and a healthy layer of retro trappings. That's just what you get on her holiday project, albeit with more uplift-per-groove than on those everyday collections.

Yes, you'll find your red 'n green standards here.  "I'll Be Home For Christmas" is a classically pretty reading, and she's backed by a host of kids on "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas".  Burch has some fun during her run through George Michael's contemporary standard "Last Christmas", featuring campy banter with actor and comedian John Early.  But the spirit of Christmas Album is in Burch's non-standard array of cover songs.

By any measure, Ella Fitzgerald's Swinging Christmas is a perennial go-to for purveyors of fine holiday records.  Molly Burch delivers a gorgeous reading of that classic's "Secret of Christmas", her voice beautiful alongside the solo harp.  "What the Lonely Do At Christmas" comes courtesy of The Emotions, a jazz 'n soul stunner whose melancholy rings consistent with much of the collection: The silent night / I know it's gonna be joy to the world / But it's gonna be sad for me.

Famously sung by Dolly Parton for the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Burch imbues "Hard Candy Christmas" with a deep feeling absent from most of the umpteen covers over the years.  The closing refrain finds the singer repeating Oh I'll be fine, even after admitting that she's barely getting through tomorrow.  Very few will recall "Snowqueen of Texas" from the Mamas & the Papas, brought back to light on Burch's cool country take.  Perhaps a more palatable alternative to "Baby It's Cold Outside", Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann's "Coldest Night of the Year" is probably best recognized for Bruce Cockburn's version.  Burch's duet with Jesse Woods owes more to a lesser known recording by Vashti Bunyan.  And no heart will be left unstirred in the wake of her take on ABBA's "Happy New Year", a song that leaves the listener wondering What lies waiting down the line / In the end of '89 ...

Molly Burch handles each of these with an admirable balance of cheer and moodiness, her voice a wonderful vehicle for both.  She adds a pair of stylish originals to the sessions, capped by the sweetly stinging "New Year Love":  I spent Christmas alone this year / And I want that to be the last time.  With lyrics like that, A Molly Burch Christmas Album probably won't be your first choice to soundtrack opening presents on a bleary-eyed Christmas morning.  But our holidays tend to be characterized by long stretches of solitude, spiced with fleeting moments of togetherness and community cheer.  During those more inwardly-focused times, there might be nothing better this year.


- Steve Earle & Allison Moorer, "Nothing But a Child" To: Kate - a Benefit for Kate's Sake  (Western Beat, 05)
- McCrary Sisters, "Away In a Manger (feat. Jerry Douglas & Keb Mo)" Very McCrary Christmas  (Rounder, 19)
- Langhorne Slim, "Deck the Halls (With Boughs of Holly)" Dualtone Christmas  (Dualtone, 19)
- Field Medic, "Santa Made Me Do It" single  (Run for Cover, 19)
- Fruit Bats, "Baby in the Hay" You Wish: a Merge Records Holiday Album  (Merge, 19)
- Peggy Sue, "Silver Bells" Surf Xmas  (Peggy Sue, 19)
- Hiss Golden Messenger & Lucinda Williams, "Christmas in Prison" You Wish: a Merge Records Holiday Album  (Merge, 19)
- Andrew Bird, "Christmas is Coming" Hark!  (Loma Vista, 19)
- Diamond Rugs, "Christmas in a Chinese Restaurant" Diamond Rugs  (Partisan, 12)
- Delta Spirit, "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" Dualtone Christmas  (Dualtone, 19)
- Brandy Clark, "Merry Christmas Darling (feat. Charlie Worsham)" single  (Warner, 19)
- Ass Pony, "Last Night it Snowed" Lohio  (Waterhead, 01)
- JD McPherson, "Red Bows (For a Blue Girl)" single  (New West, 19)
- Eric Bachmann, "I Was Made for Losing You" You Wish: a Merge Records Holiday Album  (Merge, 19)
- Kathleen Edwards, "It's Christmastime (Let's Just Survive)" Dualtone Christmas  (Dualtone, 19)
- Los Lobos, "Christmas With You" Llego Navidad  (Rhino, 19)
- Kacey Musgraves, "Present Without a Bow (feat. Leon Bridges)" Kacey Musgraves Christmas Show  (UMG, 19)
- William Bell, "Every Day Will Be Like a Holiday" Soul Christmas  (Atlantic, 68)
- Wade Bowen, "Once Upon a Christmas" Twelve Twenty-Five  (Bowen Sounds, 19)
- Kevin Morby, "Blue Christmas" single  (Dead Oceans, 19)
^ Molly Burch, "Snowqueen of Texas" Molly Burch Christmas Album  (Captured Tracks, 19)
- Pogues, "Fairytale of New York (feat. Kirsty MacColl)" If I Should Fall From Grace With God  (Warner, 88)
- Josh Ritter & Milk Carton Kids, "Gospel of Mary" single  (Pytheas, 19)
- Puss n Boots, "Christmas All Over Again" Dear Santa  (UMG, 19)
- Gabe Lee, "Christmas Day" single  (Torrez, 19)
- Bill Orcutt, "White Christmas" Bill Orcutt  (Palialia, 17)
- Amanda Anne Platt & Honeycutters, "Christmas On a Greyhound Bus" Christmas On a Greyhound Bus  (Organic, 19)
- Samantha Crain, "Christmas for Cowboys" Blackwatch Christmas Vol 9  (Boondice, 19)
- Jenny Owen Youngs, "Maybe Next Year" single  (Fisher & Porcupine, 19)
- Pearl Jam, "Someday at Christmas" single  (Ten Club, 19)


Your Christmas ROUTES-cast, wrapped with a bow, buried beneath tinsel and shrugging off the snow:

ROUTES & BRANCHES 
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
December 15, 2019
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

Once we float our year-end lists, the second-guessing and self-doubt begins.  Yola and Brittany Howard flipped and flopped between numbers one and two.  I sought professional help for depression related to having to leave records by Joan Shelly, Bill Callahan and TK & the Holy Know Nothings off my list.  And I continued to plow the 'nets in search of lists from other bloggers to reinforce my feeling that it's all just relative anyway.  More than anything, I love the prospect of putting 2019 behind us and turning our gaze to whatever the New Year has to offer.

Last couple years we've spent an Episode asking some of our favorite artists what they've been spinning on their in-dash turntables this year.  As always, folks were generous and thoughtful in their respective responses, with some writing veritable reviews like I like.

Fernando Viciconte's Traitors Table landed near the top of my own list, an underappreciated volley across the proverbial bow of our socio-political establishment.  Fernando tagged a trio of records as among his favorites:

Those Pretty Wrongs-Zed for Zulu
Beautiful power pop with lovely melodies and personal lyrics from Jody Stephens of Big Star and my partner in crime Luther Russell. Recorded impeccably at the legendary Ardent Studios, the album captures the spirit of Big Star and The Beatles without aping them which is a hard line to walk.  

The Delines- The Imperial
Elegantly produced country soul record with impeccable lyrics from my longtime pals and touring mates was one my favorites. I  toured in the EU with The Delines to promote their Colfax release so I was fortunate enough to be able to hear the band work out a few the songs that would appear on this release and I think they were able to capture the intimacy of the songs very well on this recording. 

 Adam Faucett- It Took the Shape of a Bird
As the album title suggest, this a collection of songs that is full of mystery and unbridled passion. I was also fortunate enough to be able to tour with Adam a few years ago and I have been left humming his wonderful songs until the very present! One of my favorite young songwriters and in my opinion, he is at the peak of his powers with this collection of songs. 

Way back in May, we called Massy Ferguson's Great Divides, a terrific sounding collection that stays true to their pocket while assuring an alt.edge that sets the stage for subsequent projects.  Frontguy Ethan Anderson shared some high praise for a pair of his own favorite projects:

Ian Noe's record Between the Country was probably my favorite release of the year. I happened to rent a car this spring around the time of its release and it happened to have XM radio, that radio happened to be on the Outlaw Country station, that station happened to play "Barbara's Song". I was drawn in by the imagery and poetry of Noe's songwriting -- like, there's this line in the third verse of "Barbara's Song"  about a violin player playing a number while on a train that is off the rails and falling off a bridge -- lyrics that take risks and songs that remind you of something you've heard a long time ago -- in the best possible way.  That's probably the best way to describe Between the Country. So damn good.

Also, I might be biased because we did a little touring and even sat in on a couple songs with Peter Bruntnell but his new record King of Madrid was the record I probably bonded with the most. There's something to seeing an artist night after night and really having a chance to digest a song multiple times live. "Broken Wing" is my favorite track off that record. Pete knocked me out with his interesting alternate tunings, his phrasing, his ability to inhabit his own sonic space right from his first note. If I'm being honest, though, my favorite song he ever wrote was an older song called "Yuri Gagarin" and I had a chance this summer to sit in on bass on that song, which is about the first man in space. I'm waiting for him to write that song about the first dog in space too, which I assume will be equally as good (laughs).

Finally, M Lockwood Porter (^) unleashed his Communion in the Ashes back in March, a rabble-rousing collection that's challenged and comforted us throughout the year.  Max writes: I made more of an effort than usual to keep up with new music this year and, as a result, have a lot of favorite albums. Here is a list of 20 albums that I loved this year, in the order that they were released!

Sharon Van Etten - Remind Me Tomorrow
Steve Gunn - The Unseen In-Between
Better Oblivion Community Center - Better Oblivion Community Center
William Tyler - Goes West
hand habits - placeholder
Jenny Lewis - On The Line
Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising
Damien Jurado - In The Shape Of A Storm
Anna Tivel - The Question
Matthew Milia - Alone at St. Hugo
Caroline Spence - Mint Condition
Big Thief - U.F.O.F
Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains
Beth Bombara - Evergreen
Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster - Take Heart, Take Care
Beau Jennings & The Tigers - The Thunderbird
Hiss Golden Messenger - Terms Of Surrender
Brittany Howard - Jaime
John Calvin Abney - Safe Passage
Wilco - Ode To Joy

We'll do our best to share a couple more of these lists as space and time permit (though we like to think of ourselves as impervious to those forces).  You'll also want to look this way the first week of 2020, as we share our favorite CDs of the past decade.

For today's Episode, we've assembled thirty songs, most from albums that await us in the New Year.

- Clutch, "Fortunate Son" single  (Weathermaker, 19)  D
- Mountain Man, "You and I" single  (Nonesuch, 19)  D
- Khruangbin & Leon Bridges, "Texas Sun" Texas Sun EP  (Dead Oceans, Feb 7)  D
- Bill Fay, "Love Will Remain" Countless Branches  (Dead Oceans, Jan 17)
- Fruition, "Dawn" Broken at the Break of Day  (Fruition, Jan 17)  D
- Gill Landry, "I Love You Too" Skeleton at the Banquet  (Loose, Jan 22)  D
- Bart Budwig, "Sock Song" Another Burn on the Astroturf  (Fluff & Gravy, Jan 24)
- Possessed by Paul James, "Be At Rest" As We Go Wandering  (Wert, Jan 31)  D
- Son Little, "Mahalia" Aloha  (Anti, Jan 31)  D
- Cave Flowers, "Country Fan" Cave Flowers  (Hard Bark, Jan 31)  D
- John Moreland, "Harder Dreams" LP5  (Old Omens, Feb 7)
- John Prine, "Ways of a Woman in Love" single  (Oh Boy, 19)  D
- Mastersons, "No Time For Love Songs" No Time For Love Songs  (Red House, Mar 6)  D
- Railroad Earth, "It's So Good" All For the Song  (RRE, 20)
- Elijah Ocean, "Came Down From Denver" Back From the Lander  (New Wheel, 19)  D
- Katie Pruitt, "Expectations" Expectations  (Rounder, Feb 21)  D
- Sam Doores, "Let It Roll" Sam Doores  (New West, Mar 1)  D
- Sonny Landreth, "Blacktop Run" Blacktop Run  (Provogue, Feb 21)  D
- Steeldrivers, "Bad For You" Bad For You  (Rounder, Feb 7)  D
- Nathaniel Rateliff, "Sam Stone (feat. John Prine)" Magnolia Singles  (Stax, 19)  D
- Marcus King, "One Day She's Here" El Dorado  (Fantasy, Jan 17)
- David Dondero, "Laying At Your Feet" Filter Bubble Blues  (Fluff & Gravy, Jan 24)
- Terry Allen, "American Childhood 2: Bad Kiss" Just Like Moby Dick  (Paradise of Bachelors, Jan 24)
- Swamp Dogg, "Sleeping Without You Is a Drag" Sorry You Couldn't Make It  (Joyful Noise, Mar 6)  D
- Supersuckers, "Ain't Gonna Stop" Play That Rock-n-Roll  (Acetate, Feb 7)  D
- Califone, "Snow Angel Vol 2" Echo Mine  (Jealous Butcher, Feb 27)  D
- Trampled by Turtles, "Ooh La La" Sigourney Fever EP  (Banjodad, 19)
- M Ward, "Migration of Souls" Migration Stories  (Anti, Apr 3)  D
- Pinegrove, "Moment" Marigold  (Rough Trade, Jan 17)  D
- Twain, "Working" Adventure  (Keeled Scales, 19)

 All the above featuring a "D" mark records which are making their debut on our ROUTES-casts.  You'll find a full list of stuff on the horizon by clicking on A Routes & Branches Guide To Feeding Your Monster.  Over the past week or so we added an embarrassing wealth of new stuff, from Fruition's second CD in a couple months, Broken At the Break of Day (Jan 17) to a project M Ward created with members of Arcade Fire, Migration Stories (Anti, Apr 3).  In between, we've shoehorned a new solo effort by Sam Doores, who has worked with Deslondes and Hurray For the Riff Raff, a country-leaning CD from Swamp Dogg, featuring contributions by Bon Iver, John Prine, Jenny Lewis and others, and something from Trampled by Turtles and Dead Man Winter man Dave Simonett, Red Tail (Mar 13).  You'll hear stuff from many of these on this week's ROUTES-cast:

Earlier ROUTES-casts 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

December 8, 2019

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

WHAT's SO GREAT ABOUT 2019?!!

or FAVORiTE ALBUMs

Has it been a good year for music?  Let's be honest, they're all good as long as we can continue to crate-dive deep into the webs, riffling through new stuff until something catches our ear and we just have to share it.  Nothing beats that New Record Smell.  It's an especially good year when there happen to be likeminded souls on the receiving end of our musical SOS, folks who get, appreciate and even look forward to each week's review and ROUTES-cast.  And those numbers continue to increase, inching above the clouds every now and then during an especially strong month.  Those peak moments tend to be driven by artists who catch wind of our humble operation and draw the valuable attention of their own fans our way.

So Thanks & Thanks Again to you.  All you perusers and frequenters.  You regulars and occasionals, friends who tell friends about what you've discovered here.  Thanks to the busy artists and promoters and labels who take a sec to honor the fact that this thing works best as a reciprocal conversation.  To you fellow sufferers of the blogging bug who have linked to our site, who have tipped me off to new stuff, thereby helping me to make my own site better. All you intrepid musical adventurers, braving the current of culture to reach beyond established artists in search of something more.  We're certainly a minority, but it means everything to me.

Where possible, I've borrowed blurbs from my own reviews.  Where we  couldn't do that, I wrote a little something new.  Without spilling more digital ink, here are the records that defined 2019 for Routes & Branches:

30. Charles Wesley Godwin, Seneca  (Godwin, Feb 15)
Roots deep in tradition, Charles Wesley Godwin is never musically beholden to what's come before.  To his credit as a writer, he tells a great story but never neglects his own role in carrying it all forward.  Godwin honors that tradition while also avoiding the stereotypes and tropes that can mire a lesser artist.  As a result, the songs of Seneca are both timebound and timeless:  I'll sell my craft for half its price / To city folk passing by / In a covered shack by the side of the road / With a cardboard furniture sign.

29. Ian Noe, Between the Country  (National Treasury, May 31)
While he's being embraced by the country purist crowd, Ian Noe occupies that shadowy space where Appalachian music carries a deep folk influence, musically and thematically.  Noe's Kentucky is a rough place where desperate people in dire straits make questionable choices.  "Letter to Madeline" is delivered by a holed-up outlaw surrounded by a hundred guns:  Beside the buckshot door I stood still / Wondering how the hell the bastards found me in those hills / And clinging to a letter that I wish I'd mailed.  Like most of producer Dave Cobb's projects, the space on Noe's songs is tastefully filled by a small gathering of capable players.  Especially welcome is singer Savannah Conley, whose backing vocals float through the songs like an avenging angel.

28. Alexa Rose, Medicine For Living  (Big Legal Mess, Oct 4)
This is one of those better than it needs to be records, finding the rising roots artist fronting a band that features members of Lucero, St Paul & the Broken Bones, Will Sexton and others.  Set to tape in Memphis, Medicine's reach stretches from there, across Nashville and to the mountains of Appalachia, as does Rose's phenomenal voice.  Like early Shannon McNally or her contemporary Courtney Marie Andrews, Rose shares something timeless and sets the stage for great possibilities.

27. Joshua Ray Walker, Wish You Were Here  (State Fair, Jan 25)
One of the first records I heard in 2019, the young Dallas artist remains in my rotation as we head into the New Year.  Walker's debut is crowded with quality songs, fluent in the Texas country vernacular but capable of overflowing the limits of that box.  Whether simmering on "Canyon" or burning on "Burn It", his delivery is genuine and steeped in the ghosts of what's come before. 

26. Vandoliers, Forever  (Bloodshot, Feb 22)
Vandoliers share a hard-driving, fast-forward appeal with those Texas music legends, even as they've charted their own proper course.  "Ring of Fire" horns and fiddle challenge charging drums for the upper hand on "Troublemaker", a story of the artist as a young badass with a tattooed heart and bloodshot eyes.  The tune tumbles recklessly, irresistibly forward, a meeting of Josh Fleming's alt past and country present.  It's the sound of gasoline and a Zippo lighter, heard also on "Sixteen Years".  Like much of Forever, it's a story rooted in the writer's own story.

25. Cody Jinks, After the Fire/The Wanting  (Late August, Oct 11/18)
Jinks could have sold his soul for the golden ring a couple years ago, but has stayed true to his origins on this rewarding pair of releases (which, I'll be honest, just should've been issued as a double record).  While others are restless to update their sound or to hitch their wagon to the day's celebrity cowriters, Jinks keeps it in the family.  Recorded with his longtime band and a select few close friends, both records speak to his comfort and maturity as a writer, even as they present a tighter, fuller approach to production. 

24. Daniel Norgren, Wooh Dang  (Superpuma, Apr 19)
As a man who pays really close attention to what's happening on the fringes of our kind of music, I gotta thank the universe when I come across something new and revelatory.  Wooh Dang (Superpuma) is Swedish artist Daniel Norgren's 8th project, though it's his first widely released record and my inaugural foray into his wonderful work.  I use a select few words to describe the kind of magic that happens in sessions like these:  Flow, groove, pocket, soul.  Zen.

23. Lucette, Deluxe Hotel Room  (Rock Creek, May 17)
While Lucette's soaring vocals are typically treated with echo and reverb, she never sounds lazy or removed.  And while the trappings are atypical, thematically and structurally Lucette's songs are firmly in the roots realm.  Where Musgraves' recent work sounded like a California breeze, Deluxe Hotel Room brings to mind rain and sleepless nights and no place to go when the bars are closed.  I've been waiting on my mind / To come around and think for itself / I've been feeling so unkind / Mostly when it comes to myself  she sings on "Talk to Myself".

22. Matt Woods, Natural Disasters  (Lonely Ones, Jun 28)
In the great tradition of heartland rockers, Matt Woods injects his performance with a giant beating heart.  He draws from that working class mythos, but opts for inspiration rather than pity, never abandoning his characters to stereotype.  More importantly, he includes himself among this community.  "Blue-Eyed Wanderer" portrays Woods reflecting on years of tilting against windmills:  I keep getting caught on barbed wire thoughts / Of old girlfriends and wrong things I've said.  It's a rage-against-the-storm anthem on a record overflowing with them, big-hearted rockers driven by his talented band and corralled by producer Joey Kneiser.

21. Sturgill Simpson, Sound & Fury  (Elektra, Sep 27)
Folks have been braying about Sturgill's perennial drift away from literal country music almost since his 2013 solo debut.  As if we weren't sufficiently primed by '14s Metamodern Sounds or '16s Sailor's Guide, his new collection was largely greeted with shrugs and sighs.  Even if they are abraded by noise and buried by grit, Simpson's songs remain strong, an appeal that will shine through with repeated exposure.  I still haven't watched the anime shorts intended to compliment Sound & Fury, but for now I'm satisfied with the visions conjured by Sturgill's ever expanding reach.

20. Jason Hawk Harris, Love & the Dark  (Bloodshot, Aug 23)
Like Robert Ellis, Harris is grounded in the language of country and folk, even as he chooses to overrun those boundaries. "Blessed Interruption" begins at his mother's funeral: When they lower her down (in a clockwise motion, now) / It can't be too slow and it can't be too fast.  It couldn't have been easy to come of age with an alcoholic mother, but her death has apparently burned a fiery hole in Harris' heart. Whether struggling against his demons (Once upon a time I wasn't such a mess) or raging against the dark of his family's tragedy, music is an obvious catharsis for the songwriter, a vehicle to confront those ghosts and perhaps to achieve some tentative peace.  The musical wtf-ery contributes mightily to the overall vision of Love & the Dark.  Like Sturgill Simpson's groundbreaking Metamodern Sounds or Sailor's Guide, Jason Hawk Harris plants himself firmly in the soil of roots music, then uses the plot as a springboard for some iconic departures of his own.

19. Kelsey Waldon, White Noise/White Lines  (Oh Boy, Oct 4)
Been awhile since St John Prine added another act to his selective label, and Waldon wasn't an especially obvious choice.  Like Margo Price or Jamie Lin Wilson, she slides comfortably into the lineage of classic country acts while maintaining a gravity and a grit that deepen her appeal.  What's more, Waldon's third full-length is a solid leap forward that exceeds early expectations. 

18. Anna Tivel, The Question  (Fluff & Gravy, Apr 19)

Nowhere is this potential closer to realization than on "Worthless".  There's a touch of Tom Waits or Fiona Apple in the tune, surrounding Tivel with as much sound as we've heard from her music, from strings played in reverse to the squelchy sound of a bassline slowly burning.  Tivel's way with an overheard conversation or her attention to the details of a small life will always be her calling card, but these moments of pushing her comfort zone hint at possible directions for her future growth.  Even as she continues to wander darkened streets and to gaze up at the glow of late night windows, it's evident there's more to be heard from Anna Tivel's stories.  Two quarters in my hand, nothing else in my pocket / I'm a wild horse pawing at the cracked dead earth / The stoplight turning and a long white Lincoln / Goes screaming by, the bass line lingers ...

17. Simon Joyner, Pocket Moon  (Grapefruit, Oct 25)
Pocket Moon's arrangements are lovely, serving as a perfect counterbalance to Joyner's cracked and weathered voice.  "Yellow Jacket Blues" and "You Never Know" are the CD's most direct tracks, both featuring vestiges of country.  "Tongue of a Child" evokes Leonard Cohen's deceptively flat, deadpan delivery, coupled with a slightly Latin rhythm and a satisfying extended piano/fiddle passage.  The songwriter has admitted, I like things most when they're on the verge of falling apart.  These songs are hardly ramshackle, but there is an abiding feeling of hesitance or humility throughout these sessions, a spirit that serves them well. 

16. Shovels & Rope, By Blood  (Dualtone, Apr 12)
There's really no reason why Cary Ann Heart and Michael Trent should continue to surprise me. Nevertheless, with each subsequent record and each step further into the spotlight they've managed to maintain their edge.  They're also the rare act that bottles their live spark and transports it into the studio without sacrificing any heat.  By Blood is an uncompromising blend of dark and light, harmony and dissonance, beauty and heartbreak.

15. Chris Knight, Almost Daylight  (Drifters Church, Oct 11)
For all its overcast prophecy, Chris Knight and Ray Kennedy have built a great sounding album. Almost Daylight isn't a departure from the pair's previous work on 2012's Little Victories, though this ninth record sounds thicker, the guitars louder and the troubles deeper.  "Trouble Up Ahead" is delivered through the eyes of a man whose reputation has preceded him into town.  Drums kick up in the wake of the first verse, as the song grows like a contemporary "Copperhead Road".  The magic even drills through a tune like "Everybody's Lonely Now", a downcast number that originally appeared on 2008's Heart of Stone.  This new take is heartbreakingly soulful, making the original sound like a demo:  I wanna reach out and hold you / But I feel like I'm in the way.

14. Tyler Childers, Country Squire  (Hickman Holler, Aug 2)
Just a couple albums into his career, and Tyler Childers is showing up on favorites lists the world over, even from folks who really have no business sharing year-end country music rankings.  Still, he's not necessarily found a formula that's secret from other artists.  Country Squire simply offers a handful of very good country-folk songs that may just lodge themselves in your ears early on.  And it certainly won't tarnish Childers' profile to tag around the country with Sturgill Simpson through Spring.

13. Erin Enderlin, Faulkner County  (Black Crow, Nov 1)
Ultimately, Faulkner County tells stories, leaving listeners with the picture of a town haunted by lost souls and dark secrets, folks drifting away from last call with nobody to go home to.  After all, that's country.  Even so, some of Enderlin's most impressive pieces boldly challenge the long established country music traditions.  "Hometown Jersey" is a Springsteen-esque song about a hometown hero, lifted high on the shoulders of the townspeople one last time.  And "Queen of Marina del Ray" is a slyly transgressive cowrite with Felix McTeague and the great Shane McAnally.  The identity of the narrator of the blues-rock number only gradually becomes evident:  Blessed with a sick kind of strangeness / I wore like a cheap crown of thorns.  Moments like these speak to Erin Enderlin's ability not just to honor and embrace the beloved country music of her youth, but to play an important part in moving the genre forward into new lanes, telling new stories.  

12. Ags Connolly, Wrong Again  (Finstock, Nov 1)
So thanks and thanks again to Ags Connolly, for broadcasting these masterfully witsful vignettes from across the proverbial pond directly into our hearts.  Wrong Again can readily compete with records with three times the production cost, its humble odes to heartbreak cutting deeper than any other act reaching for the country golden ring.  Ags may be building his reputation from several time zones to the East, but they hit more truly than stuff written much closer to home.  He's not just one of the finest country songsmiths from England, he's fast becoming one of our best, period.

11. Yawpers, Human Question  (Bloodshot, Apr 19)
I suppose the real secret is that The Yawpers have grown musically into a really solid outfit, no longer simply that trio that bashes away on their instruments.  Guitarist Jessie Parmet is a secret weapon throughout these new sessions, consistently creative and versatile in his expression.  While drummers have come and gone, Alex Koshak plays with nuance that might be seen as unnecessary in a band with less lofty intentions.  With his demons and his ghosts, Nate Cook has been accurately credited as the band's troubled enfant terrible.  In my review of American Man, I began with, "Something tells me that The Yawpers won't end well ..."  Nothing in Human Question points to any great peace that he might have achieved.  That said, Cook is as smart and deliberate a writer as we have in our kind of music, well-read and as steeped in his philosophers as he is in his rock knowledge (I would love to see him apply himself to a book-length novel or memoir someday).

10. Caroline Spence, Mint Condition  (Rounder, May 3)
All of which seems to be part of Caroline Spence's current trajectory.  To celebrate, she's apparently just doing more of what landed her here in the first place.  That is, delivering solid country-folk songs that quietly but confidently leave a listener ready for another round.  That first two-song single introduced us to "Long Haul" and the record's title track.  Both are imminently listenable, tuneful and timeless pieces that make an immediate impression.  Spence commits her nose to the proverbial grindstone on "Long Haul", declaring her intention to do what it takes to achieve a degree of Music City success: I crossed my T's and dotted my I's / And sold my soul to the 1-4-5.  Like Amanda Anne Platt or Lori McKenna, Spence shows a masterful ear for the poetry of the everyday, never overreaching or adding undue sparkle and shine to her verse.  Emmylou Harris christens "Mint Condition" with her backing vocals, a tender acoustic lovesong for the ages: Our bodies they age, wrinkle and tire / That feeling of comfort overtakes desire / I might have to learn to live here alone / But I'll love you through ash or through stone.

9.  Will Johnson, Wire Mountain  (Keeled Scales, Sep 27)
What seems exotic early on establishes itself as more familiar and purposeful with repeated listenings, thoughtful and rewarding work that takes its place alongside years of Will Johnson's other projects.  Like Jason Molina and David Bazan and others with whom he's shared a groove, he maintains a mystery from record to record, while building a trust and an intimacy that bring us back with every new iteration.  Wire Mountain can be beautiful and chilling, with a wide-open allure of an artist who satisfies at every turn:  So when it comes time for our parting / Find the spirit and the force and the light / Let the shadows and moonlight still guide you / With a voice you can trust in the night.

8.  Delines, The Imperial  (Decor, Jan 11)
On these new sessions, The Delines are more confident in their direction and their identity.  Sometimes this means permitting songs to unfurl in their own good time.  Elsewhere, the solidified confidence means taking chances and working new angles.  The beautiful “Let’s Be Us Again” is a Solomon Burke-like country-soul gem that finds Boone begging her beau to resurrect a relationship that’s been snuffed.  The band typically opts for a lighter touch, though the title song swells with strings and added layers for an effective touch of drama.  This strain of country-soul is hard to come by nowadays, even in the midst of a newfound appreciation of artists like Bobbie Gentry and Charlie Rich.  Though both Willy Vlautin and Amy Boone have dabbled in the stuff over the years, The Imperial creates a space for both to indulge their fantasies, to give rein to talents in service of a sweet melancholy that nourishes the soul.  

7.  John Calvin Abney, Safe Passage  (Black Mesa, Sep 27)
For its studio of stars, Safe Passages is a confidently laidback album, instrumentally solid and capable of delivering a warm musical embrace.  "Turn Again" most fully realizes Abney's country leanings, including Megan Palmer's fiddle to great effect: If you find yourself turning / Back to the places you've been / Turn again.  "I Just Want To Feel Good" is a barebones voice-and-guitar session, but it speaks volumes and sets the stage for the record's generous spirit.  The fingerpicked guitar is elegant, with Abney delivering his lyric like Tallest Man on Earth.  A hushed secret shared among friends: I'm here most nights / Singing to make sense / Of the uncertain times / I just sat upon the fence / Singing for green grass and falsehoods / Now I just want to feel good.

6.  Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster, Take Heart Take Care  (Big Legal Mess, Aug 30)
God bless him, Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster draws much of his guidance from literature, from writers like Barry Hannah and Charles Portis.  An extended passage from the great William Boyle welcomes us to his website with a piece of writing light years better than you'll find here: We're in deeply hopeful territory.  Even the overall acoustics of the new record speak to turning a corner into the light.  Take Heart is not an especially quiet collection, built on electric guitar and the singer's increasingly confident vocal.  "Plenty Wonder" introduces the CD with a sturdy guitar hook, adding an undercurrent of organ to the reflection about striking a balance in relationship: There's plenty of wonder in this world still to be found.

5.  Fernando Viciconte, Traitors Table  (Fluff & Gravy, Jun 21)
Traitors Table takes admirable care to represent a myriad of voices from the fray, even ones that come across as fringe.  What makes this Fernando's most resonant record, however, is that it's ultimately driven by the artist's own story, the boy from Argentina growing up in America without an invitation to the table.  The album closes with "Turned Away", an acoustic strummer that slips without warning into angry mayhem:  They say that every dog will have his day / Now they're chasing you away / As if you were a stray / Turned away for now.  It's a sobering reflection from one of the year's strongest releases, a collection that reminds us that Fernando Viciconte belongs alongside Alejandro Escovedo as among our most eloquent spokespersons for encouraging a long memory, keeping mindful of both our diverse origins and our collective fate.

4.  Angie McMahon, Salt  (Dualtone, Jul 26)
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 ...

3.  Allison Moorer, Blood  (Autoelic, Oct 25)

Regarded as a piece, Allison Moorer's CD and book stand as the year's most impactful, emotionally resonant statement.  I haven't felt a book so deeply since Joan Didion's memoirs about the passing of her husband and daughter (Year of Magical Thinking and Blue Nights - read 'em and weep).  Blood is a glimpse into a raw wound, a lovestory written to a family that Moorer both adores and resents.  The lifelong fury she directs at her father is tempered only by her aching desire to understand him.  Most striking is the range of real emotion she demonstrates towards her mother and father, the insoluble brew of love and guilt and hatred and pity that she carries to this day.  It's a project that is fraught with feelings that are difficult to bear, especially for listeners or readers for whom the topics land close to home.  But it's what matters about books and music, finding commonality and unexpected understanding, discovering a mirror to hold up to better comprehend who we are.  And then sharing it with one another.  Look what I've found ... Magic churns around everywhere and it can be harnessed with the right tools ... To see an artist in her full glory renders the world bearable.  (p255)

2.  Brittany Howard, Jaime  (ATO, Sep 20)
As the undeniable force behind Alabama Shakes, Howard announced her arrival with 2012's Boys & Girls, an album that largely altered the musical swath we cut for Routes & Branches.  The follow-up, Sound & Color boldly widened that lane, as Howard expanded the Shakes' sound into unforeseen territories of funk 'n soul.  For my purposes, I wanted nothing more than more of the same.  But for the brashest, boldest vocalist in our kind of music, that meant pushing again.  Pushing so far beyond expectations that Jaime merited a separation from Howard's band.  It demanded nothing less that redefining her cut of alien funk, song after song finding her exploring a new pocket, stretching that uncommonly warm and expressive voice in ways that bring it all back home.  She is our Nina Simone.

1.  Yola, Walk Through Fire  (Easy Eye, Feb 22)
Where Brittany Howard sought new avenues of expression, Yola's debut full-length warms with the familiar trappings of roots and soul.  With producer Dan Auerbach, she  delivers her songs in arrangements that remind us of these elements that helped birth out kind of music, sounds that should have been there all along.  With baskets of award nominations and end-of-year plaudits, there is the sense that Yola is poised to attract the attention of even more listeners as we head into the next decade.  As she proves on a newly-released take on Elton John's notoriously difficult to sing "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", she really can sing anything.  For that reason, we're so lucky that Yola has chosen to stake her claim using americana music as her home base.  

We're taking a week off from our usual practice of sharing ROUTES-casts playlists.  Please know that there is several months' worth of those available for your listening pleasure, simply by visiting the Routes & Branches page on Spotify.  We'll be removing most of our 2019 lists as we trip into the New Year, so please enjoy them as you're able.  And don't hesitate to share your own favorites, either with a comment below or by emailing routesandbranches@blogspot.com

Look this way next week for another Episode, catching up with new stuff on the horizon from Leon Bridges, Dave Simonett, John Moreland and more.  And we'll get you our award-winning holiday ROUTES-cast in time for several pre-Christmas spins.