featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
May 18, 2025
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust
IF YOU ONLY LiSTEN to ONE RECORD THiS WEEK
Ken Pomeroy / Cruel Joke (Rounder)
Ken Pomeroy first landed on our busy radar when they were touring in support of John Moreland - this is also how we discovered SG Goodman, incidentally. Some people just know good people. Following a cycle of satisfying singles, Native American singer-songwriter from Oklahoma has released her debut, Cruel Joke on Rounder. Co-produced with Gary Paczosa, Colton Jean and Dakota McDaniel, the project features understated contributions from Chris Scruggs, Muskrat Jones and Jedd Hughes, and a beautiful duet vocal from Moreland himself. Pedal steel and strings ping across wide-open arrangements, with Pomeroy's lyrics often as brittle and overcast as Gillian Welch's. Cruel Joke's grand gestures are measured, dealt out sparingly in an especially expressive vocal here or a fiery electric solo there. The songwriter begins "Stranger": The wind keeps on hitting me like my mother used to. It a collection that's remarkable in its quiet, but the dozen songs will resonate deeper than a record that makes three times the noise.
ROUTES-cast May 18, 2025
^ Ken Pomeroy, "Grey Skies" Cruel Joke (Rounder, 25)
- Alan Sparhawk & Trampled by Turtles, "Not Broken" Alan Sparhawk with Trampled by Turtles (Sub Pop, May 30)
- Ada Lea, "Baby Blue Frigidaire Mini Fridge" When I Paint My Masterpiece (Saddle Creek, Aug 8) D
- Folk Bitch Trio, "Cathode Ray" Now Would Be a Good Time (Jagjaguwar, Jul 25) D
- Kissing Other ppl, "Where'd All the Time Go" Kissing Other ppl (Peacedale, Aug 8) D
- Lemonheads, "Sad Cinderella (ft Erin Rae)" single (Fire, 25) D
- Cash Langdon, "Warbird" Dogs (Well Kept Secret, 25)
- Grace Rogers, "Mad Dogs" Mad Dogs (Sophomore Lounge, 25) D
- Good Looks, "I Don't Want To Die" Lived Here For a While (Deluxe) (Keeled Scales, 25) D
- Jazmine Mary, "My Brilliance" I Want To Rock and Roll (Flying Nun, Jun 13) D
- Vandoliers, "Your Picture" Life Behind Bars (Break Maiden, Jun 27)
- Mariel Buckley, "Vending Machines" single (Birthday Cake, 25) D
- SG Goodman, "Snapping Turtle" Planting By the Signs (Slough Water, Jun 20)
- Sweet Megg, "New York Love Song" Never Been Home (Sweet Megg, 25)
- Ben de la Cour, "Devil Went Down to Silverlake (ft Elizabeth Cook)" New Roses (Jullian, Jun 6)
- Briscoe, "Hold On" single (ATO, 25) D
- Murder by Death, "Lose You" Egg & Dart (MbD, Jun 13)
- Joe Kaplow, "Alligator Woodslide" single (Sonder House, 25) D
- Willi Carlisle, "Beeswing" Winged Victory (Signature Sounds, Jun 27)
- Kelsey Waldon, "Falling Down" Every Ghost (Oh Boy, Jun 20)
- Drayton Farley, "Carving of a Dove" single (Hargrove, 25) D
- Jason Eady, "Things I Keep Telling Myself" single (Old Guitar, 25) D
- Milk Carton Kids, "Ribbon" single (Far Cry, 25) D
- David Newbould, "Straight Shot To Bakersfield" single (Blackbird, 25) D
- Brent Cobb, "Even If It's Broke" Ain't Rocked in a While (Ol' Buddy, Jul 11)
- Little Mazarn, "Dark Pleasure of Endless Doing" Mustang Island (Dear Life, Jun 20)
- Yoshika Colwell, "Poem About Walking" On the Wing (PIAS, Jul 25)
- Billie Marten, "Swing" Dog Eared (Fiction, Jul 18)
- Scott Hirsch, "Hey Perdido" Lost Padres (Echo Magic, 25)
- Joseph Allred, "Ditch Lily Suite" Old Time Fantasias (Scissor Tail, Jun 13) D
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