AGS CONNOLLY - SiEMPRE

ROUTES & BRANCHES

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

June 25, 2023

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

Mere days ago we presented our favorite records for the first half of 2023. But we're restless, so we've moved on. We're looking now at our favorite songs from the past month, the songs for which we're most grateful. After giving it a whole lot of thought and praying on it, we chose to call it: 

WHAT's SO GREAT ABOUT JUNE?!!

1. Israel Nash, "Ozarker" Ozarker  (Desert Folklore, Oct 20)  It's reportedly the Dripping Springs songwriter's intention to release three records in the next several months. With its soaring musical intentions and sha-la-la chorus, this first single is one part Tom Petty and another War On Drugs heartland rocker. 

2. Jess Williamson, "Tobacco Two Step" Time Ain't Accidental  (Mexican Summer, Jun 9)  Williamson's new collection posits her taking tentative steps into the social scene following the dissolution of a longtime relationship. That uncertainty and self-doubt whisper throughout this beautiful song: Questions that hang like smoke in the air / But I am drenched in lavender, I'm too cool to care. 

3. Colter Wall, "Corralling the Blues" Little Songs  (La Honda, Jul 14)  Earnest harmonica, tinny dobro, mumbling vocal delivery: This short campfire singalong presents the Saskatchewan crooner at his best. To quote the man himself: You got to fill the big empty with little songs ...

4. Roselit Bone, "Your Gun" Ofrenda  (Get Loud, Aug 25)  While this Portland-based outfit has been on the scene for several years, their profane tonic of rockabilly, punk, and country is new to us. This first single from their new collection is edgy as early X, dangerous as Gun Club, and wonderfully confrontational. 

5. Suzanne Santo, "Let My Love" single  (Soozanto, Jun 2)  We strongly supported the first couple solo records from this one-time HoneyHoney member, 2017's Ruby Red and 2021's Yard Sale. The dreamy "Let My Love" floats on fitful electric guitar, otherworldly backing vocals, and Santo's own heartbreaking delivery, an invitation: Let my love settle you down. 

6. Becca Mancari, "Over and Over" Left Hand  (Captured Tracks, Aug 25)  Mancari's forthcoming release features collaborations with Brittany Howard, Daniel Tashian, and Julien Baker, who adds backing support on this first single. Mancari describes the cut as a queer pop song that has meat on its bones. Its breezy pop has lodged in my ears all month: Line cook / Janitor / That year I was invisible / Back in the closet / Celibate / But we don't have to talk about it. 

7. Margaret Glaspy, "Act Natural" Echo the Diamond  (ATO, Aug 18)  The dirty guitar line that launches this first single from Glaspy's August release has more than paid its way onto this month's list. Glaspy tells us her song is about trying to play it cool when you meet someone remarkable. With its reckless spirit, "Act Natural" strikes a promising note. 

8. Susto, "Hyperbolic Jesus" My Entire Life  (New West, Jul 28)  Susto frontman Justin Osborne has grown to be one of the most original songwriters in our kind of music. The band's fifth record reportedly drops in the wake of personal and artistic upheaval. "Hyperbolic Jesus" delivers a Jerry Garcia guitar line and a jammy groove: She says she don't believe in Jesus / But she thinks he was a pretty good guy. 

9. Lydia Loveless, "Toothache" Nothing's Gonna Stand In My Way Again  (Bloodshot, Sep 22)  And exhale ... Few artists have meant as much to this blog over the years, with their albums landing reliably among our year-end favorites. With the rebirth of the seminal Bloodshot label, Loveless announces her first collection in three years just like we like. This rocker is guitar-forward, with retro keys and a stronger roots orientation than we've heard from Loveless' last couple records. Now that I've cobbled together the dominos / I wanna watch 'em explode. 

10. Brent Cobb, "Southern Star" Southern Star  (Ol' Buddy, Sep 22)  Seems Cobb is back on track with his own material following a detour for a record of hymns. With smooth keys and a lazily loping rhythm, "Southern Star" pays loving tribute to his beloved Georgia home: Under the southern star I heal all of my scars / As cicadas sing, ain't it the sweetest dream / Winding kudzu vines untangle up my mind. 

Let's be frank: There are few if any better country voices than Ags Connolly. The fact only becomes more impressive with the fact that the songwriter is stationed roughly 5,000 miles outside of Texas in Oxfordshire. Of course, England also claims artists like Yola, Billy Bragg, the Staves, Peter Bruntnell and many others. Which means that the truly remarkable thing about Ags Connolly isn't where he's from as much as it is the quality of his music. He could hail from San Antonio and we'd still be impressed. 

Here at R&B HQ, we've dropped praise on 2017's Nothin' Unexpected as well as Wrong Again from 2019, the latter crowned UK Country Music Album of the Year. Connolly calls his new collection, Siempre (At the Helm), a sonic loveletter to the wide range of country music in the Lone Star State. From honky tonk to Tex-Mex border music, with stops for polka and plain old Texas country, the songwriter plants his boots firmly in tradition. The music I play, he comments, is undiluted country. 

A quick listen to the economical ten-track record proves it out. Connolly's music is impressively simple, played by a modest but capable ensemble where even pedal steel is somewhat rationed. Both Billy Contreras (fiddle) and Michael Guerra (accordion) add a terrific accent to the sessions, which bear the stamp of a warm, live recording. Siempre's opener, "Headed South For a While" is as involved and as contemporary-sounding as the arrangements become, with the very rare electric guitar: On a sidestreet / In a tavern / Turning forty years old. Another outlier, a rare cover of fellow Brit Wes McGhee's "Half Forgotten Tunes" is a lovely, lilting ballad that spotlights Connolly's phenomenal voice, an instrument that recalls Lefty Frizzell in its depth, its flexibility and reach. 

Much of Siempre dwells on missed connections, relationships on the rocks, or longing for a hand to hold. The singer sings from this place of pining on "I Trust My Heart These Days": I guess it sounds like a hell of a thing to say / But I think we belong together / And I trust my heart these days. Guerra's accordion flirts with a workmanlike acoustic guitar, with Connolly demonstrating a mastery of the subtle touches that define the country genre. He begrudgingly accepts his fate on "Turns Out", with a sweet acoustic solo and Contreras' fiddle adding to BJ Cole's melodic pedal steel: Love told me it was now or never / And never came through once again. 

New to Ags Connolly's repertoire is Siempre's inclusion of south-of-the-border influences throughout the collection, appropriate for any record that claims to survey the vast expression of Texas' country music tradition. His newly-acquired bajo quinto launches the smooth and light-handed "Tell Me What You Were Gonna Tell Me", and accordion underscores the conjunto-style "In Love At All". On top of those, there is the Tejano polka of "Change My Mind", or the instantly-recognizable border spirit of the energetic "Senora (Whatever Comes First)", replete with grito for good measure: Te lo dire hasta que no haya mar.  Even to the casually educated ears, these tracks will trigger memories of Doug Sahm or Flaco Jimenez and Freddy Fender, artists who helped carry Mexican folk music across the border where it was crossbred with Texas country. 

But nothing on Siempre is new, just as Ags Connolly intended. There are no false steps to his simple but masterfully executed originals. To restless ears like ours, always listening for something new or different, it takes something special for a traditional, acoustic album to stand out amidst all the noise and the buzz. Connolly is special because of his single-minded focus on undiluted country. While he doesn't bring the same vocational emphasis as James Hand or Don Walser, he demonstrates a similar wonderfully unadorned quality to his songs. To the casual listener, they may gather as little attention as the sturdy bearded, bespectacled man seated in the corner. To folks who know better, we're becoming increasingly eager to pull up a chair at Ags Connolly's table. 

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- Jobi Riccio, "Sweet" Whiplash  (Yep Roc, Sep 8)

- Caitlin Canty, "Come By the Highway Home" Quiet Flame  (Canty, 23)

- Tommy Prine, "Elohim" This Far South  (Nameless Knight, 23)

- Florry, "Drunk and High" Holey Bible  (Dear Life, Aug 4)  D

- Johanna Samuels, "Rest of Us" Bystander  (Jealous Butcher, 23)

- Bright Eyes, "Jejune Stars (Companion Version)" People's Key: Companion EP  (Dead Oceans, 23)

- Buffalo Nichols, "You're Gonna Need Somebody On Your Bond" The Fatalist  (Fat Possum, Sep 15)  D

- Bones of JR Jones, "Heaven Help Me" Slow Lightning  (Bones, Oct 13)  D

- Geese, "Gravity Blues" 3D Country  (Partisan, 23)

- Hellbound Glory, "Undertow" single  (HG, 23)  D

- Possessed by Paul James, "3am" Fighting For Our Own Survival  (Conrad Wert, 23)  D

- Molly Parden, "Algorhythm" single  (Parden, 23)  D

- Old Crow Medicine Show, "Miles Away" Jubilee  (ATO, Aug 25)  D

- Ryan Bingham, "Where My Wild Things Are" Watch Out For the Wolf  (Bingham, Aug 11)  D

- Turnpike Troubadours, "Chipping Mill" Cat in the Rain  (Bossier City, Aug 25)

- Casey James Prestwood, "Wine Drunk" Where I'm Going I've Always Been  (Prestwood, 23)

^ Ags Connolly, "Tell Me What You Were Gonna Tell Me" Siempre  (At the Helm, 23)

- Amanda Shires, "Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground (ft Bobbie Nelson)" Loving You  (ATO, 23)

- Sally Anne Morgan, "The Center" Carrying  (Thrill Jockey, Sep 22)  D

- Phoebe Hunt, "Galloping" Nothing Else Matters  (Popped Corn, Jul 28)

- Faye Webster, "But Not Kiss" single  (Secretly Canadian, 23)  D

- M Ward, "Too You To Die (ft First Aid Kit)" Supernatural Thing  (Anti, 23)

- Nick Shoulders, "Whooped If You Will" All Bad  (Gar Hole, Sep 8)  D

- Shakey Graves, "Ready or Not (ft Sierra Ferrell)" single  (Dualtone, 23)  D

- Watson Twins, "Hundred Miles" Holler  (Bloodshot, 23)

- Brian Ritchie, "Catch the Wind (ft Sam Llanas)" Said the Firefly To the Hurricane: Celebration of the Oeuvre of Kevn Kinney  (Tasty Goody, Nov 24)  

- Caitlin Rose, "Nashville Moon" CAZIMI (Deluxe Edition)  (Pearl Tower, 23)

- Cory Hanson, "Wings" Western Cum  (Drag City, 23)

- DeYarmond Edision, "Hazelton" Epoch  (Jagjaguwar, Sep 22)

- Woods, "White Winter Melody" Perennial  (Woodsist, Sep 15)

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

WHAT'S SO GREAT ABOUT the FiRST HALF of 2023?!!

ROUTES & BRANCHES

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

June 21, 2023

Scott Foley, purveyor of arbitrariness

On this, the first official day of Summer, we're roughly halfway through 2023. Which might make you think oh ... that wasn't so bad, or alternately you mean there's more?!!  While nothing has so obviously risen above the fray to present itself as a sure-thing candidate for our year-end favorite, we're at least grateful that the year has been way more generous than our past couple pandemic-addled years, with enough new stuff that we're needing to decide what to feature and what to ignore on our weekly ROUTES-casts. 

In all honesty, the record that has most captured my attention this year is Youth Lagoon's Heaven Is a Junkyard. While folk and roots music are present on Trevor Powers' haunting, alien project, only a couple of the songs really fit snugly within our ROUTES-casts (believe it or not, I do make these judgement calls). But what moves us moves us, and our passions are strongest when not confined within genre's rigid, constricting walls. It's the sort of album that makes me hope Powers has plans to expand into printed work. Heaven is a junkyard / And it's my home ... How could we not want more?!

WHAT's SO GREAT ABOUT the FiRST HALF of 2023?!!

Margo Price - Strays  (Loma Vista, Jan 13) %

Pony Bradshaw - North Georgia Rounder  (Black Mountain Music, Jan 27)

HC McEntire - Every Acre  (Merge, Jan 27)

Sunny War - Anarchist Gospel  (New West, Feb 3) %

Brit Taylor - Kentucky Blue  (Cut a Shine, Feb 3) %

Lucero - Should've Learned By Now  (Liberty & Lament, Feb 24) %

Drayton Farley - Twenty on High  (Hargrove, Mar 3) %

Doug Paisley - Say What You Like  (Outside, Mar 17)

War & Treaty - Lover's Game  (Mercury, Mar 10)

Ruston Kelly - The Weakness  (Rounder, Apr 7)

Matthew Logan Vasquez - As All Get Out  (Nine Mile, Apr 7)

Hackles - What a Beautiful Thing I Have Made  (Jealous Butcher, Apr 7)

Caleb Elliott - Weed Wine & Time  (Single Lock, Apr 14)

Fruit Bats - River Running To Your Heart  (Merge, Apr 14)

Bella White - Among Other Things  (Rounder, Apr 21) %

Esther Rose - Safe to Run  (New West, Apr 21)

Country Westerns - Forgive the City  (Fat Possum, Apr 28)

Logan Halstead - Dark Black Coal  (Halstead, May 5)

David Wax Museum - You Must Change Your Life  (Nine Mile, May 5)

Parker Millsap - Wilderness Within You  (Okrahoma, May 12)

Charlotte Cornfield - Could Have Done Anything  (Double Double Whammy, May 12) %

Califone - Villagers  (Jealous Butcher, May 19)

Whitney Rose - Rosie  (MCG, May 19)

Kassi Valazza - Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing  (Fluff & Gravy, May 26) %

RF Shannon - Red Swan In Palmetto  (Keeled Scales, May 26)

Robert Lloyd & Janet Beveridge-Bean, Black Cat Dark Horse  (Tiny Global, Jun 2)

Jess Williamson - Time Ain't Accidental  (Mexican Summer, Jun 9) %

Jason Isbell & 400 Unit - Weathervanes  (Southeastern, Jun 9) %

Ags Connolly, Siempre  (At the Helm, Jun 16)

Fust, Genevieve  (Dear Life, Jun 16)

... above, the selections marked with a "%" might be just a bit better than the others. 

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At the 1/2-way mark of 2023, we're looking forward to another six months of great stuff to keep our restless ears occupied. Of course, you can find a complete account by clicking on A Routes & Branches Guide To Feeding Your Monster. Were you to patiently ask me for the ten (10) releases I'm most eagerly anticipating, I might give you the following (in order of appearance): 

Gabe Lee, Drink the River  (Torrez, Jul 14)

Lori McKenna, 1988  (CN, Jul 21)

Joshua Ray Walker, What Is It Even  (JRW, Aug 4)

DeYarmond Edison, Epoch  (Jagjaguwar, Aug 18)

Turnpike Troubadours, Cat in the Rain  (Bossier City, Aug 25)

Low Cut Connie, Art Dealers  (Contender, Sep 8)

Allison Russell, The Returner  (Fantasy, Sep 8)

Will Johnson, No Ordinary Crown  (Keeled Scales, Sep 15)

Lydia Loveless, Nothing's Gonna Stand In My Way Again  (Bloodshot, Sep 22)

Israel Nash, Ozarker  (Desert Folklore, Oct 20)

JESS WiLLiAMSON - TiME AiN'T ACCiDENTAL

ROUTES & BRANCHES

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

June 18, 2023

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

Are my love songs lies now that the love is gone asks Jess Williamson on Time Ain't Accidental (Mexican Summer). The songwriter will keep that question close on her first solo project since 2020's superb Sorceress. Williamson's new collection is less a continuation of that elemental, mystical force than a full-scale artistic reorientation. She had worked alongside RF Shannon's Shane Renfro on that record and on 2018's Cosmic Wink, but that personal and professional partnership met a bad end. 

Seemingly adrift during the early pandemic, Williamson speaks of her momentarily flagging confidence and self-doubt as a solo writer. She eventually found support from Waxahatchee's Katie Crutchfield who had released her own album, Saint Cloud, just a few weeks prior to Sorceress. Together, as Plains they created one of last year's finest LPs, the breezy 90s country-pop paean I Walked With You a Ways. Time Ain't Accidental ain't Plains-redux, but it does speak to how Williamson leaned into her musical partnership with Crutchfield as a springboard and a support, a way to bolster confidence and to reorient. Time sets aside the relatively plentiful production of her first couple records and embraces the minimalist approach of Plains.

On her new album, Jess Williamson processes her breakup and the subsequent search for human connection in the time of Covid. When you walk as a woman who's only known love / It's easy to miss the signs she sings on the highlight "Hunter". Produced by Brad Cook, who served the same role for Plains, the song features some of country music's familiar trappings, especially in Deshawn Hickman's pedal steel, but delivers a pop-friendly chorus that brings to mind Haim or Jenny Lewis. While Phil Cook contributes percussion to Time, the basic beats come courtesy of Williamson's iPhone drum machine app. The digital rhythms establish a groove on "Topanga Two Step", as the singer addresses the awkwardness of being a Texan looking for love in LA. Hardly a shrinking violet, Williamson steps almost boldly into her sensuality: It's my tongue in your mouth / It's all my windows down / What you take me for / Take me for a ride / No hands, let the car drive / Baby, god damn. 

That elemental fire, that sense-ual nature is one aspect of her earlier work that Williamson fully occupies on her new collection. Especially on Sorceress, a new age spirituality wafted like nag champa incense from her music. Here, she speaks of synchronicity on the title track, encouraging a patience or a surrender as the universe unfolds its purpose. That busy programmed percussion percolates beneath a strummed acoustic, joined by banjo and Matt Douglas' woodwinds. Williamson actually cites Jung's definition of god as that which upsets our plans and scuttles our best intentions. On "God in Everything", she reminds us that god is in the earthly and the mess of the everyday. Did you notice how I served my tea? 

While much of the instrumentation on Time Ain't Accidental checks the country box, Williamson and Cook build their arrangements so that they don't sound as beholden to tradition as Plains. Where some artists might add sounds and textures in a journey towards their desired sound, Williamson pares back and finds strength in simplicity on songs like "Tobacco Two Step". Beneath a moving, mannered vocal, there is little more than the sigh of pedal steel and piano chords. "Stampede" is another beautiful, misty ballad, addressing the profound sadness in distance: Heard it's a battle / I know you're giving them hell / And maybe I can love you better / From three states away. 

The weaving of Crutchfield and Williamson's vocals undoubtedly defined Plains, and the singer's delivery on Time is spot-on country, but with an added wildness and edge that anchor the songs in the indie-folk realm. "Chasing Spirit" and "I'd Come To Your Call" Williamson sings with a yearning and a wavering confidence, the narrator pausing between the bridle and the open field: There's nothing in LA for me / Just a lonely singer at the beach / I could start a garden with the landlord / Something good and simple / And worth staying in town for. These vocals are in perfect service of her impressively thoughtful lyrics throughout, lyrics that so aptly portray her moment in time. On "Stampede": I can close my eyes and be back in our love / It's forever somewhere, a loop we're part of / Behind the foggy haze and mist / Is an endless prairie, I see us there as kids / I loved you beyond time, beyond all pain / Shatter the land, the light remains. 

Yet Jess Williamson would testify that god dwells within this mess, between connection and separation, between confidence and doubt, between Marfa and LA. While we tend to praise the strength we recognize in self-control and change management, Time Ain't Accidental would remind us that it's often in moment of letting go that we're closest to the spirit. The albums closer, "Roads", reads like a Psalm, almost like a piece from Van Morrison's long-lost no guru period. Perhaps at her most vulnerable time, bolstered by her experience with Plains, Jess Williamson demonstrates an impressive ability to achieve a musical balance in the midst of all the seeming instability, following her mercurial, elemental muse into a new territory and succeeding beyond her expectations. 

Once again, I'm offering a radical kind of love / And it's just the wrong time ...

- John R Miller, "Nobody Has To Know My Mind" Heat Comes Down  (Rounder, Oct 6)  D

- Gabe Lee, "Merigold" Drink the River  (Torrez, Jul 14)

- Kyle Nix & the 38s, "Close the Bets" After the Flood Vol 1  (Bossier City, Jul 28)

- Ags Connolly, "Half Forgotten Tunes" Siempre  (At the Helm, 23)

- Blind Boys of Alabama, "Friendship" Echoes of the South  (Single Lock, Aug 25)  D

- Son Volt, "Poison Love" Day of the Doug  (Transmit Sound, 23)

- Jason Isbell & 400 Unit, "If You Insist" Weathervanes  (Southeastern, 23)

- Cordovas, "Fallen Angels of Rock 'n Roll" Rose of Aces  (ATO, Aug 11)  D

- Suzanne Santo, "Let My Love" single  (Soozanto, 23)  D

- Logan Ledger, "Where Will I Go" Golden State  (Rounder, Sep 8)

- Mikaela Davis, "Home in the Country" And Southern Star  (Kill Rock Stars, Aug 4)

- Tre Burt, "Santiago" Traffic Fiction  (Oh Boy, Oct 6)  D

^ Jess Williamson, "Tobacco Two Step" Time Ain't Accidental  (Mexican Summer, 23)

- Natural Child, "Tell Me I'm Wrong" Be M'Guest  (Natural Child, Jun 29)

- Jonathan Wilson, "Charlie Parker" Eat the Worm  (BMG, Sep 8)  D

- William the Conqueror, "Bruise" Excuse Me While I Vanish  (Chrysalis, Jul 28)

- Fust, "Town in Decline" Genevieve  (Dear Life, 23)

- Pink Stones, "Baby I'm Still Right Here (ft Nikki Lane)" You Know Who  (Normaltown, Jun 30)

- Julia Jacklin, "Shivers" single  (Polyvinyl, 23)  D

- Teddy Thompson, "Picture of Me Without You" My Love of Country  (Chalky Sounds, Aug 18)  D

- SUSTO, "Hyperbolic Jesus" My Entire Life  (New West, Jul 28) 

- Sonny & the Sunsets, "Waiting" Self Awareness Through Macramé  (Rocks in Your Head, Aug 25)  D

- Bethany Cosentino, "Easy" Natural Distaster  (Concord, Jul 28)

- Bonny Doon, "Maybe Today" Let There Be Music  (Anti, 23)

- Gordon Gano, "Gotta Move On (ft Boy Dirt Car)" Said the Firefly To the Hurricane: Celebration of the Oeuvre of Kevn Kinney  (Tasty Goody, Nov 24)  D

- Slaughter Beach Dog, "Strange Weather (ft Erin Rae)" single  (Lame-O, 23)  D

- Roselit Bone, "Your Gun" Ofrenda  (Get Loud, Aug 25)  D

- Deer Tick, "If I Try To Leave" Emotional Contracts  (ATO, 23)

- Lydia Loveless, "Toothache" Nothing's Gonna Stand In My Way Again  (Bloodshot, Sep 22)  D

- Spoon, "She's Fine She's Mine" Memory Dust EP  (Matador, 23) 

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

JASON iSBELL & 400 UNiT - WEATHERVANES

ROUTES & BRANCHES

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

June 11, 2023

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

Jason Isbell is a tough review. It could be argued that, as a solo artist and with his 400 Unit, Isbell has issued a longer streak of excellent records that any other current artist (and not just in our kind of music). We assume that Weathervanes will be another in that generous series. And, spoiler: It is. But as a reviewer I feel an obligation to give the 13-cut collection a deep listen, to try to tease out themes, to figure how it fits alongside genre-definers like Southeastern and Reunions. 

There is actually little new on Weathervanes. Whereas Isbell's past four projects were produced by Dave Cobb, this project is self-produced, with some help from Matt Pence. One could argue that Cobb is largely responsible for the sound of contemporary roots music. But the same might be said for Jason Isbell. 

The 400 Unit (deBorja, Gamble, Hart, and Vaden) are reliably stellar, but it could be said that they showed more range on the Georgia Blue covers collection, where they were encouraged to push out into less familiar R&B, rock, and soul territory. While Isbell's wife, Amanda Shires, is credited as a guest on Weathervanes, her vocal and instrumental contributions shouldn't be overlooked. 

While Weathervanes delivers nothing new, Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit continue to create some of the best roots-oriented rock being heard today. And perhaps the fact that we've come to expect that makes these new songs easier to take for granted. We've come to expect socially-oriented themes from Isbell, songs about addiction and self-doubt, the myth of Southern nostalgia. But few if any of today's songwriters labor over every lyrical turn and nuance, paring back until all that remains is truth.

We've learned better than to expect uplift from Jason Isbell. His lyrical darkness and directness pervade Weathervanes from the opening line: Did you ever love a woman with a death wish? Chad Gamble's percussion ticks and slaps alongside a minor key electric guitar and Isbell's urgent delivery, until the tension is tempered by Shires' sympathetic strings: Who's left to pray to / What's the difference between a breakdown and a breakthrough. "Death Wish" is a spiral of a song, catching the listener in its drama and the repeated cry: I wanna hold her until it's over. And that's just the appetizer. The jangling guitar of "King of Oklahoma" supplies the soundtrack to the story of a working man whose family is swept up in the wake of opioid addiction. Isbell and his band reflect the turmoil with an electrical storm of sound and fury: She used to make me feel like the King of Oklahoma / But nothing makes me feel like much of nothing anymore. 

Of course, the personal can always be political, and while most of Isbell's songs on Weathervanes are set in living rooms and on the unswept Main Streets of our nation, he is at his best when he couches these more topical reckonings between the folds of a personal story. You'll find a tragic tale about race relations in "Cast Iron Skillet", woven in and through a litany of unquestioned homespun advice. The acoustic track showcases deBorja's accordion and Shires' fiddle, a gently melodic approach that belies the story's moral weight: She found love and it was simple as a weathervane / But her own family tried to kill it. Isbell has commented that pieces of his own story are woven into each song, and that's nowhere more apparent than on "Save the World". One of several minor-key tracks on the collection, the song finds the narrator losing hope and fearing for his daughter upon hearing news of another school shooting: Can we keep her here at home instead / And can we teach her how to fight. Feeling himself slipping, he turns to his wife: Tell me you're in control. The arena-filling rocker features a soaring guitar solo and keyboard textures. 

Weathervanes swings alternately between electric and acoustic numbers, between chaos and calm, even if nearly every cut orbits a nucleus of conflict. Those calmer tracks serve to remind listeners of Isbell's masterful sonic touch, such as on the lovely "Strawberry Woman" in all its lovestruck simplicity: There's a warm wind blowing through the laundromat / There's a young man crying in a cowboy hat. "If You Insist" is a bright-sounding call for meaningful connection, while "Middle of the Morning" is Isbell's account of pandemic claustrophobia with soulful veins of piano and guitar: I'm tired by the middle of the morning / I'm out of shit to say. 

As a 400 Unit project, most songs on Weathervanes are more roots rock than country, stuff that will play well to stadium back rows. With its slashing guitars, "When We Were Close" portrays Isbell's survivor's guilt in light of Justin Townes Earle's passing, both artists sharing a common path of reckless habits prior  to Isbell's sobriety: I was the worst of the two of us / Rex's Blues wasn't through with us. Weathervanes closes with an extended, fiery reflection on the concessions we make when faced with our guilt, despair, and anger. 

Routes & Branches worships at the altar of novelty, and we take our holy communion in the sandbox of musical experimentation. But we also admire an artist like Jason Isbell whose trajectory finds him deepening in his artistry as opposed to expanding in new directions. Like a weathervane atop a farmhouse, Isbell's songs speak to the prevailing winds of our country, the issues and concerns that continue to buffet us. I was raised to be a strong and silent southern man, he sings on Weathervanes. Jason Isbell would also seem to be a man of strong conscience and integrity, perennially aware of his privilege and his responsibility. The songs of conflict and division on his new album are also songs of love, stories that speak to a concern about his family and our communities. 

Because we're not licensed to psychoanalyze the artists we represent on R&B, in the end we can only speak to the music. Weathervanes adds another layer to the story of Jason Isbell and his 400 Unit, and will continue to move him out from under the americana umbrella into the stronger sun of the popular music industry. As he takes great pains to remain true to his songs, he is largely charting the course of americana, alt.country and roots music. 

- Tommy Stinson, "Here We Go Again" Wronger  (Cowboys in the Campfire, 23)

- Robert Lloyd & Janet Beveridge-Bean, "Heavy Reckonings" Black Cat Dark Horse  (Tiny Global, 23)

- Low Cut Connie, "Sleaze Me On" Art Dealers  (Contender, Sep 8)

- Shinyribs, "All the Best Things" Transit Damage  (Blue Elan, Jul 14)

- Allison Russell, "The Returner" The Returner  (Fantasy, Sep 8)  D

- Miranda Lambert, "If You Were Mine (ft Leon Bridges)" single  (Vanner, 23)  D

- Jeremie Albino, "All These Days" Tears You Hide  (Good People, 23)

- Laura Cantrell, "Bide My Time" Just Like a Rose: Anniversary Sessions  (Propeller, 23)

- Israel Nash, "Ozarker" Ozarker  (Desert Folklore, Oct 20)  D

- Lori McKenna, "Town In Your Heart" 1988  (CN, Jul 21)

- Brent Cobb, "Southern Star" Southern Star  (Ol' Buddy, Sep 22)  D

- Megan and Shane, "Things Don't Have To Change (ft Lillie Mae, Brit Taylor)" single  (M&S, Jul 14)  D

- Caitlin Canty, "Salt Water" Quiet Flame  (Canty, Jun 23)

- Mapache, "What a Summer" Swinging Stars  (Innovative Leisure, Aug 18)  

- Jason Eady, "Wayside" Mississippi  (Old Guitar, Aug 11)

- Brennen Leigh, "I'm Still Looking For You" Ain't Through Honky Tonkin' Yet  (Signature Sounds, Jun 16)

^ Jason Isbell & 400 Unit, "When We Were Close" Weathervanes  (Southeastern, 23)

- Jess Williamson, "God in Everything" Time Ain't Accidental  (Mexican Summer, 23)

- DeYarmond Edison, "Feel the Light" Epoch  (Jagjaguwar, Sep 22)

- Watson Twins, "Holler" Holler  (Bloodshot, Jun 23)

- Jenny Lewis, "Love Feel" Joy'All  (Blue Note, 23)

- Elizabeth Moen, "That Summer Feeling" single  (Moen, 23)  D

- Angie McMahon, "Saturn Returning" single  (AWAL, 23)  D

- Anna St Louis, "Soft Cities" In the Air  (Woodsist, 23)

- RF Shannon, "Cedar Perfume" Red Swan in Palmetto  (Keeled Scales, 23)

- Ratboys, "It's Alive!" The Window  (Topshelf, Aug 25) 

- Fust, "Trouble" Genevieve  (Dear Life, Jun 16)  D

- Kassi Valazza, "Long Way From Home (I'll Ride You Down)" Knows Nothing  (Fluff & Gravy, 23)

- Edsel Axle, "Variable Happiness" Variable Happiness  (Worried Songs, Aug 11)  D

- Nicki Bluhm, "Beat Goes On" single  (Bono Sonny, 23)  D

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RF SHANNON - RED SWAN iN PALMETTO

ROUTES & BRANCHES

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

June 4, 2023

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

Americana artists don't like to be called americana. Some hate it. Many bands dislike the term alt.country as well. This raises the problem of what to call our kind of music, when Lucinda Williams says she just plays rock 'n roll. Not surprisingly, we've invented several other unsatisfactory classifications so we can avoid the A word. Is a particular act countrypolitan? Perhaps they're indie-folk. I don't know that you'd be able to find one instance in this nearly twenty year-old blog where I deployed the term cosmic country to describe an artist. 

Many reviewers have called RF Shannon's music cosmic country. Four records ago, frontman Shane Renfro tried desert blues. During RF Shannon's earlier days, Renfro and company delivered their music beneath a layer of haze - lengthy, shambling numbers that brought to mind dry heat and weed. On 2018's Trickster Blues and 2019's Rain On Dust, running times were abbreviated. Renfro continued to sing through burlap, but song structures took shape, and his cadre of collaborators (including brother Jeff on drums) began to lean into a more targeted musical identity. While still wide-ranging, the sounds of RF Shannon incorporated shades of rock, soul, Texas country and blues, with a residual whiff of psychedelia. Shane Renfro's songs became increasingly rooted in place. Even as he drifted to Los Angeles and back, the landscape and the flora and the vibe that came to define his music was that of Lockhart, Texas. 

RF Shannon's new project, Red Swan In Palmetto (Keeled Scales), speaks to this radical sense of place, our rootedness in the natural world. Meet me by the creek in palmetto, Renfro sings above percussion that ticks and rattles like a copse of cicadas on "Palmetto". On the patient soul of "Cedar Perfume": I'm leaving LA / I'm on my way / I'm the bloom of an iris / Crying for rain. He is not a storytelling writer, but chooses words and sounds in order to suggest a setting. Red Swan presents Renfro as an evocative poet, hinting at secrets and peering from shadows. 

The sound of Renfro's band serves a key role in suggesting this Texas setting, especially in Luke Dawson's pedal steel and Rebecca Patek's fiddle. There is a primordial swampiness to "Abalone", a snaking baseline and strings leading a desert dance: A cigarette hangs low from her lips / She can make it last forever. The tune unfolds with fluttering flute and the grind of an electric guitar. A sickle in the western sky holds court over "Heathen Nights". Adding Kitty Beebe's sighing backing vocal and the rare clarinet, the song is loose and languid, but demonstrates a purposefulness and confidence, a direction that carries throughout Red Swan: My mind / Is stray like a roan on a muddy bank. 

A humid reverb still hangs in the air for these sessions, but the overall sound is a cleaner and more spacious version of RF Shannon. Even with its programmed pulse, "Dublin, Texas" might be the record's most country moment. Renfro's voice is as clear and forward in the mix as it's ever been. The terrific "Raindance #11" drips with soulful electric guitar, and a definite lo-fi cool, the singer's delivery recalling MC Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger. "Midnight Jewelry" stands as the album's strongest moment, with a buoyant chorus: I felt a rusted band of gold / Like a tourniquet wrapped around my soul. The bold and melodic track is RF Shannon's step into the light. 

Let's agree to add bootgaze and post-americana to our collective lexicon of descriptors. Those might work as well as any other to describe RF Shannon's satisfying strain of roots. What began as the band's restless flirtation has solidified into a more deliberate statement of musical purpose. Their new collection succeeds in its directness without abandoning any of their original mystery. Red Swan In Palmetto is a post-americana treasure. This halo ain't cheap, Renfro confides intimately, But the wings came free. 

- Robert Lloyd & Janet Beveridge-Bean, "Take a Giant Step" Black Cat Dark Horse  (Tiny Global, 23)  D

- William Matheny, "Grand Old Feeling" That Grand Old Feeling  (Hickman Holler, Aug 4)  D

- Hayden Pedigo, "Happiest Times I Ever Ignored" Happiest Times I Ever Ignored  (Mexican Summer, Jun 30)

- Handsome Family, "Joseph" Hollow  (Milk & Scissors, Sep 8)  D

- Anna St Louis, "Morning" In the Air  (Woodsist, Jun 9)

- Sam Blasucci, "Around the Corner" Off My Stars  (Innovative Leisure, 23)

- Lilly Hiatt, "Mustard" single  (Hiatt, 23)  D

- Devil Makes Three, "Puppets" single  (Kahn, 23)  D

- Jason Isbell & 400 Unit, "Save the World" Weathervanes  (Southeastern, Jun 9)

- Lindsay Lou, "Queen of Time" Queen of Time  (Kill Rock Stars, Sep 29)  D

- Colter Wall, "Corralling the Blues" Little Songs  (La Honda, Jul 14)

- Ashley McBryde, "Learned to Lie" Devil I Know  (Warner, Sep 8)  D

- Joshua Ray Walker, "Cuz I Love You" What Is It Even  (JRW, Aug 4)  D

- Erin Enderlin, "Livin' For Today" Barroom Mirrors  (Black Crow, 23)  D

- Philip Bowen, "Old Kanawha (ft Charles Wesley Godwin)" Old Kanawha  (Bowen, Aug 18)  D

- Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, "Next Rodeo" City of Gold  (Nonesuch, Jul 21)

- Austin Lucas, "We Did It All For Don" Reinventing Against Me!  (GrindEthos, 23)

- Tallest Man on Earth, "Say What You Will" Spotify Singles  (Anti, 23)  D

^ RF Shannon, "Raindance #11" Red Swan in Palmetto  (Keeled Scales, 23)

- Baseball Project, "Grand Salami Time" Grand Salami Time!  (Omnivore, Jun 30)

- Boy Golden, "Mountain Road" For Jimmy EP  (Six Shooter, Jul 21)  D

- Timmy Stinson, "That's It" Wronger  (Cowboys in the Campfire, 23)

- Natural Child, "Little Magic" Be M'Guest  (Natural Child, Jun 29)  D

- Becca Mancari, "Over and Over (ft Julien Baker)" Left Hand  (Captured Tracks, Aug 25)  D

- Cut Worms, "Ballad of the Texas King" Cut Worms  (Jagjaguwar, Jul 21)  D

- Margaret Glaspy, "Act Natural" Echo the Diamond  (ATO, Aug 18)  D

- James & the Giants, "I Want To Go Down To the Basement" James & the Giants  (Kill Rock Stars, Jun 30)

- DeYarmond Edison, "As Long As I Can Go" Epoch  (Jagjaguwar, Aug 18)  D

- Hiss Golden Messenger, "Nu-Grape" Jump For Joy  (Merge, Aug 25)  D

- Nathaniel Rateliff & Night Sweats, "Slow Pace of Time (ft Charlie Gabriel)" What If I EP  (Stax, 23)

Seems like every day we're receiving news of impactful releases to add to A Routes & Branches Guide To Feeding Your Monster. Each week we share just five (5) of the most promising selections. Since our last post, we were pleased and puzzled to hear of Joshua Ray Walker's plan to release a record of covers from divas like Whitney Houston, Beyonce, Lizzo and more. Bearing the terrific title of What Is It Even, the collection will come out August 4. Big Thief's Buck Meek shares news of his third solo outing. Haunted Mountain features four cowrites with Jolie Holland, appearing wherever music matters on August 25 (4AD). That very same day we'll have access to a new project from Hiss Golden Messenger. MC Taylor describes Jump For Joy as a concept album sorts (Merge). Our six-year Handsome Family drought is about to end. Hollow, the duo's eleventh record, will reach shelves on September 8 (Milk & Scissors). Finally, Will Johnson continues his run of reliably superb solo records. The Keeled Scales label has set September 15 as the release date for No Ordinary Crown. 

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