GOLDEN and RUST

ROUTES & BRANCHES

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

November 29, 2021

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

Based in Murfreesboro, TN Glossary created some of the best, most overlooked music of the early aughts. Records like 2007's Better Angels of Our Nature presented a tight outfit whose middle-American roots rock was brightened with a touch of soul. Joey Kneiser served as Glossary's songwriting engine, building these literate gems alongside his bandmate Kelly Smith and a restless supporting cast. Plans for world domination were scuttled when drummer Eric Giles was sidelined by physical challenges and the band elected not to carry on without him. Kneiser's solo output has been sporadic, but continues to confirm his terrific talent. 

The next volley in this quiet career arrives in the form of a collaborative LP in conjunction with fellow Tennessee writer Lew Card. 'Neath the moniker of Golden and Rust, Kneiser and Card alternate lead and supporting roles on a session that should satisfy Glossary fans even as it will kindle the hope for more frequent and more prominent releases. 

The credits for Joey Kneiser's solo CDs have tended to feature few names other than his own, so these Golden and Rust recordings mark his return to a smaller band setting. The lovely "Ruby" is lent a country lilt by former American Aquarium pedal steel master Whit Wright and the piano of Matt Rowland. Wright's contributions add an air of wide-open skies to the songs, more cosmic than country; more psychedelic than sawdust. It pings like a beacon between the headphones on "Reckoning" and whooshes through purple clouds on "Yesterdays". 

Kneiser and Card hail from divergent neighborhoods of the roots music world, with Lew Card favoring a more traditional expression and a tongue-in-cheek lyrical perspective. It's an unlikely musical pairing that emerges in an unexpectedly coherent vibe, a sound falling closer to Kneiser's roots-rock solo work. "Old Ghosts" is Card's strongest contribution, with a sharp guitar line and a deceptively bright vibe that belies overcast lyrics about the pull of the familiar: You've been straying far from the fold / And no one seems to understand / That once you've gone too far it's hard to return again. Card's 70s country shuffle, "Paper Wings" seems to speak to the arrival of the muse: As I capture every word / Harmonies begin to fill me up / Now I'm ready. 

Lew Card's cuts alternate like checker squares with Joey Kneiser's new songs. Life is too heavy to carry alone, Kneiser sings on the opener, "Out of the Ether" a satisfying full-band track driven by Matt Martin's drums and bass from former Glossary participant Bingham Barnes. It's one of the Glossary-worthy numbers to be mined from Golden and Rust, with Kneiser in great vocal and lyrical form. The instrumentally engaging "Young Blood" unspools patiently: I used to have young blood / I bled all over town. Matt Rowland's keys add a wistful touch. The aforementioned "Ruby" is another of Kneiser's jewels, mourning what we all lose to time: Ruby look what time it has done / Scraped its scars in my skin / Left me with all these wild imperfections. 

Golden and Rust is an unassuming package, bursting with these evocative moments. Perhaps most interesting are the closing tracks which expand the outfit's reach towards cosmic country and psychedelia not unlike Israel Nash as crossed with the Pollies. With its careful harmonies and atmospheric whooshes, Card's "Yesterdays" finishes the session on an especially colorful note.  The LP's jacket simply frames two empty chairs, and another shot suggests a pair of skeletons. I've seen very little in the way of promotional support, and only a small handful of playlists have picked up on these gems. Joey Kneiser and Lew Card might have intended Golden and Rust to be a low-key one-off. But these songs and these writers deserve to land on more ears as we assemble our respective end-of-year favorites lists. 

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Been too long since we drew your attention to A Routes & Branches Guide To Feeding Your Monster, our obsessively-curated account of what's happened and what's on the horizon for new roots music releases. The last several weeks have given us a pretty good glimpse into what awaits us on the other side of the New Year. If you were to ask what ten (10) releases I'm looking most forward to, I might respond with stuff from Goodnight Texas, Ryan Culwell, Anais Mitchell, Erin Rae, the Delines, Big Thief, Sarah Shook, Shovels & Rope, Hurray for the Riff Raff and Paul Cauthen. You can click on the link to make your own list. But as we're swept helplessly into the last couple weeks of the year, there's nothing like having something to look forward to.