ROUTES & BRANCHES
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
February 1, 2026
Scott Foley, purveyor of cozy folk
What's Next? That's a recurring mantra here at R&B HQ, perched precariously at the precipice of roots music. Increasingly over the past couple years, our attention has been on artists who are helping to define the future of our kind of music. Of course, you're welcome to stop wherever you like, to decide that maybe you're tired of the perennial quest for novelty, and that's understandable. For our part, however, we're defined by our restlessness. If we publish one of our weekly ROUTES-casts without prompting listeners to ask what the hell, we're not doing our job.
This week brought us a debut album by Tyler Ballgame that ticks boxes alongside treasured names like Harry Nilsson and Nathaniel Rateliff. We're also gifted with a new project from the Cordovas, and the return of Emily Scott Robinson. See also, the alarmingly good second studio collection from Norway's Ole Kirkeng.
IF YOU ONLY LiSTEN to ONE RECORD THiS WEEK
... make it One Wheel Fireworks Show's sophomore album, Jason Eternal (Jan 28). By no means the cleanest or most polished project of the week, it hails from the same rich North Carolina soil that has produced acts like Wednesday, MJ Lenderman, and Fust. Largely the work of Will Cole and Colin Miller, Jason was created at Miller's Haw Creek studio in Asheville. The collection weaves between more experimental, almost psychedelic numbers and more complete and cohesive songs, incorporating Xandy Chelmis' pedal steel throughout. The sludgy blues of "Dollywood" shapeshifts into the hooky slacker country of "Jarrett's House": We're pulling up linoleum floors all summer / Trying to figure out what's under them / Quikrete? Hardwood? Drafts of Genesis? / Think I'd tear this whole thing down. Those less structured tracks can be dark and dense, even haunted like "Old Dead Dogs": They'll slip out of sight / But you're on their mind. While the sessions can seem almost lazy or tossed off at first, Jason reveals greater cohesion and purpose with repeated listens. The title cut makes an impression, even at just under two-minutes running time. "Jason, Eternal" takes inspiration from Jason Polan, a late artist who sought to draw every person in new york: I shouldn't tell you, Cole sings, I'm still jealous / Of incomplete and scribbled lines. "Woody" recalls Lenderman's earlier crunchy guitar-drenched roots rock, while "You're a Line Drive" offers a measured drawl, with Chelmis' valuable steel assuming the lead. Like Colin Miller's Losin' from last year, One Wheel Fireworks Show is a beneath-the-radar gem that merits discovery by listeners who also enjoyed Merce Lemon and Florry.
ROUTES-cast February 1, 2026
^ One Wheel Fireworks Show, "Jason" Jason Eternal (OWFS, 26)
- Michael Cormier O'Leary, "Marilyn" Proof Enough EP (Dear Life, Feb 25) D
- Brown Horse, "Twisters" Total Dive (Loose, Apr 10) D
- Laney Jones, "Cheers To the Future" single (AHPO, 26) D
- Sky Chiefs, "Engines" Sky Chiefs (Chimney Bird, Feb 13)
- Natalie del Carmen, "Heyday" Pastures (Torrez, 26)
- Lily Meola, "Never Kissed a Cowboy" single (Nettwerk, 26)
- Ole Kirkeng, "Cowboy Lie Detector Machine" Cowboy Lie Detector Machine (Die With Your Boots On, 26) D
- Natalie Prauser, "Tobacco + Water" Everything Is Fine (Prauser, 26)
- Hannah Juanita, "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind" single (Songbird, 26) D
- Noeline Hoffmann, "Dublin Blues" single (Mercury, 26) D
- Cordovas, "Josefina" Back To Life (Yep Roc, 26)
- Haylie Davis, "Young Man" single (Fire, 26) D
- Emily Scott Robinson, "Cast Iron Heart (ft John Paul White)" Appalachia (Oh Boy, 26)
- Lowest Pair, "Shitty Light" Always As Young As We'll Ever Be (Delicata, 26)
- Meels, "Willow Song" Across the Raccoon Strait EP (Lost Highway, 26)
- Marfa, "American Blues" single (Big Machine, 26)
- Leroy From the North, "My Favorite Gun" My Favorite Gun (From the North, 26) D
- Deloyd Elze, "George Jones (ft Angela Autumn)" Nellene EP (Concord, Mar 6) D
- Pearla, "Be Around" Song Room (Pearla, Apr 24)
- Valley Queen, "Open Hand" single (Valley Queen, 26) D
- Dutch Interior, "Ground Scores" It's Glass EP (Fat Possum, Mar 6) D
- Tyler Ballgame, "Got a New Car" For the First Time Again (Rough Trade, 26)
- Maria Taylor, "Story's End" Story's End (Million Stars, Apr 3) D
- John R Miller, "A World Away" single (Rounder, 26) D
- Twisted Teens, "Peekaboo Hand" single (Jazz Life, 26) D
- King Tuff, "Twisted On a Train" MOO (MUP, Mar 27) D
- Jessica Lea Mayfield & Dolour, "Why Bother" Pinkerton (Inverness, 26) D
- Jeb Loy Nichols, "Some Of Your Dreams" single (Timmion, 26) D
- Dash Rip Rock, "Water Valley Throwdown" A Song In Everyone (Davis, 26)
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