ROUTES & BRANCHES  
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
November 11, 2018
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

I'm regularly disappointed by my own writing.  Question is, why write about something when others have written more satisfyingly about the same thing.  I flop around in hopes of establishing my own voice, then I read something from another writer who makes my stuff look like the back of a cereal box.  There are some real quality writers out there, and you could do worse than click down the list of sites to your right, filed under A Good Place to Start.  All that to say that the Noisey site has published a great piece profiling MC Taylor and Hiss Golden Messenger on the occasion of the release of Devotion: Songs About Rivers and Spirits and Children.

After years of alphabetizing nearly everything I was ever sent by labels, artists and promoters, I recently jettisoned almost 2000 CDs.  I'm not a collector, no longer entirely hooked by the material side of what we do.  That said, Devotion is an imminently satisfying package, a slipcased 4-CD/LP set with some fine original art (Sam Smith) and liner notes (Amanda Petrusich, John Mulvey), defining a distinctly important period in the development of Hiss Golden Messenger.

More recently, Taylor and his collaborators have delivered a trio of superb records that stand together as a statement:  Lateness of Dancers (14), Heart Like a Levee (16) and Hallelujah Anyhow (17).  Almost everything on the new box set has previously been heard, though the tracks are remastered.  The bulk of the impact comes from hearing these earlier cuts alongside one another, and hearing them with HGM's current output fresh in our ears.

Remember too that MC Taylor was initially part of a California outfit called Court & Spark.  Upon their dissolution, he recorded Country Hai East Cotton as Hiss Golden Messenger in 2009.  His young family fell into dire financial straits soon after, which prompted the first album in this box, 2010's Bad Debt.  Taylor famously set his songs to cassette tape from the family's North Carolina kitchen table, his toddler son asleep in the next room.  It's a lo-fi/no-fi project, with acoustic guitar and vocals punctuated by squeaking chairs, tape hiss and unidentified bumps.  But the genesis of HGM already exists, especially in words and themes that would echo throughout Taylor's work going forward:  O little light / No, I'm not afraid to die / But look at what I've got / I'd like to stay just a little while.  The session's intimacy reaches beyond the setting, as the writer lays bare his hopes and fears, doubts and confessions.  The pastoral folk of "O Little Light", "Straw Man Red Sun River Gold" and "Super Blue (Two Days Clean)" remains endearing, even a welcome reprieve from the relative studio perfection of later work.  Owing to a limited release and a label fire, Bad Debt never made it far from home, and half of the songs would be re-recorded on subsequent records.

On the surface, 2012's Poor Moon is a different beast, following Taylor out from the kitchen and into the studio with friends like Nathan Bowles, Hans Chew and Scott Hirsch.  Flesh and feathers are added to songs we heard in their rawest form on Bad Debt, such as "Call Him Daylight" and "Jesus Shot Me in the Head".  The previously introspective "Super Blue" has become a driving shuffle with keys, electric guitars and drums, Taylor delivering a commanding vocal.  Folk roots are never far from the surface, especially on the CD's beautiful instrumentals, and the open studio door allows in the sounds of owls, crickets, thunder.  Having relocated from one coast to the other, Hiss Golden Messenger sought to absorb and reflect the vernacular as heard in the word, the soil, the faith of the South:  I think love is in the living / Rook, crow, little sparrow, and under all the land / Oh what is love / What is love / I am.  Of Poor Moon's unheard tracks, "Westering" and "Blue Country Mystic" cast their spell with horns, keys and full sail soul.  With its keening pedal steel, fiddle and a loose acoustic arrangement, "A Working Man Can't Make It No Way" is as country as Taylor gets, evoking the spirit of Merle Haggard.

2013's Haw presents Hiss Golden Messenger, fully formed, adding the valuable voices of William Tyler and Brad and Phil Cook to the musical mix. Where Poor Moon seemed almost celebratory, Taylor calls its successor "autumnal" and "a set of dusty little prayers", expressing questions and achieving a comfortable peace with doubt: Say whatever prayer you want / In whatever darkness you end up in / To Jehovah or Yahoway or Red Rose Nantahala / O lord let me be happy.  Pieces like "Devotion" and "Sweet As John Hurt" mine deeper from blues, country and gospel more than they do folk music.  Certain of the songs add studio treatments, strings and even experiment a bit, but never sacrificing the vulnerability that characterized those earliest sessions.  Standout tracks include "I've Got a Name For the Newborn Child" and "Red Rose Nantahala", both of which speak to the smoothness of MC Taylor's vocals, perfectly compromised with a touch of rasp.

Virgo Fool is the wildcard of this deck, a restless gathering of odds 'n sods from throughout this early period. There are some covers of tunes originally by Michael Hurley and Ronnie Lane, as well as an unexpectedly admirable take on Led Zeppelin's "Black Country Woman" that features some strong gospel elements and box-of-rocks percussion.  "Lion/Lamb" recalls Iron & Wine:  It's hard to be free / We all search for new shackles / Yes we take them happily.  "Rock Holy" hearkens to Hiss Golden Messenger records that would be released in years to come, with more aggressive fuzz guitar and keys, horns and backing vocals verging on funky.  If there is a revelation on Virgo Fool it is "Issa", a haunting psychedelic blues outtake from Haw that features the box set's only flute solo:  What do you do with your heart of stone / And your hat full of rain / What do you do with your jaded eyes / That cannot mark a thing.

Which all makes one wonder where the first step in the next chapter of Hiss Golden Messenger might lead us.  The Noisey piece mentions that we should expect a new studio project this Spring: My records kind of unfurl like chapters of a really long book. My reinventions from record to record, they're still re-combinations of the things that I know communicate my emotions the best. I guess what I'm saying is, it's unlikely that I'm gonna make a dance record. Not because I don't like that music, but because I need to be using a language that feels absolutely genuine to me. (Folks who appreciate quality music writing will also want to check out a recent profile published by The Atlantic) From those earliest tentative dinner table sessions to last year's more groove-oriented CD, Taylor's familiar language and the integrity of his vision have proven the constant.  A student and then a teacher of folklore, Taylor proves the malleability of his medium.  As a lyricist, he embraces the value of traditional Bible stories and questions, though he does not call himself a Christian.  Weaving the imminently familiar rhythms and the seasons of the natural world, of Rivers and Spirits and Children, Hiss Golden Messenger has generated a mythology all of his own. What shall be / Shall be enough.

- Lucinda Williams, "Metal Firecracker" Car Wheels On a Gravel Road  (Mercury, 98)
- William Tyler, "Fail Safe" Goes West  (Merge, 19)  D
- Dirty River Boys, "Western Star" Mesa Starlight  (DRB, 18)
- Michigan Rattlers, "Didn't You Know" Evergreen  (Rattlers, 18)
- AA Bondy, "American Hearts" American Hearts  (Fat Possum, 07)
- Lauren Morrow, "I Don't Think About You At All" Lauren Morrow  (Morrow, 18)
- Jason Isbell & 400 Unit, "Flying Over Water (live)" Live From the Ryman  (Southeastern, 18)
- John R Miller, "How It Feels In the Light" Trouble You Follow  (Emperor, 18)
- Drive-by Truckers, "Late For Church" Ganstabilly  (Ruth St, 98)
- State Champions, "If You Don't Show Me" Send Flowers  (Sophomore Lounge, 18)  D
- Timber, "Shuttlecock" Family  (Cornelius Chapel, 18)  D
- Pistol Annies, "Commisary" Interstate Gospel  (Sony, 18)
- Blackberry Smoke, "Mother Mountain (feat. Oliver Wood)" Southern Ground Sessions  (3 Legged, 18)
- Low Anthem, "Yellowed by the Sun" What the Crow Brings  (Low Anthem, 07)
- Western Star, "Paper Leather & Lead"  Any Way How  (Saustex, 18)  D
- Kent Eugene Goolsby, "Take Another Shot" Every Way But Easy  (KEG, 18)
- Carter Sampson, "Peaches" Lucky  (Horton, 18)
- Steel Woods, "Rock That Says My Name" Old News  (Woods, 19)
- Nathan Bowles, "Ruby / In Kind I" Plainly Mistaken  (Paradise of Bachelors, 18)
- Deer Tick, "White City" Mayonnaise  (Partisan, 18)
- Rhett Miller, "Permanent Damage" Messenger  (ATO, 18)
- Hayes Carll, "None 'ya" What It Is  (Dualtone, 19)  D
- Mavis Staples, "No Time For Tryin'" Live in London  (Anti, 19)  D
^ Hiss Golden Messenger, "I've Got a Name For the Newborn Child" Haw Remastered  (Merge, 18)
- One Eleven Heavy, "Crosses" Everything's Better  (Kith & Kin, 18)
- Rosanne Cash, "Only Thing Worth Fighting For" She Remembers Everything  (Blue Note, 18)
- Will Oldham, "Ohio River Boat Song" Songs of Love and Horror  (Drag City, 18)
- Fruit Bats, "Getting In a Van Again" single  (Merge, 18)  D
- GospelbeacH, "Runnin' Blind (Winter Version)" Another Winter Alive  (Alive Naturalsound, 18)
- Anna Tivel, "Fenceline" The Question  (Fluff & Gravy, 19)

This busy busy week we add new stuff to our mix from familiar friends like William Tyler and Hayes Carll.  Will Stewart continues an already successful 2018 with a new project under the Timber moniker.  And we throw some true grit into the proceedings with some help from State Champion and Deer Tick, dropping an electric Pogues cover. Western Star.  Next week, we'll take a tentative dip into our year-end traditions, asking favorite R&B artists about their own favorites from the last twelve months (or so). 

ROUTES & BRANCHES

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

November 4, 2018

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

Last Episode I mentioned that I'd share some dates for our upcoming year-end ROUTES-casts.  After staring down the calendar for a couple minutes, I've emerged with these:

Favorite Songs:  November 26

Favorite Records:  December 10

Christmas Show:  December 23

Please plan your lives accordingly.  I'll let you know that my in my first pass through the year's releases I pared things down to just 52 contendahs.  Always feel free to share your own year-end favorites, either by comment below or by email to routesandbranches@gmail.com.  Partake in the joy that is the holiday season at Routes & Branches {ding dong}.

I've kept no secret that my taste in music vastly overflows the boundaries we've established here at R&B hq.  I could (and have (and still might again)) shared lists of favorite roots-free records.  As a young and opinionated music snob aficionado, my collection ran the gamut from Thin Lizzy and Iron Maiden to Kate Bush and Skinny Puppy.  Metal and hard rock were regular staples of Little Scott's audio diet, and while my attention has shifted a bit I continue to value the edge and the aggression that propel that harder stuff.

From the edgy environs of Cleveland, Mississippi, Will Griffith brings that edge in spades for Bloody Noses & Roses, his debut under the Great Dying moniker (Dial Back Sound, Nov 16).  Originally built by Bruce Watson (Fat Possum/Big Legal Mess), Dial Back Sound is the Water Valley project of Drive-by Trucker Matt Patton and engineer/producer Bronson Tew. Per their website: "As a production team, Patton & Tew referenced everything from from Townes Van Zandt and Blaze Foley to Dead Moon and the Stooges to give the songs the feel of a broken spirit or a set of bloody knuckles".

Will Griffith served time in harder rock environs before deciding to try his hand at this roots music thing.  That's not especially unusual, since so many artists from our kind of music cut their teeth on punk or rock.  The difference can be how much of the harder stuff they bring forward in their roots mix.  Bloody Noses introduces us to the Great Dying with "Nobody Arrives", an ominous stunner that lurches from acapella to acoustic strumming to a dark cloud of drums, guitars and backing vocals.  The track aptly sets the tone for the record, placing Griffith in a vortex of sound and fury: All I've loved and all I've lost / Was half a life at twice the cost.

From there, the Great Dying's debut keeps the listener on edge with whiplash juxtapositions from one song to the next, a burst of electric aggression followed by a lo-fi acoustic field recording.  No matter the setting, the pervading spirit is one of dread and self-doubt.  "Cellar Below" is a barely controlled cacophony, a jangling rockabilly exorcism with demonic voices and violently scratching guitars: I don't think you oughta go out tonight.  The next moment, "Catchin' Hell" is a beautifully raw country cut, strummy acoustics joined by pretty pedal steel and the record's most tuneful vocal.  Griffith doesn't have much of an online presence, but the few live tracks I've found speak well to his skill as an unconventional singer.

Quiet doesn't always equal peace on Bloody Noses.  "Magnolia" floats in on birdsong and pedal steel, though the song is fraught with longing and doubt: Tell me Magnolia / Is this evil or beautiful / I can see you're still an angel / And I'm always a fool.  See also "Beer by the Bed", another deceptively hushed setting that might recall a young and troubled Steve Earle.  These moments can be musically gorgeous, perfectly unadorned and emotionally immediate.

But all that unsettled beauty is routinely troubled by the buzzsaw of pieces like "Get You a Gun" and the aptly named "100 mph".  These moments of take-no-prisoners aggression are rare in our kind of music, even on the fringes of alt.country, and the adrenaline is dangerously infectious:  You're so damn sweet for posting my bail / ... If I'm gonna get drunk / I'm gonna get drunk with you.  "Tennessee Song" corrals the Great Dying's fervor in service of a terrific country punk burner a'la Jason & the Scorchers at their most incendiary.

Are we witness to the birth of a new genre here?  Has the Great Dying inaugurated a strain of roots metal?  Naw.  Even tunes like "Junkiesque Skull" will likely strike fans of pure metal as country (even as they'll be too hard for most americana ears).  But the dark into which we're immersed is not the Halloween costume horror of a lot of gothic roots.  And while we're privy to several moments of bad living and poor judgement on Bloody Noses & Roses, there's an element of Griffith's angst that runs deeper than that.  Fans of Scott H. Biram will find something to like here, as will folks who recall some of Hank 3's early efforts.  With Matt Patton and Bronson Tew, Will Griffith has created an antidote to some of our kind of music's easy listening tendencies.  It might be more accurate to liken the Great Dying to the Gun Club's late Jeffrey Lee Pierce, or even David Eugene Edwards, artists whose dark night of the soul lingers well beyond the weekend. 

- John Moreland, "Gospel" In the Throes  (FTNWSNGS, 13)
- Hiss Golden Messenger, "Black Country Woman" Virgo Fool  (Merge, 18)
- Rosanne Cash, "Eight Gods of Harlem" She Remembers Everything  (Blue Note, 18)
- Pollies, "Love's To Fault" Transmissions  (TiAM, 18)
- Neilson Hubbard, "That Was Then" Cumberland Island  (Proper, 18)
- Goshen Electric Co., "Ring the Bell" single  (Secretly Canadian, 18)
- Drew Beskin, "Midnight Avenue Edge" Nostalgia Porn  (Laser Brains, 18)
- Kent Eugene Goolsby, "Trophies of Youth" Every Way But Easy  (KEG, 18)  D
- Carson McHone, "Maybe They're Just Really Good Friends" Carousel  (Nine Mile, 18)
- ZZ Top, "Enjoy and Get It On" Tejas  (Warner, 76)
- Nick Dittmeier & Sawdusters, "All Damn Day" All Damn Day  (Eastwood, 18)
- Kelly Pardekooper, "Long Goodbye" 50-Weight  (Pardekooper, 18)
- Bottle Rockets, "Way Down South" Bit Logic  (Bloodshot, 18)
- Marshall Chapman, "Somewhere South of Macon" Me I'm Feelin' Free  (Chapman, 77)
- JP Harris, "Jimmy's Dead and Gone" Sometimes Dogs Bark at Nothing  (Free Dirt, 18)
- Hillstomp, "Goddamn Heart" Monster Receiver  (Fluff & Gravy, 18)
- Larry & His Flask, "Dearly Departed" This Remedy  (Xtra Mile, 18)
- Legendary Shack Shakers, "Hoboes are My Heroes" Agridustrial  (Muddy Roots, 10)
- Shannen Moser, "Trouble" I'll Sing  (Lame-O, 18)
- Laura Gibson, "Slow Joke Grin" Goners  (Barsuk, 18)
- Doug Paisley, "Shadows" Starter Home  (No Quarter, 18)
- Gregory Alan Isakov, "Wings in All Black" Evening Machines  (Dualtone, 18)
- Alela Diane, "Oh! My Mama" Pirate's Gospel: Bonus Edition  (Diane, 18)
- Edward David Anderson, "Dog Days" Chasing Butterflies  (EDA, 18)
- Jerry David Decicca, "I Watched You Pray" Burning Daylight  (Super Secret, 18)
- Sarah Borges & Broken Singles, "I Can't Change It" Love's Middle Name  (Blue Corn, 18)
- Philippe Bronchtein, "Joy of Repetition" Me & the Moon  (Bronchtein, 18)
- Andrew Bird, "Bloodless" single  (Loma Vista, 18)  D
- Pope Paul & the Illegals, "Dial Back Boogie" Dial Back Boogie  (Bouyear, 17)
^ Great Dying, "Catchin' Hell" Bloody Noses & Roses  (Dial Back, 18)  D

A new EP from Kent Eugene Goolsby for this week's Episode.  We dig a little further into a worthy Kelly Pardekooper effort.  Andrew Bird releases a pointed single for this crucial election week.  And Doug Paisley has issued another quiet stunner.  Plus, we've included twice as many ZZ Top numbers this year than ever before!  It's all free on your doorstep if you got The Spotify. 

ROUTES & BRANCHES 
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
October 28, 2018
Scott Foley, purveyor of leaf mulch

We're fast approaching that time when we begin to rake together our favorites lists for the year, generated through a magical mix of intuition, guilt and twenty-sided dice.  I'll select dates for the sharing of our favorite songs and albums in next week's Episode (watch this space).  For today, we'll have to settle for five standouts from the past couple weeks, in order of appearance:

WHAT's SO GREAT ABOUT OCTOBER?!! 
Will Hoge, My American Dream  (Edlo, Oct 5)
JP Harris, Sometimes Dogs Bark at Nothing  (Free Dirt, Oct 5)
Larry & His Flask, This Remedy  (Xtra Mile, Oct 12)
Becky Warren, Undesirable  (Warren, Oct 19)
Jamie Lin Wilson, Jumping Over Rocks  (JLW, Oct 26)

There.  Even as we're efforting our year-end lists, we're looking forward to adding stuff into the mix from Daniel Romano and Ryley Walker.  We'll lovingly pore over deluxe reissues from Hiss Golden Messenger and Songs: Ohia.  And there will be records from a solo Rhett Miller and a decidedly jolly Old 97s.  All that and Jeff Tweedy and Timber and Rosanne Cash ...

On Thursday, July 12th, an auspicious message appeared on Hillstomp's Facebook page:  The next album has pedal steel and fiddle on it.  Followed a bit later in the comments:  and bass pedal synth ... Moog Taurus if I remember correctly.  Not necessarily an unusual proclamation for most bands, but for Henry Hill Kammerer and John Johnson (infamous for digging through the dumps and backwoods of American music) it announced a new direction.  Hillstomp has earned their stripes on the strength of a raucous live act, nearly two decades of leaving it all on stage.  While Monster Receiver incorporates some new sonic strategies, it's far from the Mumford-ication of Portland's favorite hill country punk duo.

Never in a hurry to commit to vinyl, this is only Hillstomp's sixth collection, and their first since 2014's Portland, Ore.  Early projects brought us indelible originals such as "Don't Come Down", "NE Portland, 3am", and the trademark "Cardiac Arrest in D".  Much of their oeuvre, however, has consisted of familiar hill country blues, chopped in a blender and shot through a firehose.  Aside from their updated run through "Cluck Old Hen" (yeah, my life would've been fine without another take on that one), Monster Receiver drops more of the duo's own songs.

But yeah, it's still Hillstomp, still a DIY affair lashed together with electric tape and barbed wire.  "Snake Eagle Blues" is mired in muddy vocals, primitive percussion and manic slide guitar.  "Goddamn Heart" features Kammerer on banjo, along with something that sounds like a didgeridoo, plugged in and fuzzed out, and some truly wicked harmonica from I Can Lick Any SoB's Dave Lipkind.  Both find the duo in their swampy element.  Hillstomp has always been more about the groove than the song, masters of conjuring a mood as opposed to telling a story.

When lyrics happen to stray beyond a chanted phrase or two, the band is still in service of the hammer rather than the pen.  "Hagler" establishes that repeated guitar line before sweeping the listener up into a full scale sonic garage assault:  I got a girl and she hits so hard / Like Marvin Hagler drunk in a bar ... / She's gonna win, but I'm gonna fight again. "Pale White Rider" is a Halloween appropriate tale, a bluesy haunt punctuated by rattling chains and some of Receiver's most ambitious vocals:  I help lost souls to find the light.  Kammerer's banjo is featured on some of my favorite cuts, from the folky "I'll Be Around" to the fiery Southern gospel of "Way Home".

So what is it that sets Hillstomp's new project apart from the rest of their work to date?  With producer Josh Shepski and mixer John Askew, the duo satisfy the needs of loyal 'Stompers, dotting the rattling I's and crossing all the T's that have built them into a stageworthy sure thing.  Curiously, it's the quiet.  Monster Receiver offers a couple tracks that find Kammerer and Johnson stepping back from the edge for a spell.  The gothic gospel of "Angels" floats in a cloud of tentative electric slide guitar, echoing off the church walls (or alley walls):  Well I believe in angels you can see ... / Just like you and me they're walking down the street.  Most notably is "Dayton Ohio", a tender song Kammerer has written for his parents featuring Anna Tivel's fiddle and some pedal steel courtesy of Erik Clampitt.  It speaks to Hillstomp's reputation when a tune like this passes for daring, though it certainly stretches the band in a novel way.

The good people at Fluff & Gravy Records call Hillstomp "folk music in its purest form", and I would agree that the duo dwells in that satisfying space where the purity of folk mingles with the DiY ethic of workingclass punk.  Even opening the door a crack to new sounds and contributors. nobody will mistake Monster Receiver for anything but what it is.  Like cheap old favorite trucker hat set to music.

- Mark Erelli w/Rosanne Cash, Sheryl Crow, Lori McKenna, Anais Mitchell & Josh Ritter, "By Degrees"  single  (Erelli, 18)  D
- Rosanne Cash, "Eight Gods of Harlem" She Remembers Everything  (Blue Note, 18)
- Rhett Miller, "I Used to Write in Notebooks" The Messenger  (ATO, 18)
- Carson McHone, "Gentle" Carousel  (Nine Mile, 18)  D
- Kevin Welch, "Blue Lonesome" Dust Devil  (Dead Reckoning, 18)  D
- Whitey Morgan & the 78s, "Hard to Get High" Hard Times & White Lines  (Morgan, 18)
- Ruston Kelly, "Son of a Highway Daughter" Dying Star  (Rounder, 18)
- GospelbeacH, "Down South" Another Winter Alive  (Alive Naturalsound, 18)  D
- Long Ryders, "10-5-60" Native Sons  (Prima, 84)
- Town Mountain, "North of Cheyenne" New Freedom Blues  (Tone Tree, 18)  D
- Carter Sampson, "Ten Penny Nail" Lucky  (Horton, 18)  D
- Daniel Romano, "All the Reaching Trims" Finally Free  (New West, 18)
- Ryley Walker, "Diggin' a Ditch" Lillywhite Sessions  (Dead Oceans, 18)  D
- Langhorne Slim, "Boots Boy" Be Set Free  (Kemado, 09)
- Jessica Pratt, "This Time Around" Quiet Signs  (Kemado, 19)  D
- Becky Warren, "Highway Lights" Undesirable  (Warren, 18)
- Nick Dittmeier & Sawdusters, "Two Faded Carnations" All Damn Day  (Eastwood, 18)
- Mike Stinson, "Late Great Golden State" Jack of All Heartache  (Boronda, 02)
- Dillon Carmichael, "It's Simple" Hell On An Angel  (Riser House, 18)
- Kelly Pardekooper, "Bloody Gasoline" 50 Weight  (Pardekooper, 18)  D
- Jamie Lin Wilson, "Oklahoma Stars (feat. Evan Felker)" Jumping Over Rocks  (JWL, 18)
- White Buffalo, "Love Song #2" Prepare For Black & Blue  (White Buffalo, 10)
- Doug Paisley, "Starter Home" Starter Home  (No Quarter, 18)
- Sturgill Simpson, "Panbowl" Metamodern Sounds in Country Music  (High Top Mt, 14)
- Pistol Annies, "Masterpiece" Interstate Gospel  (Sony, 18)
- Steve Gunn, "New Moon" Unseen In Between  (Matador, 19)  D
- Anna Tivel, "Fenceline" The Question  (Fluff & Gravy, 19)  D
- Michigan Rattlers, "Late Night Cigarette Talks" Evergreen  (Rattlers, 18)
^ Hillstomp, "Dayton Ohio" Monster Receiver  (Fluff & Gravy, 18)
- Trampled by Turtles, "We All Get Lonely" Life is Good on the Open Road  (Banjodad, 18)

Good new noise this Episode from indie folkers Steve Gunn and Jessica Pratt.  We also begin our journey through projects from Carson McHone and Carter Sampson.  Ryley Walker offers his second record of 2018 with a collection of unreleased Dave Matthews covers (?!).  We're also thinking Pistol Annies may be among the strongest mainstream country records of the year ... 

ROUTES & BRANCHES 

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

October 21, 2018

Scott Foley, purveyor of gourds

As a librarian, I serve my fair share of people experiencing homelessness.  I accept it as one of the perks of my job, to welcome them and to touch base with them in passing.  If you ask them who they are and what they do, not a one would start with the homeless thing.  Like you and me, these are people with childhoods and with interests and demons, some with careers and all with dreams.  There's one who curates a website of his remarkable paintings, and another who boasts an encyclopedic knowledge of children's lit.  One spends his mornings watching retro hip hop videos in the Computer Lab, pushing back his chair and mouthing along to the good parts.  Another hangs with her homeless friends by day, retreating to her comfortable home as the evening cools.

Every artist courts their muse.  Whether for inspiration, for direction or just for an extra shot of confidence.  Becky Warren finds hers in the least-of-these.  Her 2016 solo debut, the semi-autobiographical War Surplus told stories of an Iraq War vet and his wife, coping with and crumbling under the weight of his post-battle trauma.  For her follow-up, Undesirable, she sat with fellow Nashville residents selling a regular newspaper focused on the stories of the homeless.  The songwriter tells how she entered into the conversations expecting to hear about health problems and substance abuse, but came away with notebooks full of hope and heart.

Those stories shine brilliantly on Warren's sophomore CD, shot through with humor and heartbreak, told with great pathos and yearning.  The opener, "We're All We Got" is an Alejandro Escovedo-worthy rocker, featuring the trademark vocal stamp of Indigo Girls' Amy Ray.  The tune ably establishes the spirit of the album:  We're all we got / Just a bunch of half-empties / A couple last shots.  The odds aren't tipped in the favor of the struggling forgotten, but there's an element of pride, optimism and identity that remains.

I'll stop down and say right here that Becky Warren may already be among the best writers of her generation.  Lyrically, she drops rich lines like the one that portrays her characters Rolling around the city all day like loose change, and enforces her words with a solid musical buzz.  Like the opener, "Highway Lights" is tough and tuneful, a guitar based rocker delivered in a voice that's immediately credible:  Underneath the overpass / Counting dimes and nickels in jelly jars / Waiting on the evening rush / Ten thousand heartaches in ten thousand cars.  These are people we know, or at least folks that we pass everyday on our way from here to there.  Warren's portrayal is compassionate without being patronizing:  Now I'm old / Older than I ever thought I'd be / Sleeping 'neath the auto parts store marquee.

While War Surplus was among my favorites for the year, there is an increased confidence and identity in Undesirable.  Warren is a tough rocking horse like Sarah Shook on "You're Always Drunk" or "Nobody Wants to Rock n Roll No More", tracks that keep the CD from sinking too far into sincerity.  Both boast some gritty electric guitar, and pedal steel shines through whenever appropriate.  "Carmen" creates another diversion, a good-natured piece featuring a farting bass, playful toy instruments and some retro arcade noises.  Even here, her music is focused and her message is consistent:  I'm gonna find a little blue house / We'll peel potatoes on a couch someone left on the curb.

Undesirable is at its best on songs like "Drake Motel" and "Half-Hearted Angel".  Becky Warren is not a rising star, timidly testing her voice.  She is a fully established artist awaiting the attention of the roots music masses.  She didn't quite spring out of thin air, having served as the frontperson on a couple releases with The Great Unknowns.  But with her first two albums she presents herself as among our most deserving writers.  Like Mary Gauthier, her stories emerge direct from the trouble and clutter of our daily lives.  Like Eliza Gilkyson, she spreads her poetic wings to soar beyond it all:  Some girls wear welcome signs / Free as blown dandelions / I don't shine like that anymore / Instead I burn neon / If there's a barstool to lean on.

- Margo Price, "Most Likely You Go Your Way" single  (Spotify, 18)
- Turnpike Troubadours, "1968"  Diamonds & Gasoline  (Onward, 11)
- Texas Gentlemen, "Pretty Flowers" TX Jelly  (New West, 17)
- Larry & His Flask, "Hoping Again" This Remedy  (Xtra Mile, 18)
- Alela Diane, "Blackberry (feat. Mariee Sioux)" Pirate's Gospel: Bonus Edition  (Diane, 18)  D
- Will Hoge, "My American Dream" My American Dream  (Edlo, 18)
- John Hiatt, "One Stiff Breeze" Eclipse Sessions  (New West, 18)
- Blackberry Smoke, "You Got Lucky (feat. Amanda Shires)" Southern Ground Sessions  (3 Legged, 18)  D
- Colter Wall, "Tying Knots in the Devil's Tail" Songs of the Plains  (Young Mary's, 18)
- Amanda Shires, "Detroit or Buffalo" Carrying Lightning  (Silver Knife, 11)
- Drew Beskin, "Heavenly Sway" Nostalgia Porn  (Laser Brains, 18)  D
- Stephen Kellogg & the Sixers, "Glassjaw Boxer" Glassjaw Boxer  (Fat Sam, 07)
- Gregory Alan Isakov, "Bullet Holes" Evening Machines  (Dualtone, 18)
- Glorietta, "I Know" Glorietta  (Nine Mile, 18)
- Steel Woods, "Old News" Old News  (Woods Music, 18)  D
- Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster, "Laid Low" Constant Stranger  (Big Legal Mess, 16)
- Jamie Lin Wilson, "Eyes For You" Jumping Over Rocks  (JLW, 18)
- Jason Isbell & 400 Unit, "24 Frames (live)" Live From the Ryman  (Southeastern, 18)
- Phosphorescent, "These Rocks" C'est la Vie  (Dead Oceans, 18)
^ Becky Warren, "Half-Hearted Angel" Undesirable  (Warren, 18)
- Tim Barry, "5 Twenty 5" Manchester  (Chunksaah, 11)
- Hillstomp, "Goddamn Heart" Monster Receiver  (Fluff & Gravy, 18)
- Adam's House Cat, "Long Time Ago" Town Burned Down  (ATO, 18)
- Lucero, "Cover Me" Among the Ghosts  (Liberty + Lament, 18)
- Eric Bachmann, "Dead and Gone" No Recover  (Merge, 18)
- Edward David Anderson, "Ballad of Lemuel Penn" Chasing Butterflies  (EDA, 18)  D
- Will Oldham, "Glory Goes" Songs of Love & Horror  (Drag City, 18)  D
- Cody Jinks, "Stranger" Lifers  (Rounder, 18)
- Michigan Rattlers, "Just Good Night" Evergreen  (Rattlers, 18)  D
- Neilson Hubbard, "Don't Make Me Walk Through This World On My Own" Cumberland Island  (Proper, 18)

This Episode introduces promising new projects from Southern rockers Steel Woods.  Will Oldham sets aside his Bonnie "Prince" Billy persona for a stripped back take on his oeuvre.  We give into the "Heavenly Sway" with former District Attorneys frontguy Drew Beskin.  And Michigan Rattlers offer a tuneful strain of Midwestern roots rock on their full-length debut.

ROUTES & BRANCHES 
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
October 14, 2018
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

Stop me if you've heard this one before:  A young and fiery punk band matures, gradually adapting a more roots-oriented groove.  Lessons are learned.  Beards ensue.

It's almost the Genesis for our kind of music, the prevailing creation mythos.  Born just to the east of the Cascade Range in Bend, Oregon, Larry & His Flask were launched from that same primordial ooze.  The past fifteen years have seen the band change and morph from pure punk to what they call post-americana, from a couple brothers and their friends to a sprawling collective and back to an economical five-piece.  Call it the Roots Music Theory of Evolution.  The survival of the fittest.

Not counting an excellent, overlooked Endtimes recorded with Tom Vandenavond, it's been half a decade since Larry & His Flask issued a proper full-length record.  It's a hiatus that saw members alternately retreating to the Tropics, taking on side projects, working on families and considering the band's role in their lives (and vice versa).  Reckon / Repent / Rebirth.

Here at R&B, we've been monitoring the work of LaHF at least since 2011's All That We Know.  Through 2012's Hobo's Lament ep and 2013's By the Lamplight, the band earned their stripes as tireless and dedicated road dogs, a reckless and energetic act that left their crowded stages spattered with bodily fluids and their fans wanting more.  There was a time when listening to one of their albums could prove exhausting for the sheer energy and drive that leaped from the speakers.  With time, the scratching and clawing that garnered them their following began to wear away at their lives behind the scenes.

To our benefit, however, the Bat-signal for Larry & His Flask has been shone into the skies.  The members have assembled, acoustic instruments at hand ready once again to conquer the stages of America and the world.  As long as they can get home to the wife and kids before too long.  It's not just the individual members of the Flask that have changed, you see.  This Remedy  (Xtra Mile) has channeled that legendary energy in rewarding new musical directions, resulting in the outfit's most multifaceted and praiseworthy product to date.

More than most bands of their ilk (think Squirrel Nut Zippers, Legendary Shack Shakers, Trampled by Turtles), the Flask have always been a punk band that just happens to play with acoustic instruments.  They've also proven fearless in their eclecticism, granting space in their manic mix for elements of jazz, 'grass and folk.  On This Remedy, those diverse parts are given more room to unspool, leading to a clearer and less muddied musical statement.

Good news is that the collection still sounds very much like Larry & His Flask.  Diehard fans will thrill to that familiar fire-fueled sound on songs like "Dearly Departed", "You Won't" and "Atonement".  There's still a focus on mortality, on boldly staring down death:  And in your wake, dearly departed / Broken bottles, battered and bloody, broken-hearted / Do you feel better now? Just look at what you started.  "Atonement" is bright with those blatting brass that have always added to the party.  But even in the midst of the noise and fury, you might catch glimpse of positivity, light, warmth.

Those new qualities shine through in the band's embrace of a degree of melody and brightness, in a greater focus on songcraft.  There's always been a strong sense of theatricality in the Flask's stage presence, and especially in Ian Cook's vocal performance.  "Never All the Times" is perhaps the singer's strongest moment, a piano-based number that also showcases the quintet's underappreciated harmonies.  Cook also shines on "Doin' Fine", a road-vs-home reflection that bounces along like a fractured rag:  Peace and quiet take some getting used to / Was always moving forth and back, never could keep track.

The surprises on This Remedy come from the pieces that depart the furthest from the act's proven formula.  While eclecticism has always been part of the Larry & His Flask® brand, listeners might still not be prepared for "Hoping Again", which boasts a real live guitar solo.  It's as close to country as you're bound to get, reining in all that energy and aggression for a more measured, introspective number:  If there's a maker above they'll be happy to know / That I did my best in the big show.  "The Place That It Belongs" introduces bits of bluegrass, and you'll even hear touches of Latin rhythms and guitars on "Behind the Curtain".

This Remedy ain't the group's desperate grasp for the golden ladder of fame 'n fortune.  Even with its unexpected bits, it's still very much a Larry record.  But tunes like the title track and "Ellipsis" remind listeners of the band's skill as musicians and showmen.  "This Remedy" gallops on heavenly harmonies, mandolin and banjo playing for the angels:  I will find the bridge to this melody called love, the final minute of the song fades to an otherworldly overheard whisper.  Offering the best of old and new Flask, "Ellipsis" is my personal favorite, a driving anthem crossed with a grammar lesson.  Both give lead to melody without compromise, boasting singalong moments that will fuel live shows for years.  This is the welcome rebirth of an underground roots music legend:  So bid farewell to the ones you knew / Like a drunk old sinner born anew / And say hello to the sweeping winds of change ...

- Ryan Culwell, "Can You Hear Me" Last American  (Culwell, 18)
- Southern Culture on the Skids, "Nitty Gritty" Bootlegger's Choice  (Kudzu, 18)
- Jason Isbell & 400 Unit, "Wooden Ships (feat. David Crosby)" single  (Southeastern, 18)  D
- Adam Hood, "Real Small Town" Somewhere in Between  (Soundly, 18)
- My Darling Clementine, "Two Lane Texaco" Still Testifying  (Continental Song City, 17)
- Lauren Morrow, "Mess Around" Lauren Morrow  (Morrow, 18)
- Will Courtney, "Crazy Love" Crazy Love  (Super Secret, 18)
- Whitey Morgan & 78s, "Just Got Paid" Hard Times & White Lines  (Morgan, 18)
- Kevin Welch, "Millionaire" Dead Reckoning Years  (Dead Reckoning, 18)  D
- One Eleven Heavy, "Old Hope Chest" Everything's Better  (Kith & Kin, 18)
- Pistol Annies, "Stop Drop & Roll One" Interstate Gospel  (Sony, 18)
- Flesh Eaters, "Cinderella" I Used to Be Pretty  (Yep Roc, 19)  D
^ Larry & His Flask, "Atonement" This Remedy  (Xtra Mile, 18)
- Grady Spencer & the Work, "Things To Do" Sleep  (Spencer, 13)
- Dirty River Boys, "I'll Be There" Mesa Starlight  (DRB, 18)
- Sarah Borges & Broken Singles, "Let Me Try It" Love's Middle Name  (Blue Corn, 18)
- John Howie Jr, "Happy" Not Tonight  (Suah, 18)
- Bottle Rockets, "Lo-Fi" Bit Logic  (Bloodshot, 18)
- John R Miller, "Lights of the City" Trouble You Follow  (Emperor, 18)
- Alejandro Escovedo, "Fury and Fire" The Crossing  (Yep Roc, 18)
- Deer Tick, "Hey! Yeah!" Mayonnaise  (Partisan, 19)  D
- GospebeacH, "Freeway To the Canyon" Another Winter Alive  (Alive Naturalsound, 18)  D
- Colter Wall, "Wild Dogs" Songs of the Plains  (Young Mary's, 18)
- Anna St Louis, "Mean Love" If Only There Was a River  (Woodsist, 18)
- Philipe Bronchtein, "Mountain Cadence" Me & the Moon  (Bronchtein, 18)
- Rosanne Cash, "Not Many Miles to Go" She Remembers Everything  (Blue Note, 18)
- Adam Faucett, "Ancient Chord" It Took the Shape of a Bird  (Last Chance, 18)
- Kristin Murray, "Tell Me" Southern Ambrosia  (Loud Magnolia, 18)
- Ben Pirani, "Not One More Tear" How Do I Talk To My Brother  (Colemine, 18)
- Brent Best, "Robert Cole" Your Dog Champ  (Best, 16)

With this Episode we catch our first glimpse into releases for the first couple weeks of 2019. We share an unexpected stand-alone single featuring Jason Isbell's Newport Folk collaboration with David Crosby.  There is a spoonful of yummy Mayonnaise on behalf of Deer Tick.  And we offer the opening salvo from the return of the Flesh Eaters, featuring Dave Alvin and John Doe.

photo by Will Byington

ROUTES & BRANCHES

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

October 7, 2018

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

I harbor political opinions as much as the next guy, though I've never seen R&B as the best place to disseminate them.  I'm not trying to hide anything.  You shouldn't turn to the Nation for your music news any more than you should look to your favorite music blog (ie, R&B) for your socio-political bearings.  Between you and me, if I were to oversimplify my political stance, however, it might distill to respect, communication and decency.  Bumper stickers should be issued.

While I'm at it, I'll remind folks that I'm not a fan of "protest" music, per se.  Most of it is overly time-bound, and it tends to serve lyrics at the expense of music.  On the other hand, I do want the music I share to be relevant, however you choose to define that.  About a year ago I tacked Lee Bains III & Glory Fires' Youth Detention atop my favorites list for 2017, a record that is largely political opinion pieces set to music.  But it's relevant, as it is a pure and natural extension of our immediate cultural milieu.  I would place Will Hoge's new My American Dream collection atop that same high shelf.

A couple months ago, a Rolling Stone interview with Eric Church set the country genre's mainstream audience ablaze when the superstar hinted at a more reasoned approach to dealing with the NRA.  Will Hoge won't be wooing any of that crowd back into the fold with his new collection, one which points fingers and names names.  It's true that he's earned a reputation as a bard of the working class (the small town thing), but Hoge has been no stranger to crossing lines of controversy (see esp. 2004's America EP or 2012's Modern American Protest Music).

There are demons haunting the opening cut, "Gilded Walls".  Beneath the steady stomp sirens wail, thunder rolls and otherworldly growls push back against the thick gale of guitar feedback.  The storm heralds the arrival of what is as angry a record as we're bound to hear this year.  Will Hoge shouts his lyrics, recognizing that sometimes it's just good for the soul to incite rather than to invite.  Sometimes we just need a good, cleansing primal scream.

Hoge's first volley was launched about a year ago with the caustic "Thoughts & Prayers", a deceptively acoustic onslaught that takes to task public figures who respond to mass shootings with little more than warm feelings:  As long as you can keep your re-election bills paid / You're just a whore to the guild that's called the NRA.

My American Dream is a relatively brief eight tracks, pairing a couple formerly released numbers with a handful of new cuts.  "Still a Southern Man" first hit the shelves as a self-standing single in 2015, appearing later as a highlight of Hoge's standout Solo & Live.  Like Lee Bains III, he struggles to embrace his identity while damning the legacy of abuse that plagues the South:  I'm looking away now Dixie / Cause I've seen all I can stand / But I'm still a Southern man.  It's a song and a sentiment that could destroy the careers of most country artists who refuse to step into the fray.  But it seems Hoge has long abandoned any fear of offending the masses.

With the release of last year's Anchors CD, Will Hoge spoke of a crisis of soul searching that led to the sessions.  While recent records had inched him nearer to mainstream success, he sought a more personal grounding for continuing his work.  That rekindling was reportedly inspired in part from watching his kids banging around making their own music in the garage.  With this collection, the writer gives full rein to a thread of conscience that has always run through his career.  There is almost a punk ethos to songs like "Stupid Kids", featuring guitars played with fists and machine gun lyrics as much spat as sung.  It's the album's most positive a call-to-arms:  Turn your music up / Make your own damn songs / You'll know you got it right when all the old white men don't sing along ... Keep doing what you're doing / Keep being stupid kids.

As you might have figured, anger is the pervading sentiment of My American Dream, an unfiltered frustration delivered through powerful vocals and rage-fueled guitars.  Hoge even channels his inner Elvis Costello on "Oh Mr Barnum":  The ringmaster is gone / It's just a clown down here all alone / Oh Mr Barnum won't you please take your circus back home.  Recorded with his touring band, the CD is also sonically solid, far more rock than roll, with any sense of country twang left at the studio door.  Blast "Nikki's a Republican Now" next time you want to clear the honky-tonk.

While Will Hoge presents more problems than solutions, he's not making a case for dismissing the systems upon which our country was built.  The record's packaging includes a copy of the US Constitution.  And while so much rage and fury can risk becoming impersonal, Hoge's American Dream is very much a product of his identity as a father and as a Southern man.  It's not just the most important, personal album of Will Hoge's career.  It might just be the very record we all need to hear this year.  I'm sure at some level he still wants to preach to a larger congregation, but something tells me he'll continue making this music and afflicting the comfortable until the walls come down.

- Elliott BROOD, "Valley Town" Mountain Meadows  (Six Shooter, 08)
- Rev Peyton's Big Damn Band, "Church Clothes" Poor Until Payday  (Family Owned, 18)
- JP Harris, "Sometimes Dogs Bark at Nothing" Sometimes Dogs Bark at Nothing  (Free Dirt, 18)
- Bottle Rockets, "Bit Logic" Bit Logic  (Bloodshot, 18)
- Jason Isbell & 400 Unit, "Cover Me Up (live)" Live From the Ryman  (Southeastern, 18)
- Jamie Lin Wilson, "Run" Jumping Over Rocks  (JLW, 18)
- New Mexican, "Sold it Back" Take It On Our Shoulders  (Hoffman, 18)
- Phosphorescent, "Around the Horn" C'est la Vie  (Dead Oceans, 18)
- Southern Culture on the Skids, "Whole Lotta Things 2018 BC" Bootleggers Choice  (Kudzu, 18)  D
- One Eleven Heavy, "Valley Bottom Fever" Everything's Better  (Kith & Kin, 18)  D
- Hillstomp, "Angels" Monster Receiver  (Fluff & Gravy, 18)
- Ural Thomas & the Pain, "Slow Down" The Right Time  (Tender Loving Empire, 18)  D
^ Will Hoge, "Still a Southern Man" My American Dream  (Edlo, 18)
- Uncle Tupelo, "Fifteen Keys" Anodyne  (Reprise, 93)
- Band of Heathens, "Seems Like I Gotta Do Wrong" Message From the People Revisited  (BoH, 18)
- Pistol Annies, "Got My Name Changed Back" Interstate Gospel  (Sony, 18)
- Adam's House Cat, "Town Burned Down" Town Burned Down  (ATO, 18)
- Nathan Bowles, "Elk River Blues" Plainly Mistaken  (Paradise of Bachelors, 18)
- Philippe Bronchtein, "Home Again" Me & the Moon  (Bronchtein, 18)
- Grace Potter, "I'd Rather Go Blind" Muscle Shoals: Small Town Big Sound  (
- Courtney Marie Andrews, "Heart & Mind" single  (Fat Possum, 18)
- Hayes Carll, "Beaumont" Trouble in Mind  (UMG, 07)
- Larry & His Flask, "Three Manhattans" This Remedy  (Xtra Mile, 18)
- Daniel Romano, "Empty Husk" Finally Free  (New West, 18)  D
- William Matheny, "Christian Name" single  (Misra, 18)
- Neilson Hubbard, "Cumberland Island" Cumberland Island  (Proper, 18)
- Laura Gibson, "Domestication" Goners  (Barsuk, 18)
- Marissa Nadler, "Said Goodbye to That Car" For My Crimes  (Sacred Bones, 18)
- Gillian Welch, "Wayside/Back in Time" Soul Journey  (Acony, 03)

This Episode finds us continuing to embrace Jamie Lin Wilson's star-making turn - one of the year's strongest country statements to date.  We explore One Eleven Heavy, an outfit which brings together Wooden Wand's James Toth with members of Royal Trux and Hiss Golden Messenger.  We also discover Ural Thomas & the Pain, one of those classic soul artists who have spent a career in relative obscurity, despite having shared a stage with James Brown, Merry Clayton and Otis Redding.  And we celebrate the quiet, alluring poetry of Marissa Nadler. 

ROUTES & BRANCHES  

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

September 30, 2018

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

You know when you run into an old acquaintance, and there's that awkward moment when you're not really sure if you should hug them or just keep your arms to yourself?  But if you had your druthers you'd just let loose with the hug?  That's how I'm feeling about October.  But before we fully commit to the month of pumpkins and leaves and sweater vests, I'd like to pound a nail in September's coffin by summing up my favorite things from the month passed.

WHAT's SO GREAT ABOUT SEPTEMBER?!!

Ruston Kelly, Dying Star  (Rounder, Sep 7)

William Elliott Whitmore, Kilonova  (Bloodshot, Sep 7)

Alejandro Escovedo, The Crossing  (Yep Roc, Sep 14)

Kristina Murray, Southern Ambrosia  (Loud Magnolia, Sep 21)

The Pollies, Transmissions  (This is American Music, Sep 28)

I couldn't live with myself if I didn't fudge a bit to allow John R Miller's first-rate Trouble You Follow, which was actually released on August 31st.  Regarding October, we're especially looking forward to full records from Will Hoge, Larry & His Flask, Becky Warren and Jamie Lin Wilson.  Bring it/them on.

There's been a lot of talk lately about what americana is and isn't.  Between you and me, I don't care.  I choose to defend my own lane, to play music that makes sense to me, and to knock down silly walls rather than to build them.  Having said this, I'll also admit that there's a certain early alt.country sound that I'll always point to as the pure, distilled spirit of what we do at Routes & Branches.

Turns out John Howie Jr was around quite a bit during those formative days, contributing to acts that helped define and delineate what I refer to as "our kind of music".  Two Dollars Pistols brought us a trio of essential alt.country documents, including '98's Step Right Up, '02's You Ruined Everything, and a personal favorite collection with fellow North Carolina artist Tift Merritt in '99.  Once his work with the Pistols had played itself out, Howie created Rosewood Bluff, which drew his music beyond its early country-tonk roots.

Now comes John Howie Jr's first proper solo record, Not Tonight (Suah Sounds), largely written during a little known relationship with Sarah Shook for whom he played drums for a spell.  It can be said that the eleven new songs document heartbreak as opposed to serving as just another breakup album, granting listeners a front-row seat to the raw and real turmoil of a middle-aged single father and twice-divorced romantic.

I find Howie's voice to be one of the true treasures of alt.country, a tried-and-true baritone that carries all the gravitas and soul of John Doe or Dave Alvin.  On Not Tonight it's brought to the front of the stage in all its resonance and its vulnerability.  Howie's delivery is never perfect on songs like "Happy", which allows for emotion and humanity to shine through the cracks.  His performance on the album's opener, "Wish My Heart", is earnest classic country:  She stays out late most every night these days / And I can't say that I fault her for her ways / If I had some place to go then I'd leave too / I just wish my heart would tell me what to do.  It's not the sound of a man drowning his sorrows in drink or generating a fiery grudge, a refreshing trend that winds throughout these songs.

Not Tonight is produced by Southern Culture on the Skids' Rick Miller, who helps create a lot of space around Howie's voice.  And these songs are not necessarily what we've become accustomed to with the Pistols or Rosewood Bluff, offering more confessional ballads than barfights.  The band boasts members of Howie's current act, as well as folks from the Disarmers and other denizens of the North Carolina roots scene, with Howie himself behind the drum kit.  On songs like "Back When I Cared", he lays down a steady groove that serves his stuff well, even as it overflows what we usually think of as country percussion.  It's one of the real appeals of Howie's music, which is fully rooted in country even as it branches confidently into early rock and rhythm & blues.  While there's a sturdy line between his own music and that of the country masters, Howie also claims inspiration for the sound of these songs from Nikki Sudden and Scott Walker.

You'll hear him apply his own touch to "When I'm Not There With You", which finds Howie fronting Two Dollar Pistols once again.  It's a song that portrays the writer climbing the walls at home while his girlfriend is out on the road or on the town, a scenario that recurs throughout the collection.  Matter of fact, Howie almost comes across as a homebody on "Underground", or at least a man who can no longer see himself as part of her scene:  You're hangin' out with kids and I haven't felt so old in so long.  I analyze music more than men, but that brand of self-awareness is rare in both instances.

Howie and Shook share cowriting credits on the record's most vulnerable moment.  With just his own acoustic and a cello accompanying, that baritone is showcased to its full effect on "She'll Lose My Heart":  I drove up to that man's apartment at 6:15 last Sunday morning / Hit the lot as I parked it I saw my baby's car I let the storm begin.

Have to admit that I never read about the Howie/Shook romance in TMZ, and based on these saaaaad lyrics the thing was probably never meant to be.  To our benefit, however, it all fueled the foundry that produced this new music.  I've always appreciated that Howie's bands were genuine purveyors of country-based music, never driven by irony or embracing the exaggerated posturing of a costumed tribute band.  The stark recordings on Not Tonight seem to be fired by real emotions, which tend to produce real music.  Real good music.  Our kind of music.

- Daniel Romano, "If I've Only One Time Askin'" If I've Only One Time Askin'  (New West, 15)
^ John Howie Jr, "Wish My Heart" Not Tonight  (Suah, 18)
- Kristina Murray, "Made in America" Southern Ambrosia  (Loud Magnolia, 18)
- Stryker Brothers, "The Bottle" Burn Band  (Scriptorium Rex, 18)
- Backsliders, "Throwin' Rocks at the Moon" Throwin' Rocks at the Moon  (Mammoth, 97)
- Nick Dittmeier & Sawdusters, "Walking On Water" All Damn Day  (Eastwood, 18)  D
- Town Mountain, "Down Low (feat. Tyler Childers)" New Freedom Blues  (Tone Tree, 18)
- Nathan Bowles, "Fresh & Fairly So" Plainly Mistaken  (Paradise of Bachelors, 18)
- Lucinda Williams, "Jailhouse Tears" Little Honey  (UMG, 08)
- John Hiatt, "Poor Imitation of God" Eclipse Sessions  (New West, 18)
- Pistol Annies, "Interstate Gospel" Interstate Gospel  (Sony, 18)  D
- Jerry David Decicca, "Burning Daylight" Burning Daylight  (Super Secret, 18)
- William Matheny, "Flashes & Cables" single  (Misra, 18)  D
- Golden Smog, "Corvette" Another Fine Day  (UMG, 06)
- Pollies, "You Want It" Transmissions  (This is American Music, 18)
- Goshen Electric Co, "Gray Tower" single  (Secretly Canadian, 18)
- First Aid Kit, "All That We Get" Tender Offerings EP  (Columbia, 18)
- Adam Faucett, "Sober and Stoned" It Took the Shape of a Bird  (Last Chance, 18)
- Adam Hood, "Easy Way" Somewhere in Between  (Soundly, 18)
- Candi Staton, John Paul White & Jason Isbell, "I Ain't Easy to Love" Muscle Shoals: Small Town Big Sound  (Dreamlined, 18)  D
- Ben Pirani, "Try Love" How Do I Talk to My Brother  (Colemine, 18)  D
- Sarah Borges & Broken Singles, "Lucky Rocks" Love's Middle Name  (Blue Corn, 18)
- Dirty River Boys, "Wild of Her Eyes" Mesa Starlight  (DRB, 18)
- Will Courtney, "Drunk On Your Songs Again" Crazy Love  (Super Secret, 18)  D
- Jamie Lin Wilson, "Death & Life" Jumping Over Rocks  (JLW, 18)
- Neilson Hubbard, "That Was Then" Cumberland Island  (Proper, 18)  D
- Rosanne Cash, "Everyone But Me" She Remembers Everything  (Blue Note, 18)
- Chuck Prophet, "Pin a Rose On Me" Age of Miracles  (New West, 04)
- Anna St Louis, "Desert" If Only There Was a River  (Woodsist, 18)
- Marissa Nadler, "Are You Really Gonna Move to the South" For My Crimes  (Sacred Bones, 18)

The country music supergroup Pistol Annies resurfaced with three new songs after a long period of hint and rumor.  And William Matheny releases a terrific cover of a standard from his Centro-Matic labelmates.  In 2014, Candi Staton included a glorious cover of a little-known song by James LeBlanc on her Life Happens album.  Now she reprises that performance with some help from John Paul White and Jason Isbell.  And as a contributor and a producer, Neilson Hubbard has become a fixture in the roots music world.  It's hard to believe he'll be releasing his first new solo collection in about a decade.

ROUTES & BRANCHES

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

September 23, 2018

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

There's a whole lot of pretty good music out there.  From week to week, I'll come across mention of new stuff from unfamiliar artists that's perfectly adequate.  I pay it a quick listen, just in case, then plow it under and move on to the next blog.  Despite the fact that we're 100% committed to the spirit of musical discovery, we're just as dedicated to making sure that the music we feature holds up with regards to quality.   It only makes sense.

Bells and whistles go off when we find a new artist who checks all the right boxes.  I believe I first became aware of Kristina Murray when she handed me her Unravelin' CD back in 2013.  Something in the originality of her delivery or the maturity of her writing spoke to me.  Back then, Murray was a Colorado resident and her debut record landed near the top of my square state favorites for the year.  I eagerly anticipated her inevitable star-turn, the follow-up when the remainder of the world would catch up with me in my appreciation.

But many cold and cruel winters would follow before she resurfaced, this time as a Nashvillian.  Murray was tagged by JP Harris in 2017 as a duet partner on "Golden Ring", and hopes were kindled with the release of an excellent single, "How Tall the Glass" later last year.  Finally, several weeks ago a new full-length was announced, along with the release of her first single from the project, "Lovers & Liars".  Five years after we drew your attention her way, I can finally say, "See?!  I told ya!"

Kristina Murray's Southern Ambrosia fully lives up to expectations.  I'm here to tell you that you shouldn't let a guy who was born in New Jersey (me), raised in Oregon (me) and settled in Colorado (yes, me) define the South for you.  Nevertheless, I hear a confidence and authenticity in songs like that debut single.  There's a fair amount of attitude as well, spit through a bluesy harmonica solo and lyrics that leave little doubt: "I saw a three-legged dog two times in one week / And I'm tellin' you brother that's some kinda sign / At this point it's too late to start again / So I'll just keep catchin' up and stayin' a little behind".

Unravelin' spoke primarily in a country vernacular, and there are many such moments on this new collection as well.  "Made in America" paints a picture of the artist forged out of red clay and Georgia rain, striking a satisfying balance between acoustic and electric, especially when those guitars growl to life.  In less skillful hands the song could've been just another simplistic flag-waving anthem.  Kristina Murray was raised in Atlanta, however, and can speak of her affection for the place without giving the South a pass for its less palatable features.

Southern Ambrosia, per the artist, focuses on "the duality of the Southern thing".  Murray's new songs alternate between more personal stories and truths about other people.  She commits fully to the country-rock story-song of "Ballad of Angel and Donnie", fueled by slippery pedal steel and nitro guitars: Three can keep a secret if two are in the ground / That's how you keep a secret from comin' back around / He threw his 44 mag on the seat in the back.  One of the CD's strongest moments, the roots rocking "Slow Kill" strikes out against an American dream that never seems to come true.

Much of what sets this new collection apart from Murray's debut is her emerging confidence as a songwriter, especially as heard on some of the album's more measured tracks such as "Strong Blood".  She lets the humidity of the South seep into her delivery on the inventory of life as seen from the kitchen window:  Eatin' a cling peach / Over the kitchen sink / Southern ambrosia.  It's a lovely work that brings to mind the eloquent drawl of Gillian Welch, fully embracing her inheritance.  "Pink Azaleas" completes this picture of home, from Amazing Grace from a hymnal page / Taped to the fridgerator door to Sunday drink of vodka and tomato juice with salt on the rim.  Like a calling card reminding us of her deep roots, Murray also dives into the true-to-trad "Tell Me", sounding not unlike a long lost Patsy Cline cut.

It's a collection that's driven by that intangible something that's missing from all those other "pretty good" records.  Perhaps it's an uncommon depth of feeling, or an ease of movement across a range of roots music.  Whatever the reason, it seems Kristina Murray has done her homework over the past five years.  She's put her heart on vinyl in a bold and vulnerable way that few more experienced artists can, and established herself as a voice to trust in the years to come.

- Adam's House Cat, "6 O'Clock Train" Town Burned Down  (ATO, 18)
- Larry & His Flask, "This Remedy" This Remedy  (Xtra Mile, 18)
- New Mexican, "Broken Horse" Take It On Our Shoulders  (Hoffman, 18)
- John Howie Jr, "I Don't Feel Like Holdin' You Tonight" Not Tonight  (Howie, 18)
- Dawn Landes, "Why They Name Whiskey After Men" Meet Me at the River  (Yep Roc, 18)
- JP Harris, "Hard Road" Sometimes Dogs Bark at Nothing  (Free Dirt, 18)
^ Kristina Murray, "Slow Kill" Southern Ambrosia  (Loud Magnolia, 18)
- Rev Horton Heat, "Whole New Life" Whole New Life  (Victory, 18)  D
- Those Darlins, "Red Light Love" Those Darlins  (Oh Wow Dang, 09)
- William Elliott Whitmore, "Bat Chain Puller" Kilonova  (Bloodshot, 18)
- John R Miller, "Whale Party" Trouble You Follow  (Emperor, 18)
- Philippe Bronchtein, "Me & the Moon" Me & the Moon  (Bronchtein, 18)  D
- Malcolm Holcombe, "New Damnation Alley" Come Hell or High Water  (Gypsy Eyes, 18)
- Kasey Musgraves, "Kansas City Star" King of the Road: Tribute to Roger Miller  (BMG, 18)
- Black Joe Lewis & Honeybears, "Some Conversations You Just Don't Need to Have" Difference Between Me & You  (BJL, 18)
- Cat Power, "Stay" Wanderer  (Domino, 18)
- Cedric Burnside, "Death Bell Blues" Benton County Relic  (Single Lock, 18)
- Tom Waits, "Take It With Me" Mule Variations  (Anti, 99)
- Goshen Electric Co, "The Gray Tower" single  (Secretly Canadian, 18)  D
- Iron & Wine, "Autumn Town Leaves" Weed Garden EP  (Sub Pop, 18)
- Shemekia Copeland, "Wrong Idea" America's Child  (Alligator, 18)
- Billy Bragg, "Levi Stubbs' Tears" Talking With the Taxman About Poetry  (Cooking Vinyl, 86)
- Dirty River Boys, "Mesa" Mesa Starlight  (DRB, 18)
- Colter Wall, "Thinkin' on a Woman" Songs of the Plains  (Young Mary's, 18)
- Rhett Miller, "Total Disaster" The Messenger  (ATO, 18)  D
- Calexico, "Trigger" Black Light  (Quarterstick, 98)
- Rosanne Cash, "She Remembers Everything" She Remembers Everything  (Blue Note, 18)  D
- Jeff Tweedy, "Some Birds" WARM  (dBpm, 18)  D
- Gregory Alan Isakov, "Dark Dark Dark" Evening Machines  (Dualtone, 18)
- Rev Peyton's Big Damn Band, "Steal My Shine" Poor Until Payday  (Family Owned, 18)

This week we finally get to scratch around a bit further with Adam's House Cat.  Patterson Hood recorded new vocals for these archival pre-DbT tracks.  Rhett Miller drops his first single from a "less safe" solo CD.  Cat Power performs a very sweet piano take on a Rihanna smash.  And you might remember Philippe Bronchtein as the man behind Hip Hatchet.  Most of all, Goshen Electric Co. finds Strand of Oaks' frontguy Tim Showalter pairing with the remaining members of Magnolia Electric Co. to record a couple 2002 Jason Molina cuts.  A tour will reportedly ensue. 

ROUTES & BRANCHES  

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

September 16, 2018

Scott Foley, purveyor of fuzz

Just give it a couple listens and it'll sneak up on you.  Give The Pollies' Transmissions (This is American Music, Sept 28) a few turns, and you'll agree that they've been underestimated.  It's time for us to move The Pollies from the dusty shadows of americana into the light of day.

The band's website reminds us that The Pollies have never fit too snugly into the usual "roots rock 'n soul" that we associate with their Muscle Shoals area homebase.  That said, over the space of two full-length records and a quality EP with the late Chris Porter, The Pollies have never sounded quite like this.  Maybe we caught hints in "Something New" or "Ashes of Burned Out Stars" from 2012's Where the Lies Begin, or perhaps "Paperback Books" and "Games" from 2015's Not Here drew our gaze in a new direction.  But The Pollies have never so fully and confidently embraced the magic mix of garage pop and soul as heard on Big Star, or the radical free-range departures into noise a'la Wilco.

Transmissions is the sound of a band stretching beyond expectations, having served most recently behind singer-songwriter Dylan LeBlanc, and playing previously with Nicole Atkins and John Paul White.  There's a confidence and an ease beneath songs like the opener, "You Want It".  It serves as the in-your-face wake up call, a wall of thick noise and garage pop, with tumbling Keith Moon-worthy drum abuse and a swarm of fuzzed out guitars.  It's all come and gone in about two minutes, but it's enough to remind us that we're not entirely in Alabama anymore.

 Or maybe we've just never given the Yellowhammer State its due credit for birthing genre-crunching acts like Phosphorescent, Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires, and Alabama Shakes.   It's not that frontman Jay Burgess and company have fully shed their familiar skin.  But even in the roots-facing cuts like "Hold On My Heart" and "Love's to Fault" there's a healthy evolution in The Pollies' groove.  The former offers lovely jangled guitars and a pop-perfect chorus, rivaling Gary Louris and The Jayhawks for their way with a hook. Likewise, "Fell in Love" has been bouncing around between my ears for days now.  "Love's to Fault" adds otherworldly wah-wah backing vocals for a 60's Nuggets touch.

That certain psychedelic sheen overlays nearly all of Transmissions, lending the album a much bigger sound than we'd hear in a barn's worth of roots music releases.  It effectively turns The Pollies inside-out on songs like "Summertime Suicide".  There's even a touch of glammy sneer to Burgess' vocal that reaches through to the lyrics:  Johnny sits back in the corner / While I'm shaking my head / His mouth is moving, but I ain't heard a word that he said / I know how he feels / He's just looking for a thrill / And I could care less why.

We become fully aware of The Pollies' transition when that beautiful noise kicks in on "Postcard Symphony".  The song eases in on a minute-long breeze of melodic synth, before coasting into a lazy So-Cal acoustic strummer about a factory-working father who dreams of jaunts in the country with his boys.  Around the three-minute mark, it all deconstructs into a far less rustic mess of feedback and electronic studio gabble, taking us on a trip of our own before coming together again for the song's idyllic conclusion:  Summertime postcard lays on the road / Son says "Dad I want to go".  "Knocking At My Door" begins with that noise, as a thumping drum beat leads an army of guitars into a cloud of bash and pop and the sound of a piano falling down a flight of stairs.

Don't like all that noise?  Want to go back to the garden?  I'll stay behind with The Pollies.  Sure, there's plenty of music that matters that plays it far more safe and straight.  But it's bands like The Pollies that hone the edge of Routes & Branches, and set us apart from countless other roots music outlets.  With their short sharp melodic glances and their disregard in the face of less traveled musical paths, we're just fine following them into the frontiers of roots music.

The other story behind the release of Transmissions is the rebirth of This is American Music, the "Southern indie record label" that brought us Caleb Caudle, Have Gun Will Travel, Great Peacock, Hurray for the Riff Raff and more.  In a day when our playlist can be fat with stuff from larger less discerning operations, we feel closer to our mission when we're able to share music from TiAM.  It's even better when those more carefully curated labels bring us superb stuff like The Pollies.

- Todd Snider, "Crooked Piece of Time" New Connection  (Aimless, 02)
- Band of Heathens, "Every Saturday Night" Message From the People Revisited  (BoH, 18)
- Kevin Galloway, "The Change" The Change  (Nine Mile, 18)
- Rosie Flores, "Drive Drive Drive" Simple Case of the Blues  (Flores, 19)  D
- Richard Thompson, "The Rattle Within" 13 Rivers  (New West, 18)
- Jason Isbell & 400 Unit, "Flagship (live)" Live From the Ryman  (Southeastern, 18)
- Hawks & Doves, "Chasing the Sky" From a White Hotel  (Julian, 18)
- Bottle Rockets, "Highway 70 Blues" Bit Logic  (Bloodshot, 18)
- Elizabeth Cook, "Broke Down in London on the M25" Exodus of Venus  (Agent Love, 16)
- Adam Hood, "Downturn" Somewhere in Between  (Soundly, 18)
- First Aid Kit, "Tender Offerings" Tender Offerings EP  (Columbia, 18)  D
- Eric Bachmann, "Murmuration Song" No Recover  (Merge, 18)
- Nathan Bowles, "Now If You Remember" Plainly Mistaken  (Paradise of Bachelors, 18)
- Fred Eaglesmith, "Trucker Speed" 6 Volts  (Sweetwater, 12)
- Marissa Nadler, "I Can't Listen to Gene Clark Anymore" For My Crimes  (Sacred Bones, 18)  D
- Hillstomp, "Hagler" Monster Receiver  (Fluff & Gravy, 18)  D
- Alejandro Escovedo, "Teenage Luggage" The Crossing  (Yep Roc, 18)
- James McMurtry, "Lights of Cheyenne (live)" Live in Ought-Three  (Compadre, 04)
- Jamie Lin Wilson, "Oklahoma Stars (feat. Evan Felker)" Jumping Over Rocks  (JLW, 18)
- Ben Danaher, "Fred & Jonell" Sill Feel Lucky  (Soundly, 18)
- Ruston Kelly, "Son of a Highway Daughter" Dying Star  (Rounder, 18)
- Black Lillies, "Snakes and Telephones" Stranger to Me  (Attack Monkey, 18)
- Israel Nash, "Spiritfalls" Lifted  (Desert Folklore, 18)
- Aaron Lee Tasjan, "End of the Day" Karma for Cheap  (New West, 18)
- Lauren Morrow, "Viki Lynn" Lauren Morrow EP  (Morrow, 18)  D
- Ryan Culwell, "Last American" Last American  (Culwell, 18)
- Adam Faucett, "Central Avenue" It Took the Shape of a Bird  (Last Chance, 18)
- Dead Horses, "A Petal Here a Petal There" My Mother the Moon  (DH, 18)
- Stryker Brothers, "Blue Today Baby" Burn Band  (Scriptorium Rex, 18)
- Hiss Golden Messenger, "Rock Holy" Virgo Fool  (Merge, 18)  D

This week brings that new Hillstomp I've been hearing about.  We also celebrate the return of  Rosie Flores to the fray - her single marks our first look at a 2019 release.  And First Aid Kit releases a couple unheard songs that didn't really fit on their really fine January Ruins record.  Plus, this week it was announced that Hiss Golden Messenger will be unleashing Devotion: Songs About Rivers and Spirit and Children, a 4-CD package that includes remasters of their earliest records as well as a copy of their pretty hard-to-come-by Virgo Fool collection.  On a related note, my birthday is coming up in December. 

ROUTES & BRANCHES 

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

September 9, 2018

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

Back in my radio days when we paid closer attention to the Colorado music scene, Matt Hoffman and Strange Americans were among my favorite square state artists.  Even when Matt's supportive father began calling the radio station daily to request his son's music - wouldn't we all like a father with that kind of dedication to Junior's career?  Last fall, Hoffman began releasing his music under the New Mexican moniker, hearkening back to the days when his grandfather served as proprietor of Hoffman's Melody Shop in Alomogordo.  Now he's looking to make some bigger noise with the national debut of Take It On Our Shoulders (Sep 28).

Hoffman himself is responsible for most of the sounds on his new collection, collaborating with pedal steelist Jeff Rady and a couple studio wizards who lend the songs a spirit that is both intimate and wide-open as the vistas of the Southwest. Like much of what we share here on R&B, the New Mexican songs bear the warm fingerprints of characters looking to make an honest life in light of our present circumstances.  Tell me now / When it's over / Are the broken hearts gonna fix each other.

"Sold It Back" sets the tone for Take It On Our Shoulders, establishing that warm electro-acoustic groove with dusty strings and high-soaring pedal steel.  Consider the close-in immediacy of Hiss Golden Messenger triangulated with the cinematic scope of Calexico - a space on the smudged and torn map that's well-removed from the noise of the nearest city.

Rady's pedal steel gleams brilliantly across the surface of "Two Hearted", a nod to Hemingway's Michigan wilderness.  In contrast to his work with Strange Americans, these New Mexican songs bring Hoffman's voice to the front of the mix, adding the static of a sandy shuffle beneath it all.

Don't overlook a couple of the quieter bits towards the latter half of the CD.  "Half Empty" and "Letters" remind me of fellow Coloradan Nathaniel Rateliff, during his introverted singer-songwriter days.  The former is mesmerizing in its build, a keening drone underlying Hoffman's acoustic strum until the song briefly erupts.  "Letters" features the record's strongest vocal, along with a beautifully lilting refrain punctuated by the fuzz of electric guitars and sleighbells.

A generation from now (if that's what it takes), we may glance back at these times and decide that it wasn't our strong stances or our arguments and opinions that saw us through to the calmer waters.  Instead, I imagine it'll be the stories like those Matt Hoffman tells on his new album, accounts of decent people navigating the rough spots because it's all they could do.  New Mexican offers the antidote of good music about real people, a moving account of life during wartime.

- Charlie Parr, "Where You Gonna Be" When the Devil Goes Blind  (Level Two, 10)
- Shemekia Copeland, "Smoked Ham and Peaches" American Child  (Alligator, 18)
- John Hiatt, "Over the Hill" Eclipse Sessions  (New West, 18)
- Kevin Gordon, "One Road Out (Angola Rodeo Blues)"  Tilt & Shine  (Crowville, 18)
- Ben Dickey, "Let Me Ride In Your Big Cadillac" Blaze: Original Cast Recording  (Light in the Attic, 18)
- Kristina Murray, "Strong Blood" Southern Ambrosia  (Loud Magnolia, 18)
- Devil Makes Three, "Deep Down" Chains Are Broken  (New West, 18)
- Whitey Morgan & the 78s, "What Am I Supposed to Do" Hard Times & White Lines  (Morgan, 18)
- Pontiac Brothers, "Big Black River" Big Black River  (Lolita, 85)
- Cake, "Reincarnation" King of the Road: Tribute to Roger Miller  (BMG, 18)
- Sarah Borges & Broken Singles, "Get As Gone Can Get" Love's Middle Name  (Blue Corn, 18)
- Will Hoge, "Stupid Kids" My American Dream  (Edlo, 18)
- Stryker Brothers, "Fort Worth Was a Fabulous Waste of Time" Burn Band  (Scriptorium Rex, 18)
- Jamie Lin Wilson, "Being Gone" Jumping Over Rocks  (JLW, 18)
- Gibson Brothers, "Lay Your Body Down" Mockingbird  (Easy Eye, 18)  D
- Adam Remnant, "Sourwood" Sourwood  (Anyway 18)
- John R Miller, "Holy Dirt" Trouble You Follow  (Emperor, 18)
- Joe Purdy, "Brown Suits and Cadillacs" Last Clock on the Wall  (Mudtown Crier, 09)
- Scott H Biram, "Chickens" Messenger: Tribute to Ray Wylie Hubbard  (Eight 30, 18)  D
- Larry & His Flask, "Ellipsis" This Remedy  (Xtra Mile, 18)
- Becky Warren, "We're All We Got" Undesirable  (Warren, 18)
- Hillstomp, "Cardiac Arrest in D" single  (Fuzzmonster, 09)
- Rev Peyton's Big Damn Band, "Dirty Swerve" Poor Until Payday  (Family Owned, 18)
- JP Harris, "JP's Florida Blues #1" Sometimes a Dog Barks at Nothing  (Free Dirt, 18)
- Doug Paisley, "Drinking With a Friend" Starter Home  (No Quarter, 18)  D
- Courtney Marie Andrews, "Heart and Mind"  single  (Fat Possum, 18)  D
- Phosphorescent, "Christmas Down Under" C'est la Vie  (Dead Oceans, 18)
- Black Joe Lewis & Honeybears, "Handshake Drugs" Difference Between Me & You  (BJL, 18)  D
- Pollies, "Hold On My Heart" Transmissions  (TiAM, 18)
- Son Volt, "Exurbia" Okemah & the Melody of Riot Reissue (Transmit Sound, 05)  D

This week brings a striking new single from Courtney Marie Andrews, whose May Your Kindness Remain was one of our early year favorites.  Black Joe Lewis presents a dirty take on Wilco's "Handshake Drugs".  And we dig a bit further into forthcoming projects from Kristina Murray, JP Harris, Whitey Morgan and more.  See also, an unexpectedly satisfying single from bluegrass' Gibson Brothers, whose November Mockingbird is produced by Dan Auerbach.

ROUTES & BRANCHES  
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
September 2, 2018
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

We'll start this Episode with a look back at the records that have defined the past 31 days for me.  These are my favorite CDs that were released in August.  Curiously, the list includes two Adams and four artists whose names begin with an "A" (it's pointed observations like this that bring you back to R&B).

WHAT's SO GREAT ABOUT AUGUST?!!
Amanda Shires, To the Sunset  (Silver Knife, Aug 3)
Lucero, Among the Ghosts  (Liberty & Lament, Aug 3)
Austin Lucas, Immortal Americans  (Cornelius Chapel, Aug 17)
Adam Remnant, Sourwood  (Anyway, Aug 17)
Adam Faucett, It Took the Shape of a Bird  (Last Chance, Aug 24)

Honorable Mention:  From a White Hotel by Hawks & Doves was officially released in late July, but it didn't come to my attention til this month.  Fronted by Kasey Anderson, it's as good as we're used to from him, but with the added energy and sonic big-ness of a full band.

Ryan Culwell's recent video for "Can You Hear Me" shows the artist doing everyday stuff with his girls (he's got four of them now).  The vignettes are interspersed with shots of Culwell looking appropriately spent and reflective.  The song, from his third full-length CD, The Last American, arrives in a whoosh of guitar and noise.  Where 2015's excellent Flatlands told the stories of the people from his Texas panhandle homeland, the songs from this new collection are broadcast like an SOS from Culwell's own Nashville backyard:  I can't breathe, I can't breathe, I can't breathe ...

It's hard to write about the American dream without giving ground to sentimentality or stereotype.  Writers learn to crib from the mythology of Seger and Mellencamp and Springsteen, who romanticize where we came from and celebrate the grit and determination that see people through "during these hard times".  With songs like "Dog's Ass" and "Fucked Up Too", Culwell's not missing the point.  The State of our Nation is bleak, and he's focused on reaching through the signal and noise to make a connection to what remains of our country.

Last American is a different album than Flatlands, with songs that are fractured and others that are shot through with anxiety.  Culwell has written of his experience since that last record, "It has become extremely evident that if I am not making music in some form, I may lose my mind".  That might be the sound that we hear in songs like "I Have a Dream" or the unhinged stomp-and-holler of "Dig a Hole".  Both serve as paranoid anthems for our me-first age, soundtracks to the fraying of our middle class fabric:  "well it ain't the promised land / goddang I guess it'll do.

The story has it that Culwell was coaxed back into the studio by collaborators Ethan Ballinger and Megan McCormick, whose guitar largely establishes the textures of Last American.  Joined by coproducer Neilson Hubbard, the ensemble succeeded in capturing and communicating both the claustrophobia and the free-falling nature of these new songs.  Like Sons of Bill's Oh God Ma'am, songs like "Heaven Everywhere I Go" show no fear in ranging beyond the usual territory of roots music.  Pedal effects, electronic click drums and generous echo lay the groundwork for a sinister piece that twice dissolves unexpectedly into a lo-fi late night radio groove.

I cherish the dark honesty of "Fucked Up Too":  "we ain't dreamed for the last ten years / we just laid real still".  That strain of wide-eyed reportage gives Culwell more believability to express hope and longing during the record's more poignant moments.  Despite it's title, "Dog's Ass" seems a very sweet, acoustic restatement of a man's commitment to his family:  "honey the dog's ass could use a little sun / if this old life don't shine / I'mma buy you a better one".  Both "Moon Hangs Low' and "Tie My Pillow to a Tree" began as lullabies to his girls, and while neither steers clear of the shadows they maintain their original tenderness.

The title track for Last American pares back much of the CD's racket for a moving acoustic take on how this American dream stuff is supposed to work:  "I got everything I asked for / on the day I turned sixteen / I got my old man's heart / and a broke down Chevrolet".  It's as close as we get to Flatland's wide-open vistas, daring us to embrace the appealing mythology of those earlier writers.  It's also a gorgeous piece of music.

Most of our parents did their best to bequeath to us their faith in the American dream.  On Last American, Culwell wonders how to do the same with his children.  How do we speak honestly and with love about the world into which they're growing?  The nights that keep us awake with preoccupation tend to outnumber the times when we feel like we're getting it right.  While Ryan Culwell's new songs offer us few comforts, it's at least heartening that he's so able to set our feelings to such rewarding music.

- Band of Heathens, "Take Me Home Country Roads" A Message From the People Revisited  (BoH, 18)
- Dead South, "One Dying and a Burying"  King of the Road: Tribute to Roger Miller  (BMG, 18)
- Kristina Murray, "Strong Blood" Southern Ambrosia  (Loud Magnolia, 18)
- Hawks & Doves, "Bulletproof Heart" From a White Hotel  (Julian, 18)
- Laura Jane Grace & Devouring Mothers, "Apocalypse Now (& Later)" Bought to Bot  (Bloodshot, 18)  D
- Dirty River Boys, "Backside of Uppers" Mesa Starlight  (DRB, 18)  D
- Murder by Death, "Alas"  The Other Shore  (Bloodshot, 18)
- Justin Wells, "A Love Song" single  (10 in 20, 18)  D
- Becky Warren, "Drake Motel"  Undesirable  (Warren, 18)
- Pollies, "Fell in Love" Transmissions  (TiAM, 18)
^ Ryan Culwell, "Dog's Ass"  Last American  (Culwell, 18)
- New Mexican, "Two Hearted" Take it On Our Shoulders  (Hoffman, 18)  D
- John R. Miller, "Red Eyes" Trouble You Follow  (Emperor, 18)  D
- Dave Alvin, "Johnny Ace is Dead" Eleven Eleven  (Yep Roc, 11)
- Sarah Borges & Broken Singles, "House on a Hill" Love's Middle Name  (Blue Corn, 18)  D
- Alejandro Escovedo, "Something Blue" The Crossing  (Yep Roc, 18)
- Juanita Stein, "Fast Lane" Until the Lights Fade  (Nude, 18)
- Adam Faucett, "Pearl" It Took the Shape of a Bird  (Last Chance, 18)
- Iron & Wine, "Last of Your Rock 'n' Roll Heroes" Weed Garden EP  (Sub Pop, 18)
- Laura Gibson, "Tenderness" Goners  (Barsuk, 18)  D
- JP Harris, "When I Quit Drinking" Sometimes Dogs Bark at Nothing  (Free Dirt, 18)  D
- Stryker Brothers, "Charlie Duke Took Country Music to the Moon" Burn Band  (Scriptorium Rex, 18)  D
- Richard Thompson, "My Rock My Rope" 13 Rivers  (New West, 18)
- Skiffle Players, "Local Boy" Skiff  (Spiritual Pajamas, 18)  D
- Austin Lucas, "Killing Time" Immortal Americans  (Cornelius Chapel, 18)
- Shannen Moser, "Arizona (I Wanna Be Your Man)" I'll Sing  (Lame-O, 18)  D
- Anna St. Louis, "Understand" If Only There Was a River  (Woodsist, 18)  D
- Lee Bains III & Glory Fires, "Sweet Disorder (live)" Live at the Nick  (Don Giovanni, 18)
- Clutch, "Hot Bottom Feeder" Book of Bad Decisions  (Weathermaker, 18)  D
- Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, "Help These Blues" Damage  (Blues Explosion, 04)

One of the challenges in assembling the Playlist for each week is balancing the familiar with the novel.  We're all about music discovery, but we're also about getting to know a record in a gentlemanly manner, and reminding you all about music that matters from years past.  But then we get a week like this one, where there is so much new stuff that it just throws any kind of moderation to the hounds.  Great new songs this week from Justin Wells, Sarah Borges and JP Harris.  We also let in some Clutch and a new project from Against Me!'s Laura Jane Grace.  Looking at possible reviews for the John R. Miller and Matt Hoffman's new project, beneath the marquee of New Mexican.  In all, it's just a mad rush of new music.