ROUTES-cast November 9, 2025

ROUTES & BRANCHES

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

November 9, 2025

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

It's not like we were having a problem settling on this week's pick. Whitney return with another satisfying breeze of soft indie rock. Mynabirds' Bandcamp-only full-length is as pop-leaning a project as Laura Burhenn has created.  It's great to hear Mavis Staples' take on some more contemporary tunes. And we've been enjoying the genuinely original country-soul of Jeb Loy Nichols since the turn of the century. We had a lot to choose from, but then this happened:

IF YOU ONLY LiSTEN to ONE RECORD THiS WEEK

We celebrated Olympia's Pigeon Pit on the occasion of their full-length, Crazy Arms, in January. Back then, we crowned frontwoman Lomes Oleander, a poet guide to our messed up world, and a voice for the young people who are inheriting it. Suddenly, we have Leash Aggression (Ernest Jenning) on our doorstep. Still trading in breathless country-punk, Pigeon Pit's new collection parses Oleander's journal-songs back to their bare minimum. Drums rattle, joined here and there, joined by fiddle, banjo, or keys, but Oleander and her furiously frailed guitar provide the draw, like a young John Darnielle holding court about human connection, crashing on couches, stealing a fleeting kiss, and lashing out against contemporary desolation. ... how did we all find each other / stray dogs wandering out of broken homes. Even more than earlier albums, Leash Aggression is a raw, lo-fi project, a frantic document of a generation in a specific space and time, pushing back against the last night on earth, decaying stars, i'm so in love with what we are ...

ROUTES-cast November 9, 2025

^ Pigeon Pit, "rearview mirror blues" Leash Aggression  (Ernest Jenning, 25)  D

- Snocaps, "Doom" Snocaps (Anti, 25)

- Whitney, "Evangeline (ft Madison Cunningham)" Small Talk  (Whitney, 25)

- Andrew Bird, "Capital I" Mysterious Production of Eggs (20th Anniversary Edition)  (Wegawam, Feb 27)

- Mountain Goats, "Peru" Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan  (Cadmean Dawn, 25)

- Gunshy, "Two Years in Berlin" single  (Sleep, 25)  D

- Steve Gunn, "Hadrian's Wall" Daylight Daylight  (No Quarter, 25)

- Low Cut Connie, "Settle Down" single  (Contender, 25)  D

- Jeb Loy Nichols, "Black Water Girl" This House Is Empty Without You  (Timmion, 25)

- Cat Power, "Try Me" Redux EP  (Domino, Jan 23)  D

- Mavis Staples, "Human Mind" Sad and Beautiful World  (Anti, 25)

- Cordovas, "Step Outside" Back to Life  (Yep Roc, Jan 30)  

- Shovels & Rope, "People Ain't No Good (ft James Felice)" single  (Dualtone, 25)

- King Hannah, "This Hotel Room" single  (City Slang, 25)  D

- Droptines, "Tombstone" single  (Mercury, 25)  D

- 49 Winchester, "Changes" single  (New West, 25)  D

- Low Gap, "Beattyville (ft Julia DiGrazia)" single  (Cloverdale, 25)  D

- Bobby Dove, "Trans Canadian Blues" single  (Dove, 25)  D

- Marfa, "Little Lowdown" single  (Ascend, 25)  D

- James Steinle, "Growing In the Dark" Heat of Morning  (Soggy Anvil, 25)

- Andrew Combs, "Desperados Waiting for a Train (ft Rodney Crowell)" single  (All Blue, 25)  D

- Luke Bell, "Dark House of Fools" King is Back  (All Blue, 25)

- Bella White, "Little Things" single  (Rounder, 25)  D

- Joe Kaplow, "God Tastes Like Ice" single  (Sonder House, 25)  D

- Ben Chapman & Hayes Carll, "Satin Sheets" single  (Hippie Shack, 25)  D

- Tyler Ramsey & Carl Broemel, "Sail Away" Celestun  (Duo Quest, Jan 15)  

- Natalie Jane Hill, "Never Left Me" Hopeful Woman  (Dear Life, Mar 6)  D

- Muireann Bradley, "No Name Blues" Rose Dogs EP  (Decca, 25)

- Hem, "Sailor (Remastered 2025)" Rabbit Songs (25th Anniversary Edition) (Hem, Nov 28)

- Mariachi el Bronx, "Forgive or Forget" IV  (ATO, Feb 13)  D

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