LOOKBACK MACHiNE: RiCHMOND FONTAiNE

ROUTES & BRANCHES

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

September 11, 2024

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust 

Our Wednesdays are devoted to diggin' around the dusty old attic of americana, alt.country and/or roots music, rediscovering stuff we might've forgotten, and hopefully steering clear of the spiders. To date, we've dedicated our Lookback Machine posts to acts that we could call essential to our kind of music, artists whose influence has shaped and influenced others. Today, we change that up just a bit, selecting thirty (30) favorite songs from the catalog of a band with which some might not even be familiar. File this one under I dunno, we just like 'em. 

Willy Vlautin currently fronts the Delines alongside Amy Boone, when he's not touring behind a new novel. Most recently, Vlautin published The Horse, a book we've currently just begun. You'll also want to check out Lean On Pete, Motel Life, and his other novels. Vlautin's earlier band, Richmond Fontaine, created music that provides a suitable accompaniment to his writing, songs that sound like a short story set to music, characters that remind you of a friend or a relative. Featuring a talented line-up that included pedal steel maestro Paul Brainard, drummer Sean Oldham, and bassist Freddy Trujillo, among others, Richmond Fontaine's earliest records (Safety, Miles From, and Lost Son) are not available to stream for our Spotify playlist, but several songs were compiled for 2005's Obliteration By Time. As Vlautin began to dedicate more time to publishing, Richmond Fontaine's music morphed to support his stories - High Country presented readings atop the band's evocative instrumentals. The heart of Richmond Fontaine's production happened between 2002's Winnemucca and '07's Thirteen Cities, with the outfit creating alt.country that was as much about superlative music as it was about stirring lyricism. Based in Portland, Vlautin and co. established their legend in the Northwest more than in other regions, but their output certainly merits a listen. 

RiCHMOND FONTAiNE: thirty favorites

- "Winner's Casino" Winnemucca  (El Cortez, 02)

- "Out Of State" Winnemucca

- "5 Degrees Below Zero" Winnemucca

- "Longer You Wait" Post To Wire  (El Cortez, 04)

- "Barely Losing" Post To Wire

- "Two Broken Hearts" Post To Wire

- "Post To Wire (ft Deborah Kelly)" Post To Wire

- "Polaroid" Post To Wire

- "Casino Lights" The Fitzgerald  (Union, 05)

- "Exit 194B" The Fitzgerald

- "Laramie, Wyoming" The Fitzgerald

- "Don't Look and It Won't Hurt" The Fitzgerald

- "Give Me Time" Obliteration By Time  (El Cortez, 05)

- "Miles From" Obliteration By Time

- "Novocaine" Obliteration By Time

- "Water Wars" $87 and a Guilty Conscience  (El Cortez, 07)

- "Moving Back Home #2" Thirteen Cities  (Union, 07)

- "$87 and a Guilty Conscience That Gets Worse the Longer I Go" Thirteen Cities

- "I Fell Into Painting Houses In Phoenix, Arizona" Thirteen Cities

- "Westward Ho" Thirteen Cities 

- "Capsized" Thirteen Cities

- "We Used To Think the Highway Sounded Like a River" We Used To Think the Highway Sounded Like a River  (Arena, 09)

- "You Can Move Back Here" We Used To Think the Highway Sounded Like a River

- "Maybe We Were Both Born Blue" We Used To Think the Highway Sounded Like a River

- "Lost In the Trees" The High Country  (El Cortez, 11)

- "Wake Up Ray" You Can't Go Back If There's Nothing To Go Back To  (Fluff & Gravy, 16)

- "I Got Off the Bus" You Can't Go Back If There's Nothing To Go Back To

- "Let's Hit One More Place" You Can't Go Back If There's Nothing To Go Back To

- "Don't Skip Out On Me" You Can't Go Back If There's Nothing To Go Back To

- "Hector Hidalgo" Don't Skip Out On Me  (Fluff & Gravy, 18)

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