Photo by Peter Farrier

ROUTES & BRANCHES  

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

July 29, 2018

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

I'm a bit backed up with stuff to review this week.  Should I focus on Amanda Shires' unexpectedly forward-thinking CD?  While I'm liking Lucero's most adult-sounding record to date, I'm not entirely sure what I can contribute to the conversation.  How about Israel Nash's "modern day hippie-spiritual", or the just-released album that's set to make Cody Jinks a household name?

Nah.  How 'bout a quietly stunning little solo album from one-half of the Lowest Pair?  It's what we're all about here at R&B, shedding new light on stuff you might otherwise overlook.  While each of the above will almost certainly appear on my year-end favorites lists, nobody who frequents our humble online abode is unaware of them.  In some ways, I feel obligated to review those, and I'm really happy to share them.  But I feel positively driven to talk about Kendl Winter's Stumbler's Business (Team Love Records).

It's not necessarily what you think.  Kendl Winter is best known for her recent acoustic collaborations with Palmer T Lee, though she's been a contributor to a variety of bands from punk to folk for years.  She's issued a diversity of solo CDs as well, though Stumbler's Business marks my entree into her musical world. It's folk music, though it's characterized by its departures as much as it is by its allegiances.

"Pretty Saro" has been tackled by a who's who of the Folk Mount Rushmore, including Dylan, Doc Watson, Pete Seeger and Judy Collins.  Winter delivers the standard as a spooky and mournful Appalachian dirge, enveloped in an exquisite quiet.  What separates her from these others is her age-old voice, an instrument made beautiful for its creaks and warm breaks.  The most ready comparison would be to Victoria Williams, though there is also room for Karen Dalton and Gillian Welch.  "Saro" is about as trad as she gets, with most of Stumbler's Business flowing from her own pen.

Audio fidelity is not the point of these recordings.  Songs like "Solitude" and "When She Did" are delivered in lo- or no-fi.  Even at its most polished, Winter's recordings retain the warmth and honesty of a living room session, and that contributes to the appeal.  Kendl Winter is a skilled banjo player and a guitarist, populating her songs with impressive stringwork, both acoustic and electric.  And despite those folk roots, many pieces feature some degree of unexpected accompaniment.

"Artesian Well" pairs her otherworldly voice with that of Pine Hearts' Joe Cappocia, singing the praises of the healing waters of her Pacific Northwest home. Winter's lone frailed banjo is gradually joined by guitar and mandolin, with voices weaving and meeting at the well:  We keep coming back / It's all I know how to do.

"Beauty We Beg" is an inventory of her world, a warning to those who would try to force an artificial order on nature's disorder.  I will not impose my chaos upon those / That would rather walk than to run.  More than any other, the tune shows Winter's gift as a lyricist, capable of poetry and pun.  Driftwood beam to hold up the thing / That smells like the crotch of the ocean / You call it a home / It does look warm, though I wrinkle my nose / From my station.

But Stumbler's Business is at its most rewarding as it strays furthest from expectation, as heard on "Nebraska" or on the title track.  The former is built upon unexpectedly gritty squalls of electric guitar and little more. On a record that reaches us largely through intimacy, "Nebraska" is fierce and dark:  I've been framed / Free to go and then detained / This jury's loaded and deranged / Nothing's changed and everything's changing.

The CD's title cut begins and ends with ambient street noise, which folds into Winter's electric guitar and her voice: I'm looking for a way to fall / Tonight / I hear that record skipping / I feel bodies moving.  Her guitar echoes until it's almost a tidal drone behind her gorgeous and ecstatic phrasing.  We fall forward and we fail, we learn and we fall again:  Floor / Meet the body / Body / Meet the floor.

You might recall some good words I cast a couple months ago upon a record by Haley Heynderickx, I Need to Start a Garden.  Like that refreshing blast of folk-inspired song, Kendl Winter's new collection is so unlike almost anything else on the airwaves that it's inseparable from its creator.  Both work their craft with reverence for tradition, but force those familiar sounds in new directions in a spirit of playfulness and joy.

What's So Great About July?!!

July is the King of Assy Weather.  It's also been an underwhelming month for noteworthy new releases.  Nevertheless, there's always something shiny to distract us.  Here are my five favorite things from the past thirty days, in order of appearance:

Nude Party, Nude Party  (New West, Jul 6)
Jayhawks, Back Roads & Abandoned Motels  (Sony, Jul 13)
Lori McKenna, The Tree  (CN, Jul 20)
Israel Nash, Lifted  (Desert Folklore, Jul 27)
Cody Jinks, Lifers  (Rounder, Jul 27)

Fortunately, our musical horizon is crowded with goodness.  We're staring down new gamechanging stuff from Amanda Shires, Lucero, Jason Eady, Austin Lucas, Ryan Culwell, Aaron Lee Tasjan and more.

- Slobberbone, "Gimme Back My Dog" Everything You Thought Was Right  (New West, 00)
- Nude Party, "Chevrolet Van" Nude Party  (New West, 18)
- Cedric Burnside, "Ain't Gonna Take No Mess" Benton County Relic  (Single Lock, 18)
- John Howie Jr, "When I'm Not There With You" Not Tonight  (Howie, 18)  D
- Rev Peyton's Big Damn Band, "Front Porch Trained" So Delicious  (Shanachie, 15)
- Jason Eady, "That's Alright" I Travel On  (Old Guitar, 18)
- Lucero, "Cover Me" Among the Ghosts  (Liberty + Lament, 18)
^ Kendl Winter, "Nebraska" Stumbler's Business  (Team Love, 18)
- Iron & Wine, "What Hurts Worse" Weed Garden EP  (Sub Pop, 18)  D
- Rayland Baxter, "79 Shiny Revolvers" Wide Awake  (ATO, 18)
- Lori McKenna, "Young & Angry Again" The Tree  (CN, 18)
- Ben Danaher, "Still Feel Lucky" Still Feel Lucky  (Soundly, 18)
- Jerry David Decicca, "Cactus Flower" Burning Daylight  (Super Secret, 18)  D
- Leif Vollebekk, "Southern United States" North Americana  (Missing Piece, 13)
- Kevin Galloway, "Miles and Miles" The Change  (Nine Mile, 18)
- Tom Freund, "Freezer Burn" East of Lincoln  (Surf Road, 18)
- Willy Tea Taylor & River Arkansas, "Leaf Change"  Good Damn Dog  (WTT, 18)
- Damnations (TX), "Steeple Full of Swallows" Where it Lands  (Joy-Ride, 02)
- Richard Thompson, "Bones of Gilead" 13 Rivers  (New West, 18)
- Tyler Childers, "Bottles & Bibles" Live on Red Barn Radio I & II  (Hickman Holler, 18)
- Nathan Bowles, "The Road Reversed" Plainly Mistaken  (Paradise of Bachelors, 18)  D
- Colter Wall, "Plain to See Plainsman" Songs of the Plains  (Young Mary's, 18)  D
- Dawn Landes, "Traveling" Meet Me at the River  (YepRoc, 18)  D
- Jayhawks, "Gonna Be a Darkness" Back Roads & Abandoned Motels  (Sony, 18)
- Ruston Kelly, "Son of a Highway Daughter" Dying Star  (Rounder, 18)
- Bottle Rockets, "I Wanna Come Home" Brooklyn Side  (East Side Digital, 95)
- Cody Jinks, "Colorado" Lifers  (Rounder, 18)
- Andrew Combs, "I Envy the Wind" 5 Covers & a Song  (New West, 18)
- Black Lillies, "Midnight Stranger" Stranger to Me  (Attack Monkey, 18)  D
- Lee Bains III & Glory Fires, "Weeds Downtown" Dereconstructed  (Sub Pop, 14)

ROUTES & BRANCHES
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
July 22, 2018
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

My mother was an educated woman.  She graduated from nursing school, where she met my father, before she reached the age of eighteen.  Once her children demanded more time from her she stepped away from a career and became a "housewife".  Every day from that point on, my mother would clean the house from top to bottom.  There was not a single day during my childhood that she wouldn't meet my brothers and me at home after school.  Even after we grew away from home, she took it upon herself to create an oasis of peace and comfort for my father, the quietest, cleanest, most removed place I knew.  While I didn't recognize it at the time, there was a streak of agoraphobia behind the bubble she built. Even as a nurse, she hated to visit the hospital, vowing that the next time she set foot in the building she'd never leave.  My mother fulfilled this prophecy mere weeks after convincing my father to retire.


There's a song on Lori McKenna's The Tree called "A Mother Never Rests".  She probably didn't know that she wrote this about my mom:  She's a stubborn believer that time and a clean house is how you heal / So a mother never rests.  When press attention began to gather around McKenna's 1999 Paper Wings & Halo, it was always mentioned that she was a Massachusetts mother of five.  She's written about a lot of things over the space of ten CDs, and garnered plenty of accolades writing for mainstream country sorts like Faith Hill, Sara Evans, Carrie Underwood and more.  Through it all, Lori McKenna's been best known as chronicler of the domestic drama, singer for the unsung.

None of her characters are larger than life.  There are no "Jolenes", no Wandas looking to exact revenge on any Earls.  Matter of fact, the scenarios are drawn from the stuff of every day, folks who would go unheralded were it not for a poet such as McKenna.  There is "The Fixer", the handyman surrounded by bicycle tires and lawnmower parts / Miles of wires and kitchen drawer nobs / Transistor radios, scrap metal / Hand-me-down tools, one of everything.  Like my father, another "fixer" in his own right, he is an imminently capable man brought down to earth at the mercy of his wife's illness: The Fighter says, 'Some things just can't be fixed'.

Following on the heels of 2016's much-deserving Bird & the Rifle, Lori McKenna's new collection is a wise and stirring account of what life's still like well beneath the bustle and noise of what passes for popular dialog.  Like Mary Chapin Carpenter or a more down-to-earth Patty Griffin, her songs are typically cast in acoustic country-leaning folk settings.  With its steady going beat and lyrical flow, there's no reason "Young and Angry Again" couldn't be picked up by any number of famous faces.  Her second consecutive project with producer Dave Cobb features several of these moments, when we recognize that McKenna might be one of the best country writers of her generation.  She's certainly among our most eloquent documenters of small town iconography:  Lighting cigarettes just to hold 'em / Up in the air, singing Never Get Old / Throwing bottles at a high school chainlink fence.

Try "Lot Behind St Mary's" for another poetic dose of nostalgia, this one about facing down the boundaries and taboos we learn at church.  McKenna never clubs us with lessons or easy emotions.  Rather, she simply allows those lyrics to wash over us:  Every now and then you look at me and I know you wonder why / We can't get back to when September was our only adversary / In the lot behind St Mary's.  Only once, on 2007's Unglamorous, did she embrace a more contemporary approach to her songs, ramping up the production and surrounding herself with bigger sound.  More typically, as on The Tree, McKenna applies only the instrumentation merited to deliver her message.  None of these songs are bare bones.  Rather, McKenna and Cobb opt for a full but tasteful arrangement.  She spells out her approach on "Like Patsy Would":

I wanna pray like Jesus is listenin' / I wanna play like I'm made of strings on wood / I wanna write it down like Hemingway / Like it's the last damn thing I'll ever say / And try to sing it like Patsy would

"People Get Old" is my favorite song from The Tree.  Once again, it's about family, about the difference between our parents in our memories and the folks we visit now that we're grown.  While much attention is paid to Lori McKenna's skill as a writer, her new collection reminds us of her grace as an expressive singer as well. As the Pop Matters site put it so aptly, "She impresses by not trying to impress".

Songs on The Tree pull back the curtains on our little lives.  They are patient with our faults and forgiving of our sins, humble in the light of the small good things we do.  We don't look in on our kids before bed or spare a dollar for someone in need because we're saints.  It's just what we know, who we are when nobody is watching.  And it's those moments she captures so perfectly in her music. 

I remember when I visited my mother and father after being away at college for several months.  The house in which I grew up seemed smaller and more run down.  My parents had seemingly retreated into their story, occasionally collecting new wrinkles or signs of age.  I didn't belong there anymore.

Houses need paint / Winters bring snow / Kids growing up and sneaking out the window / Hitting every small town dirt road / And that's how it goes / You live long enough / And people get old

- Kim Richey, "Red Line" Edgeland  (YepRoc, 18)
- Rodney Crowell, "Ain't Living Long Like This" Acoustic Classics  (RC1, 18)
- Alejandro Escovedo, "Sonica USA" The Crossing  (YepRoc, 18)
- Gaslight Anthem, "Patient Ferris Wheel" '59 Sound Sessions  (SideOneDummy, 18)
- Lucero, "Among the Ghosts" Among the Ghosts  (Liberty + Lament, 18)
- William Elliott Whitmore, "Fear of Trains" Kilonova  (Bloodshot, 18)
- Ryan Culwell, "Last American" Last American  (Culwell, 18)
- Lera Lynn, "Almost Persuaded (w/John Paul White)" Plays Well With Others  (Single Lock, 18)
- Brothers Comatose, "These Ways" Ink Dust & Luck  (AntiFragile, 18)
- War & Treaty, "Are You Ready to Love Me" Healing Tide  (Strong World, 18)  D
- Adam Wright, "Dirt Poor" Dust  (Carnival, 18)
- Kevin Galloway, "Hands on the Wheel" The Change  (Nine Mile, 18)
- Rayland Baxter, "Strange American Dream" Wide Awake  (ATO, 18)  D
- Blackberrry Smoke, "Ain't Got the Blues" Whippoorwill  (3 Legged, 12)
- Cody Jinks, "Somewhere Between I Love You & I'm Leavin'" Lifers  (Rounder, 18)
- Amanda Shires, "Eve's Daughter" To the Sunset  (Silver Knife, 18)
- Willy Tea Taylor & River Arkansas, "Lazy Third Eye"  Damn Good Dog  (Taylor, 18)  D
- I See Hawks in LA, "Live and Never Learn" Live and Never Learn  (ISHiLA, 18)
- Dillon Carmichael, "Dancing Away With My Heart" Hell On An Angel  (Riser House, 18)
^ Lori McKenna, "Like Patsy Would" The Tree  (CN, 18)
- Richard Thompson, "Storm Won't Come" 13 Rivers  (New West, 18)  D
- Aaron Lee Tasjan, "Heart Slows Down" Karma for Cheap  (New West, 18)
- Marc Ribot, "Srinivas (w/Steve Earle, Tift Merritt)" Songs of Resistance 1942-2018  (Anti, 18)
- Glorieta, "Hard Way" Glorieta  (Nine Mile, 18)
- Eric Bachmann, "No Recover" No Recover  (Merge, 18)
- Ben Danaher, "Jesus Can See You" Still Feel Lucky  (Soundly, 18)
- Alynda Segarra & Special Men, "Don't Tell Me That It's Over" single  (Special Man, 18)  D
- Kendl Winter, "Stumbler's Business" Stumbler's Business  (Team Love, 18)  D
- Waxahatchee, "Chapel of Pines" Great Thunder EP  (Merge, 18)  D
- Cat Power, "Wanderer" Wanderer  (Domino, 18)  D

ROUTES & BRANCHES

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

July 15, 2018

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

It's the feeling I live for as a music lover.  Open up the record, put it on the player, and immediately feel in my pocket, settled into the groove.  Happens just a couple times per year, even less with new artists.  But it's what drives me.

Kevin Galloway isn't an unfamiliar quantity.  As a member of Uncle Lucius, he released four albums of really good Southern country rock, and toured hard to foster a nationwide reputation.  With The Change (Nine Mile Records, August 3rd), Galloway steps into his own, apart from the "five-headed beast" that was his musical home for a decade.  The results feel like home.

The Change opens with the infectiously positive "Don't It Feel Good To Smile" written by Hal Vorpahl, another founding member of Uncle Lucius.  Don't it feel good to smile / Let our worries rest awhile / Might as well enjoy the ride.  The unceasingly upbeat tune doesn't whack you across the face with its positivity, but simply paints a picture of the simple things that make up a Good Life.  Morning light ... coffee ... an old Don Williams record.  The song harkens back to the days of a.m. country music that blurred the boundaries between country and deliciously mellow rock.

Galloway calls this new stuff Gulf Coast country-soul.  Its soul is deeper than Lucius, though it rocks less.  Its statements are more subtle and less insistent.  It is a mannered record, more old-fashioned though it is no simple throwback.  With his band, Galloway was one of several writers, each of whom dragged a different musical brand and diverse influences to the table.  On The Change, he is freed to simply dive deep into his own sound, which is rich, generous and patient.  Where Lucius was hot sauce, Galloway is maple syrup.

Galloway is a singularly gifted vocalist, singing around the beat and investing his lyrics with heart and soul without resorting to tricks.  His run through Billy Preston's ubiquitous "You Are So Beautiful" reminds us of the simplicity and sweetness of the song, often buried by singers more likely to showboat (go back to Preston's original version for an antidote to Joe Cocker's iconically gut busting version).

"Hands on the Wheel" brings an unhurried gospel sensibility, beautifully played and graciously delivered.  Aside from Galloway's vocal, the keys hold the central role here, conducted so gracefully by Jon Grossman, a latter day addition to Lucius.  His solo sounds like nothing else in our kind of music.  Now my hand's on the wheel of something that's real / And I feel like I'm going home. It's a heart-full testament that brings to mind certain of Leon Russell's earlier, more restrained moments that are so good to your ears that it almost hurts.

"Miles and Miles" trades in a more contemporary sound, perhaps akin to 2016's revelatory Justin Wells CD.  Like the title cut, it proves that Galloway hasn't abandoned some of the stuff he contributed to the band.  And soon he'll realize that he is lost / And he'll get down from off his cross / And he'll rise up like a man.  It's the perfect country compliment to the more soul-leaning sounds, the fuller band arrangements constructed with producers Hal Vorpahl and James Stevens.

But it's songs like "When the Heart Cries Out" that sink further into my heart.  Galloway delivers it like a secular hymn, in a voice that lifts him among the rare roots music talents.  It's a spirit that might've gone largely underappreciated in Uncle Lucius' rush to make an unholy noise.  While I've been a fan of the band, the aptly-named The Change is a revelation.

- Uncle Lucius, "My Gun Can Burn" Something They Ain't  (Uncle Lucius, 06)
^ Kevin Galloway, "Don't it Feel Good to Smile" The Change  (Nine Mile, 18)  D
- Tyler Childers, "Dead Man's Curve" Live on Red Barn Radio I & II  (Hickman Holler, 18)
- Cody Canada & the Departed, "Song About Nothin'" Three  (Underground Sound, 18)
- Lori McKenna, "Lot Behind St Mary's" The Tree  (CN, 18)
- Ruston Kelly, "Mockingbird" Dying Star  (Rounder, 18)
- Devil Makes Three, "Bad Idea" Chains Are Broken  (New West, 18)
- Alejandro Escovedo, "Sonica USA" The Crossing  (YepRoc, 18)  D
- Left Lane Cruiser, "Lost My Mind" Junkyard Speed Ball  (Alive, 11)
- Lucero, "Cover Me" Among the Ghosts  (Liberty + Lament, 18)
- Tom Freund, "East of Lincoln" East of Lincoln  (Surf Road, 18)  D
- Colter Wall, "Calgary Round-up" single  (Young Mary's, 18)  D
- Sturgill Simpson, "Life of Sin" Metamodern Sounds in Country Music  (High Top Mt, 14)
- Jason Eady, "The Climb" I Travel On  (Old Guitar, 18)
- Israel Nash, "Spiritfalls" Lifted  (Desert Folklore, 18)
- Houndmouth, "Waiting for the Night" Golden Age  (Reprise, 18)  D
- Amanda Shires, "Parking Lot Pirouette" To the Sunset  (Silver Knife, 18)
- Gregory Alan Isakov, "Chemicals" Evening Machines  (Dualtone, 18)  D
- Andrew Combs, "Don't Tell Our Friends About Me" 5 Covers & a Song EP  (New West, 18)
- American Aquarium, "When We Were Younger Men" Things Change  (New West, 18)
- Trampled by Turtles, "Wildflowers" single  (Banjodad, 18)  D
- Turnpike Troubadours, "Easton & Main" Turnpike Troubadours  (Bossier City, 15)
- Cody Jinks, "Somewhere Between I Love You and I'm Leavin'" Lifers  (Rounder, 18)
- Jayhawks, "Bitter End" Back Roads & Abandoned Motels  (Sony, 18)
- William Elliott Whitmore, "Fear of Trains" Kilonova  (Bloodshot, 18)  D
- Hurray for the Riff Raff, "No One Else" Small Town Heroes  (ATO, 14)
- Juanita Stein, "Get Back to the City" Until the Lights Fade  (Nude, 18)
- Eric Church, "Desperate Man (w/Ray Wylie Hubbard)" Desperate Man  (EMI, 18)  D
- Jason Isbell, "Racetrack Romeo" Sirens of the Ditch: Deluxe Edition  (New West, 18)
- The Pollies, "Unknown Legend" single  (This is American Music, 18)  D

ROUTES & BRANCHES 
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
July 8, 2018
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

If Pixar is looking for a heartfelt ballad to launch their next movie over the top, they might want to check with Adam Wright about the selling price for "Born to Dream".  Inspired by his own children, the track might have been sweet-overload if it weren't so wise and beautiful.  Truth is, song after song this solo CD from one-half of The Wrights comes across as too good to be true.  Wright invests so much melodicism and genuine heart into his music and lyrics that, no matter your opinion about folk-leaning country, you're rooting for the guy as the album progresses.

Aside from his work with The Wrights, Adam has penned tracks for an army of Nashville luminaries, including Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Lee Ann Womack and more.  Wright served as cowriter and accompanist to Womack on last year's superb The Lonely the Lonesome & the Gone.  She returns the favor with a haunting duet on "From My Bough". Assuming the form of a traditional folksong, the song speaks achingly from the perspective of a tree that bends beneath the burden of having supported the bodies of lynchings:  Cut them loose and chop me down / And hang no more murder from my bough.  A similar foreboding holds sway over "Dark Life" as well, another song that grows around the figure of a tree.  The carefully constructed orchestration that groans and lurches recalls Joe Henry, as does Wright's capable delivery.

The title cut celebrates the gift of Wright as a lyricist, with a story about Money, Muscle and Mercy, three broken souls keeping one another afloat:  Like dust in the light / We fall and we fly / And we shine in spite of ourselves.  Wright's record speaks primarily in acoustic tones, with an occasional undertone of grit.  The abiding edge becomes more evident with repeated listening, partially hidden between the folds of these seemingly gentle songs.

"Ruby" rides in on a Southwestern vibe, recalling Townes Van Zandt in his earlier days, made all the more tragically lovely with a smattering of Espanol and some filigreed guitar:  She entered the saddle in the dust of El Paso / Fastened her lasso to the bull they call life.  In a somewhat similar vein, "Dirt Poor" drags things back closer to home, bumping along on the syncopations of a Western noir, an unflinching tale of abuse and revenge:  I used to think about Jesus / Tried to be more like he was / Turning the other cheek just got me another welt.  See also "Billy Get Your Bike", a chilling cautionary tale worthy of a Cormac McCarthy short story.

Even amidst these shadows, there's a warm beating heart to Dust.  The aforementioned "Born to Dream" is tame as a lullaby but shot through with wisdom:  There ain't a pie in the sky I ain't tried a slice of / A dream in a pipe I've passed up a puff of / And I've wished on every fallen star I've seen / There ain't a longshot I wouldn't bet it all on / And a whole lot of times it's gone all wrong / But oh well, I was born to dream.  "War of No One Cares" portrays the fleeting church encounter between a pair of life's survivors:  He settled in a couple rows behind her / And he breathed out all of his air / When he recognized the scars of a fellow purple heart / In the war of no one cares.  It's a masterful moment, with a light touch of strings adding to the crushingly melancholy spirit of the piece.  From his voice to his recognition of a melodically appropriate gesture, Wright recalls a more melancholy Ron Sexsmith.

Adam Wright has likened his songs to short stories, written in the voice and from the perspective of a character (or of flora, in a couple cases).   It's undeniably beautiful stuff, a fact that we shouldn't let temper our realization that the pieces also plumb the depths of our little lives  There is darkness and there are glints of light on a record that sings the praises of a writer who might have otherwise escaped the attention of folks like us always on the lookout for music that matters.

- Charles Lloyd & the Marvels, "Angel (feat. Lucinda Williams)" Vanished Gardens  (Blue Note, 18)
- Ruston Kelly, "Jericho" Dying Star  (Rounder, 18)
- Johnny Irion, "Cabin Fever" Driving Friend  (Irion, 18)
- Lera Lynn, "Nothin' to Do With Your Love (feat. JD McPherson)" Plays Well With Others  (Single Lock, 18)
- T Hardy Morris, "4 Days of Rain" Dude the Obscure  (Normaltown, 18)
- National Reserve, "New Love" Motel la Grange  (Ramseur, 18)
- Paul Cauthen, "My Cadillac" Have Mercy EP  (Lightning Rod, 18)
- Brothers Comatose, "Cedarwood Pines" Ink Dust & Luck  (AntiFragile, 18)
- Dead Horses, "American Poor" My Mother the Moon  (Dead Horses, 18)  D
- Tyler Childers, "Bottles & Bibles" Live on Red Barn Radio I & II  (Hickman Holler, 18)  D
- Rodney Crowell, "Lovin' All Night" Acoustic Classics  (RC1, 18)
- Austin Lucas, "Immortal Americans" Immortal Americans  (Cornelius Chapel, 18)
- Brent Cowles, "Velvet Soul" How to Be Alone  (Dine Alone, 18)
- Laura Cantrell, "Churches Off the Interstate" Not the Tremblin' Kind  (Diesel Only, 00)
- David Nail & Well Ravens, "Heavy" single  (One Five Sound, 18)  D
- Nude Party, "Feels Alright" Nude Party  (New West, 18)
- Liz Cooper & the Stampede, "Hey Man" Window Flowers  (Sleepyhead, 18)
- Glossary, "Hold Me Down" How We Handle Our Midnights  (Young Buffalo, 03)
- Glorietta, "Heatstroke" Glorietta  (Nine Mile, 18)
- Lori McKenna, "Young and Angry Again" The Tree  (CN, 18)
^ Adam Wright, "Born to Dream" Dust  (Carnival, 18)
- John Fullbright, "I Only Pray at Night" From the Ground Up  (Blue Dirt, 12)
- Neko Case, "Sleep All Summer (feat. Eric Bachmann)" Hell-on  (Anti, 18)
- Jeffrey Foucault, "I Know You" Blood Brothers  (Tone Tree, 18)
- Milk Carton Kids, "Mourning in America" All the Things That I Did  (Anti, 18)
- Shannon Shaw, "Golden Frames" Shannon in Nashville  (Easy Eye, 18)
- Ana Egge, "White Tiger" White Tiger  (StorySound, 18)
- Carolina Story, "Lay Your Head Down" Lay Your Head Down  (Black River, 18)  D
- Gillian Welch, "One More Dollar" Revival  (Acony, 96)
- Damien Jurado, "I've Been Riding With the Ghost" Weary Engine Blues - North Star  (Graveface, 13)

ROUTES & BRANCHES 
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
July 1, 2018
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

Last week we stole a quick glance backwards at some of our favorite music from the first half of the year.  It's only fair that this Episode is devoted to some of the stuff that may define the next six months.

When I'm recording our ROUTES-cast I'm surrounded by thousands of CDs.  These days I work almost exclusively with mp3s, but the time I served in radio and retail served me well in building an encyclopedic roots music library.  I have, for instance, nearly every CD released by Cody Canada's various projects, from Cross Canadian Ragweed to his solo record and his project with Mike McClure and his most recent stuff with The Departed.  Looking at it all, you might think I've been a longtime fan.  While I've made a point of representing every record on R&B, my appreciation has been superficial. This isn't to say that my short attention span has been merited.  It's just a fact.

Canada began his reign with the Departed in 2011, releasing a quality collection of Oklahoma-born music called This is Indian Land.  It served to remind us where so much of his music has found inspiration, in the red dirt stronghold from the Panhandle State to Texas. The subsequent Adventus and 2015's HippieLovePunk boasted a bigger, more eclectic and topical sound than CCR, while maintaining a firm grasp on the tuneful appeal that has always defined Cody Canada's work.

And then there were three.  Again.  Or rather, there was 3.  It's the name of Cody Canada's new CD, but also his third original record with The Departed (if you don't count bassist Jeremy Plato's sadly overlooked 2016 In Retrospect).  And The Departed have been honed to a lean trio, featuring Canada, his longtime CCR bassist Plato and drummer Eric Hansen.  It would seem that after spending several years working to distance himself from Cross Canadian Ragweed, Cody Canada has realized that 3 really is a magic number.

There's a looseness and an easygoing spirit throughout 3 too, harkening back to the earlier days of that other band.  There's even a "Song About Nothin'", a sweet and breezy piece Canada constructed as an antidote to writer's block:  The record player, it's uneven / But not enough to make me drive to town.  No hearts are breaking, the weather's okay, nothing to see here.  Nevertheless, it's one of a handful of tracks that speaks to his facility with even the simplest of words and music.

With its chiming guitar, "Lipstick" portrays a queen of the streets, a recognition that our fascination with the world's oldest profession ain't never gonna change.  Canada's guitar tears into a rocking solo to close the track.  The sound of six strings singing lends the record much of its appeal, while his vocal delivery is one of the most recognizable in the business.  Behind producer and longtime collaborator Mike McClure, 3 is an immediately comfortable listen, songs that satisfy our basic needs for simple sounds well delivered.

One of the CD's most worthy tracks features The Departed's take on McClure's own "Daughter of the Devil", lending the classic red dirt country rocker a swampy groove.  Other covers include Will Kimbrough and Tommy Womack's "Betty Was Black (& Willie Was White)" and a low-key run through Merle Haggard's classic "Footlights".  That pared-back simplicity also serves the banjo-centric "Blackbird" and the folky acoustic "One of These Days (Skinner)".  Canada delivers these songs with an unforced ease, comfortable not to aim for the rafters in an attempt to prove himself.

Because the fact is, even as a trio The Departed are not Cross Canadian Ragweed.  Even as crowds call out for the beloved band's well-worn hits, "Unglued" and the bluesy swagger of "Lost Rabbit" are as strong as anything Canada's released with his current band, achieving that melodic sweet spot while never resorting to self parody.

- Band of Heathens, "America the Beautiful" Message From the People Revisited  (BoH, 18)  D
- Caleb Caudle, "Mr President (Have Pity on the Working Man)" single  (Caudle, 18)  D
- Andrew Combs, "Reptilia" 5 Covers & a Song  (New West, 18)
- Will Hoge, "Thoughts & Prayers" My American Dream  (Edlo, 18)  D
- Ryan Culwell, "Can You Hear Me" Last American  (Culwell, 18)
^ Cody Canada & the Departed, "Unglued" Three  (Underground Sound, 18)
- Amanda Shires, "Eve's Daughter" To the Sunset  (Silver Knife, 18)
- Israel Nash, "Lucky Ones" Lifted  (Desert Folklore, 18)
- Blitzen Trapper, "War is Placebo" Furr: 10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition  (Sub Pop, 18)  D
- Aaron Lee Tasjan, "If Not Now When" Karma for Cheap  (New West, 18)  D
- Adam Wright, "Dirt Poor" Dust  (Carnival, 18)  D
- Eric Bachmann, "No Recover" No Recover  (Merge, 18)  d
- Austin Lucas, "Immortal Americans" Immortal Americans  (Cornelius Chapel, 18)  d
- Ben Danaher, "My Father's Blood" Still Feel Lucky  (Soundly, 18)
- Bermuda Triangle, "Till the End of Days" single  (Bermuda Triangle, 18)  D
- Glorietta, "Golden Lonesome" Glorietta  (Nine Mile, 18)  D
- Jason Eady, "Always a Woman" I Travel On  (Old Guitar, 18)
- Liz Cooper & the Stampede, "Mountain Man" Window Flowers  (Sleepyhead, 18)  D
- Ruston Kelly, "Jericho" Dying Star  (Rounder, 18)  D
- Lucero, "Long Way Home" Among the Ghosts  (Liberty + Lament, 18)
- Cody Jinks, "Lifers" Lifers  (Rounder, 18)
- Cedric Burnside, "We Made It" Benton County Relic  (Single Lock, 18)  D
- Marc Ribot, "Srinivas (w/Steve Earle, Tift Merritt)" Songs of Resistance 1942-2018  (Anti, 18)  D
- Jayhawks, "Backwards Women" Back Roads & Abandoned Motels  (Sony, 18)
- Cordovas, "Frozen Rose" That Santa Fe Channel  (ATO, 18)
- Murder by Death, "True Dark" Other Shore  (Bloodshot, 18)  D
- Lera Lynn, "Wolf Like Me (w/Shovels & Rope)" Plays Well With Others  (Single Lock, 18)  D
- St Paul & Broken Bones, "Apollo" Young Sick Camillia  (Records LLC, 18)  D
- Brothers Comatose, "These Ways" Ink Dust & Luck  (AntiFragile, 18)  D
- Amy Helm, "This Too Shall Light" This Too Shall Light  (YepRoc, 18)  D

ROUTES & BRANCHES
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
June 24, 2018
Scott Foley, the evangelist


WHAT's SO GREAT ABOUT the FIRST HALF OF 2018?!!  

I was looking back at last year's halfway list, and really like how I introduced it.  So I'll quote myself by way of welcoming you to my favorites for the first half of 2018:

To quote the early 80s British new wave band Talk Talk (which I don't do often enough), Baby life's what you make it / Celebrate it.  Even when we're having to try harder to avoid negativity and reasons for despair, great music surrounds us like angel wings.  Or like water wings.  Music can keep us afloat, can give us the energy to keep going or even to fight back.  Like god, it's there when you want it and when you need it.  Which makes me an evangelist, shining the light and showing the way to music that matters.  And if it works for you, it's yours.  Let it lift you up, let it drive you forward, let it embolden and comfort and calm you.  Or just ignore it because you don't like twangy stuff ...

But if you're part of our congregation, let's celebrate.  Let's open the hymnal of the first half of (2018) and bellow like wounded calves or sing like angels, ranting against all that worries and angers us or whooping foolishly about the fact that we're still here, against all odds.

 God help me, I like that.  Back in those days it was Ryan Adams and John Moreland, Will Johnson and Justin Townes Earle and Matthew Ryan.  The names have changed but the spirit abides.  The spirit of music discovery and perennial hope in the promise of the new.

So let's bang the proverbial drum.  Let's trip boldly into the second half of 2018 by celebrating what got us through the first half.  After all, it's our kind of music.

These are in order of appearance, beginning with stuff that heralded us into the year, and culminating with a record that's not even been released yet.

First Aid Kit, Ruins  (Columbia, Jan 19)
HC McEntire, Lionheart  (Merge, Jan 26)
Marie/Lepanto, Tenkiller  (Big Legal Mess, Jan 26)
Mike & the Moonpies, Steak Night at Prairie Rose  (Moonpies, Feb 2)
Ruby Boots, Don't Talk About It  (Bloodshot, Feb 9)
Caleb Caudle, Crushed Coins  (Cornelius Chapel, Feb 23)
Nathaniel Rateliff & Night Sweats, Tearing at the Seams  (Concord, Mar 9)
Andrew Bryant, Ain't It Like the Cosmos  (Last Chance, Mar 9)
Erika Wennerstrom, Sweet Unknown  (Partisan, Mar 23)
Courtney Marie Andrews, May Your Kindness Remain  (Mama
Bird, Mar 23)
Caitlin Canty, Motel Bouquet  (Tone Tree Mar 30)
Great Peacock, Gran Pavo Real  (Ropeadope, Mar 30)
Kacey Musgraves, Golden Hour  (MCA Nashville, Mar 30)
Will Stewart, County Seat  (Cornelius Chapel, Apr 6)
Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, Years  (Bloodshot, Apr 6)
Left Arm Tan, El Camino  (LAT, Apr 6)
Donovan Woods, Both Ways  (Meant Well, Apr 20)
Charlie Crockett, Lonesome as a Shadow  (Son of Davy, Apr 20)
Trampled by Turtles, Life is Good on the Open Road  (Banjodad, May 4)
Parker Millsap, Other Arrangements  (Okrahoma, May 4)
Horse Feathers, Appreciation  (Kill Rock Stars, May 4)
National Reserve, Motel la Grange  (Ramseur, May 11)
Brent Cobb, Providence Canyon  (Elektra, May 11)
John Calvin Abney, Coyote  (JCA, May 18)
Jason Boland & the Stragglers, Hard Times are Relative  (Proud Souls, May 18)
Dead Tongues, Unsung Passage  (Psychic Hotline, May 18)
Neko Case, Hell-on  (Anti, Jun 1)
American Aquarium, Things Change  (New West, Jun 1)
Phil Cook, People Are My Drug  (Psychic Hotline, Jun 1)
Sons of Bill, Oh God Ma'am  (Gray Fox, Jun 29)

... and TEN MORE FROM WHAT's to COME
While we haven't heard more than a glimmer from these forthcoming records, they fill our hearts with hope and keep us from existential despair.  Here's what we're looking forward to in the weeks and months to come:

Jayhawks, Back Roads & Abandoned Motels  (Sony, Jul 13)
Israel Nash, Lifted  (Desert Folklore, Jul 27)
Cody Jinks, Lifers  (Rounder, Jul 27)
Amanda Shires, To the Sunset  (Silver Knife, Aug 3)
Lucero, Among the Ghosts  (Liberty + Lament, Aug 3)
Jason Eady, I Travel On  (Old Guitar, Aug 10)
Austin Lucas, Immortal Americans  (Cornelius Chapel, Aug 17)
Ryan Culwell, Last American  (Culwell, Aug 24)
Aaron Lee Tasjan, Karma for Cheap  (New West, Aug 31)
Jason Isbell & 400 Unit, Live From the Ryman  (Southeastern, Oct 19)

ROUTES & BRANCHES  
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
June 17, 2018
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

Since leaving radio for the profitable land of blogging, I have largely ceased my active search and support for Colorado music.  Which doesn't mean I won't play a local artist when merited.  It's just that chances are pretty slim that I'll drive to Durango to pick up a home-burned CD from some new writer.  Call me lazy.  Nevertheless, I do recall fondly certain discoveries, from Esme Patterson and Paper Bird to Kristina Murray (whose next record will be a game changer, mark my words).

I was also privileged to have a front row seat as square state artists like Nathaniel Rateliff floated onto the nation's popular radar.  And I recall remarking how the young man fronting You Me & Apollo might do the same someday.  Matter of fact, Rateliff shared a notable "writers in the round" broadcast with Brent Cowles at one point.

A couple years after the dissolution of his band, Brent Cowles has emerged with his debut full-length record, How to Be Okay Alone (Dine Alone).  Like Rateliff, Cowles bears a unique voice, shot through with shades of soul.  But Cowles is no revivalist.  Instead, he works roughly in the shadow world of "indie-folk" (you thought americana was a difficult term to define).  The Spotify playlist he presents as inspiration is a rubbery thing stretching from Jeff Buckley and JC Brooks to Nico and John Lennon.

Cowles' voice is a throaty thing, most closely resembling Brett Dennen or Passenger's Michael Rosenberg, but with far more earthiness than either.  While the bulk of How to Be Okay Alone is more upbeat, that unique vocal gift can best be heard on quieter tracks like the aptly named "Velvet Soul" : How many times can a man catch fire / And still believe in a higher power.  Cowles favors an electric guitar, even on this sweetly swaying r&b set which finds him exploring some jazz colors.  The desolate acoustic title cut explores his higher register and reveals some of the delicious grain in the singer's delivery.  It was Cowles' unique voice that caught my attention in his You Me & Apollo days, and it's what's lifted him beyond the local music fray as a solo artist.

How to Be Okay Alone also showcases Brent Cowles' evolution as a writer and a constructor of songs.  "Tequila Train" features the singer-songwriter in full band mode, patiently growing the song from bouncy bass and drum to a soaring keyboard line and soul satisfying backing vocals.  "Keep Moving" is propelled by a driving gospel groove.  These songs benefit from generous arrangements, presenting Cowles as a frontman as opposed to just another lonely guy strumming away at his acoustic guitar.

"The Fold" may stick in those creases of your brain for quite awhile after a couple listens.  It's one of the year's more powerful anthems with a good old fashioned guitar solo and a fist-pumping chorus perfect for making an impression at Summer festivals. In a just musical landscape, it would be the wedge that allows Brent Cowles to work his way onto the national stage.  Until that point, it's enough that it rewards earlier fans who recognized his talent in those early days when he was just another voice in a crowded Colorado music scene.  World, meet Brent Cowles.

- John Moreland, "Slow Down Easy" Big Bad Luv  (4AD, 17)
- Gaslight Anthem, "Our Father's Sons" 59 Sound Sessions  (SideOneDummy, 18)  D
- Jesse Dayton, "May Have to Do It" The Outsider  (Blue Elan, 18)
- T Hardy Morris, "When the Record Skips" Dude the Obscure  (Normaltown, 18)
- Dexateens, "Cardboard Hearts" Dexateens  (Estrus, 04)
- Eli Paperboy Reed, "Name Calling" Meets High & Mighty Brass Band  (YepRoc, 18)  D
- Erin Rae, "Mississippi Queen" Putting on Airs  (Single Lock, 18)
^ Brent Cowles, "Tequila Train" How to Be Okay Alone  (Dine Alone, 18)
- Buck Meek, "Fool Me" Buck Meek  (Keeled Scales, 18)
- M Ward, "Motorcycle Ride" What a Wonderful Industry  (MWard, 18)
- Mapache, "Lonesome LA Cowboy" Lonesome LA Cowboy  (Genuine Souvenirs, 18)  D
- Cody Canada & Departed, "Daughter of the Devil" Three  (Underground Sound, 18)
- Margo Price, "Tennessee Song" Midwest Farmer's Daughter  (Third Man, 16)
- Jason Isbell, "Whisper" Sirens of the Ditch: Deluxe Edition  (New West, 18)
- Shooter Jennings, "Rhinestone Eyes" Shooter  (Elektra, 18)
- Jason Eady, "Calaveras County" I Travel On  (Old Guitar, 18)  D
- Sons of Bill, "Firebird 85" Oh God Ma'am  (Gray Fox, 18)
- Crooked Fingers, "Sweet Marie" Red Devil Dawn  (Merge, 03)
- Devil Makes Three, "Paint My Face" Chains Are Broken  (New West, 18)
- Lucero, "Long Way Back Home" Among Ghosts  (Liberty + Lament, 18)
- Will Johnson, "Color of a Lonely Heart is Blue" Desperate Times: Songs of the Old 97s  (Neely, 16)
- Cody Jinks, "Must Be the Whiskey" Lifers  (Rounder, 18)  D
- Nude Party, "Water On Mars" Nude Party  (New West, 18)
- Ryan Culwell, "Can You Hear Me" Last American  (Culwell, 18)  D
- Tallest Man on Earth, "Forever is a Very Long Time" single  (Rivers/Birds, 18)  D
- Nathan Salsburg, "Impossible Air" Third  (No Quarter, 18)
- Jess Williamson, "Mama Proud" Cosmic Wink  (Mexican Summer, 18)
- Cordovas, "This Town's a Drag" That Santa Fe Channel  (ATO, 18)  D
- Old Crow Medicine Show, "Child of the Mississippi" Volunteer  (Sony, 18)
- Matt Haeck, "Lucky Cigarette" Late Bloomer  (Haeck, 16)

ROUTES & BRANCHES  

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

June 10, 2018

Scott Foley, purveyor of ash

Routes & Branches is a boldly different force in the world of roots music.  Much of the reason for this is that we cast our net across a more vast and diverse range of music than just about any other roots-oriented blog.  While there's a good chance every single roots music program everywhere is giving airtime to the new collaboration between Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore, few are cushioning it between more "roots-adjacent" acts like Ryley Walker, Arthur Buck or Neko Case.  Sure, this week we feature great new stuff from Jason Isbell and Devil Makes Three, but stick around for Andrew Combs covering the Strokes, and for M Ward's surprise record!

Upon the release of her new Hell-on collection, Neko Case told Billboard, "It takes a long time to know what you're doing sometimes.  I could not write my thesis on this album yet, that's for sure.  But I feel good about it."  Me too, Neko.

Nothing on her seventh studio record is in the running for 2018's Song of the Summer.  There's nothing to dance to, nothing to drink for.  Let's be honest, as impactful as she's been since the debut of The Virginian in 1998, Neko Case has released music that's been relevant, fascinating, challenging and theatrical, but never easy and rarely "pretty".

There are beautiful moments on Hell-on.  "Sleep All Summer" is a meltingly gorgeous cover of a Crooked Fingers track, with Neko carrying the lines originally delivered by Emma Pollock and Eric Bachmann reprising his role as ... well, as Eric Bachmann.  I would change for you / But babe that doesn't mean I'm gonna be a better man.  While I know of few noises this year that have been as lovely, the song actually serves as a bit of a disruption on an album that can be abstract and untamed.

It's hard to imagine, f'rinstance, a crowd singing along with the refrain of "My Uncle's Navy":  Mercurochrome and merthiolate stains, oh!  And yet, Hell-on might stand as the most fiercely uncompromised musical statement of Neko Case's career.  The title cut sets the tone with a waltz-time procession that strikes an unpredictable and indelicate balance.  She's always been a powerful vocalist, and Case has never sounded as nimble as she does in navigating these minor keys and morphing rhythms.  "Hell-on" also serves to introduce many of the collection's themes, from nature to agency, cruelty to empowerment.  The natural world is presented as an un-fuck-with-able force: You'll not be my master / You're barely my guest.  And the already oft-quoted lyric: God is a lusty tire fire.

"Bad Luck" is another of Hell-on's more accessible pieces, a rubbery, upbeat groove buoyed by girl-group harmonies.  More common is "Gumball Blue", a collaboration with Case's New Pornographers' coworker AC Newman.  It's a song that bubbles with pop melody and 80s synth waves, but countered by wry Elvis Costello-esque angular bits:  Sometimes where there's smoke / There's just a smoke machine honey.  See also the indie folk of "Halls of Sarah", one of many tunes dwelling on women as warrior, muse, force of nature.  You see our poets / Do an odious business / Loving womankind / As lions love Christians.  Familiar guitar, piano and drum lines are accompanied by more otherworldly skronks and swooshes.

Remarkable music is being made throughout this record.  The presence of Case's collaborators is essential, from Joey Burns' piano and low strings, Barbara Gruska's percussion and co-producer Bjorn Yttling's keys and guitars.  And Hell-on's array of vocalists serves as a Greek chorus of sorts for this album-length travelogue:  frequent co-conspirators like Rachel Flotard, kd lang, Laura Veirs, Nora O'Connor and Case's secret weapon, Kelly Hogan.  In addition to her session with Eric Bachman, there are duets with Beth Ditto and Mark Lanegan.  Based on the sprawling "Curse of the I-5 Corridor", he and Case might do well to consider future work together.

I'll be honest, I don't care to psychoanalyze an artist's work, to parse their lyrics and plumb for hidden meaning.  I'll leave that to better journalists like the New York Times, which recently ran an excellent expose and interview.  I prefer to simply lay an exceptional lyric out for all to see, and there are several on this tangled but rewarding record.  You'd have to extend your search into the world of literature to find another writer like Case.  From "Winnie":  Her mouth was as sharp as the rib of a star.  The cumulative effect of Hell-on is that of a personal mythology, shattered scattered and gathered.

It's common knowledge that the recording of Neko Case's new CD coincided with her Vermont home being destroyed by fire.  While it's interesting to regard these works in the light of that episode, with all that's happening in the world I would argue that Hell-on would have been the same project if the artist's barn remained standing.  Even though these eccentric songs don't make for easy listening, repeated exposure will reveal a greater coherence and musical resonance to the proceedings.  That said, it's likely that the ideas and the spirit of Neko Case's new work will echo around our days more than the choruses.

When I am dark and I am down as I am now / The only thing that makes me smile is to remember / That I'm beloved of the wild / And may you ever return / To the warmth of your species

^ Neko Case w/Eric Bachman, "Sleep All Summer" Hell-on  (Anti, 18)
- Iron & Wine, "Tree By the River" Kiss Each Other Clean  (Warner, 10)
- Phil Cook, "Miles Away" People Are My Drug  (Psychic Hotline, 18)
- Tami Neilson, "Manitoba Sunrise at Motel 6" Sassafrass  (Outside, 18)  D
- Jeffrey Foucault, "Blown" Blood Brothers  (Tone Tree, 18)
- Kim Richey, "Pin a Rose" Edgeland  (Yep Roc, 18)
- Andrew Combs, "Reptilia" 5 Covers & a Song EP  (New West, 18)  D
- Pat Reedy & Longtime Goners, "Nashville Tennessee at 3am" That's All There Is  (Muddy Roots, 18)
- Dwight Yoakam, "Pretty Horses" single  (Reprise, 18)
- Jesse Dayton, "Jailhouse Religion" The Outsider  (Blue Elan, 18)
- James McMurtry, "Six Year Drought" Childish Things  (Lightning Rod, 05)
- Shannon Shaw, "Broke My Own" Shannon in Nashville  (Easy Eye, 18)  D
- I See Hawks in LA, "Last Man in Tujunga" Live and Never Learn  (ISHiLA, 18)
- Brent Cobb, "Providence Canyon" Providence Canyon  (Elektra, 18)
- John Calvin Abney, "Cowboys & Canyon Queens" Coyote  (Abney, 18)
- Romantica, "Dear Caroline" Outlaws  (La Traviata, 18)
- Ana Egge, "Girls Girls Girls" White Tiger  (StorySound, 18)
- M Ward, "Miracle Man' What a Wonderful Industry  (M Ward, 18)  D
- Jess Williamson, "White Bird" Cosmic Wink  (Mexican Summer, 18)  D
- Paul Cauthen, "Lil Son" Have Mercy EP  (Lightning Rod, 18)
- Milk Carton Kids, "Younger Years" All the Things That I Did ...  (Anti, 18)
- Nathan Salsburg, "Timoney's" Third  (No Quarter, 18)  D
- Jason Isbell, "The Assassin" Sirens of the Ditch Deluxe Edition  (New West, 18)  D
- Devil Makes Three, "Paint My Face" Chains Are Broken  (New West, 18)  D
- Swamp Dogg, "Sam Stone" Cuffed Collared & Tagged  (Fat Possum, 72)
- Juanita Stein, "Easy Street" Until the Lights Fade  (Nude, 18)
- Lori McKenna, "Young and Angry Again" The Tree  (CN, 18)
- Vic Chesnutt w/Lambchop, "Replenished" Salesman & Bernadette  (Ghetto Bells, 98)
- Dillon Carmichael, "It's Simple" Hell On An Angel  (Riser House, 18)
- NQ Arbuckle, "Sleepy Wife" Future Happens Anyway  (Six Shooter, 14)

ROUTES & BRANCHES
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
June 3, 2018
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

Phil Cook's new solo record sounds like community.  Set the proverbial needle down anywhere on People Are My Drug, and you'll hear a room full of friends, a porch crowded with song.  Pieces that begin focused on Cook's voice end up finding him surrounded by a gospel chorus and ecstatic, extended instrumental jamming.  It's like speaking in tongues, but musically.

Cook has plied his itinerant instrumentalist trade extensively, as a member of DeYarmond Edison, Megafaun and Hiss Golden Messenger.  He's also served alongside acts like Blind Boys of Alabama, Amy Ray, Charlie Parr and more.  His 2015 CD, Southland Mission was a vibrant solo introduction to Phil Cook: Jukebox of Southern Music. 

A rich vein of joy shines throughout these new songs, mined from gospel as much as folk, steeped in blues and rock.  "Steampowered Blues" opens People Are My Drug with a New Orleans-inspired shuffle, a spirited parade that ends up at church.  Atop Cook's nimble piano we are swept up in a chorus of gospel voices proclaiming So tired of running even as the tempo increases.

Uplift is the byproduct of gospel music.  It's also Phil Cook's seeming raison d'etre.  Concert clips show him as a bandleader, a perpetually active generator of energy.  "Deeper Kind" launches with a gently rewarding groove and a prayer:  Lord grant us wings / Lord give us sky / And let us fly.  Instruments add their voices to a call-and-response that builds and builds into a jubilant altar call.

Other pieces adapt a more free-flowing John Hartford vibe.  "Now That I Know" is boosted by banjo and fiddle, swinging more liberally than your typical folk music.  Produced by Phil's brother Brad Cook, the arrangements for People Are My Drug are bustling with joyful noise, instruments coloring to the edges and tagging all the white space.  Even a profoundly personal tune like "Another Mother's Son" seems driven more by gratitude than by fear and anger.  Cook regards the national epidemic of gun violence through the lens of fatherhood and family, testifying amidst a crowd of witnesses:  No more silence / No more fathers / No more mothers / No more daughters / No more sons / Never anymore / No more bodies!  It's a transcendent moment that will move hearts in concert, arms raised to the heavens.

Back to earth, the understated "Miles Away" serves as my favorite moment on the record.  A duet with Sylvan Esso's Amelia Meath that bears no come-to-Jesus rave-ups or extended instrumental jams, it's simply a good song.  While her dayband tends towards more electronic beats, Meath has a gift for channeling the soul in a song.  One would hope Cook might lure her into the studio for a more organic solo album ...

People Are My Drug generates such a positive groove, like a more extroverted expression of the Wood Brothers.  Beyond the music, the sessions cement Phil Cook's reputation as a genuinely talented and good-natured force for gratitude and wonder.  He is a gatherer of energy and a raiser of spirits.  Musical community gathers around him.

- 16 Horsepower, "Clogger (live)" Live March 2001  (Alternative Tentacles, 08)
- Dead Tongues, "Clip Your Wings" Unsung Passage  (Psychic Hotline, 18)
- Jayhawks, "Everybody Knows" Back Roads & Abandoned Motels  (Sony, 18)
- Nicki Bluhm, "Battlechain Rose" To Rise You Gotta Fall  (Compass, 18)  D
- Brent Cowles, "The Fold" How to Be Okay Alone  (Dine Alone, 18)
- Johnny Irion, "Salvage the Day" Driving Friend  (Irion, 18)
- Ike Reilly, "Clean Blood Blues" Crooked Love  (Rock Ridge, 18)
- Israel Nash, "Rolling On" Lifted  (Desert Folklore, 18)
- Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore, "Silverlake" Downey to Lubbock  (YepRoc, 18)
- Neko Case, "Halls of Sarah" Hell-on  (Anti, 18)
- American Aquarium, "Tough Folks" Things Change  (New West, 18)
- Dillon Carmichael, "Hell on an Angel" Hell on an Angel  (Riser House, 18)
- Joshua Hedley, "I Never (Shed a Tear)" Mr Jukebox  (Third Man, 18)
- Shovels & Rope, "St Anne's Parade" Little Seeds  (New West, 16)
- Jason Boland & the Stragglers, "I Don't Deserve You (w/Sunny Sweeney)" Hard Times are Relative  (Proud Souls, 18)
- Juanita Stein, "Forgiver" Until the Lights Fade  (Nude, 18)
- Ruen Brothers, "Walk Like a Man" All My Shades of Blue  (Ramseur, 18)
- Lydia Loveless, "Really Wanna See You" Somewhere Else  (Bloodshot, 14)
- T Hardy Morris, "Stage Names" Dude the Obscure  (Normaltown, 18)
- Sons of Bill, "Sweeter Sadder Farther" Oh God Ma'am  (Tone Tree, 18)
- Pat Reedy & Longtime Goners, "Bloodshot Heart" That's All There Is  (Muddy Roots, 18)
- Kevin Gordon, "Great Southern" Down to the Well  (Shanachie, 00)
- Dwight Yoakam, "Then Here Came Monday" single  (Reprise, 18)  D
- Jason Eady, "OK Whiskey" Daylight & Dark  (Old Guitar, 14)
- Jeffrey Foucault, "War on the Radio" Blood Brothers  (Tone Tree, 18)
- Lucero, "To My Dearest Wife" Among the Ghosts  (Liberty + Lament, 18)
- Lori McKenna, "People Get Old" The Tree  (CN, 18)
- Jesse Dayton, "Charlottesville" The Outsider  (Blue Elan, 18)  D
- JP Harris & Tough Choices, "Badly Bent" I'll Keep Calling  (Cow Island, 12)
- Sharon Jones & Dap-Kings  "Humble Me" 100 Days 100 Nights  (Daptone, 07)

ROUTES & BRANCHES
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
May 27, 2018
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

At the close of every month we make a practice of mentioning our favorite records of the past couple weeks.  As May melts into June, here are my top five for the previous month, in order of appearance:

Trampled by Turtles
Parker Millsap
Brent Cobb
John Calvin Abney
Jason Boland

And in another thirty days or so, we'll be at the halfway point of 2018, highlighting our favorites for the first six months of the year.

So back to that list.  We've already paid some due review respect to TbT and Abney.  The second half of 2018 would have to be seriously packed with musical goodness to prevent Brent Cobb's Providence Canyon from contention for our year-end list.  2016's Shine On Rainy Day introduced the Georgia songwriter to the masses, riding an easygoing vibe and fluent in classic country vernacular.  Extensive touring, prominent award nominations and a spot on the Routes & Branches favorite albums list have chased away neither that leisurely Southern drawl nor Cobb's pitch-perfect ear for the spoken rhythms of his homeland.

If anything, that genuine geographic rootedness has grown stronger on songs like "Mornin's Gonna Come":  Crooked old barefoot shovin' it across the outdoor dancefloor / Like you ain't got no sense / His new girlfriend's found her a pretty good fella / I guess that she's into rednecks.  That sort of rapidfire "flow" is not uncommon in mainstream country, but it sounds more authentic spoken in Cobb's unadorned twang.  These new songs are once again produced by cousin Dave Cobb and released on his Low Country Sound label.  While the elder Cobb's producer's stamp can be indelible, it's to his credit that he's seen fit to use his powers for good on Providence Canyon, supporting the songs with tasteful restraint.  Even with the credits betraying a crowded writers' room (no fewer than 14 writers are cited, in addition to Brent himself), there's a great appeal to the easygoing spirit of the collection.

Many of Cobb's new tunes reside in that same shady country-soul sweet spot occupied by classics like Prine or Cale, or fellow Georgian Larry Jon Wilson.  "Providence Canyon" lands us in the rural South, accompanied by some sentimental pedal steel and a precise acoustic/electric balance.  Like much of the CD, the title track speaks to Home - leaving it, longing for it, returning to it.  From the melancholy "Come Home Soon":

God it's been so long since I've felt at home / I've forgotten what it feels like to be alone / Anywhere / And I'm scared / I might forget who I am too / If I don't come home soon

 Cobb himself has acknowledged that "the idea of providence inspired the whole record: The idea of a safe haven.  A sacred something".  There are darker moments on Providence Canyon when the fears of straying too far are given rein.  The blinding symptoms of addiction even threaten the collection's abiding peaceful easy feelin'.

It's been stated that those more laid back moments came earlier in the writing process, with more gritty, humid grooves arriving later in hopes of generating a sound more suitable to touring alongside Chris Stapleton.  The electric guitars of "Ain't a Road Too Long" are punctuated by pounded piano and soulful organ. The early single is sanctified by the backing vocals of Kristen Rogers, a welcome presence on many of the songs.  That more edgy, extroverted spirit can also be heard on "Sucker for a Good Time" or the outlaw rocker ".30-06".

But even those more muscular moments sound genuine, and dwell on the same sentimentality as the quieter tracks.  It's to Cobb's credit that one of the strongest cuts on the record, "King of Alabama" doesn't drift into maudlin or vengeful territory.  Instead, the song about the murder of a touring friend is more of a good-hearted tribute to his legacy:  Some people calculate moves / He never had a thing to prove / He just let the wind take him where it may / It's a damn shame the way things go.

Providence Canyon is what I'm looking for from an established artist.  Brent Cobb has found his writerly voice, and simply trusts his instrument.  The new collection finds him getting better at what he's already good at, not stretching for the sake of novelty or losing traction in an effort to attract new ears.  It's one of the most authentic sounds in our kind of music, an artist who's digging in his heels for a long and rewarding career.

- Jason Isbell, "Super 8"  Southeastern  (Southeastern, 13)
- Amanda Shires, "Leave it Alone"  To the Sunset  (Silver Knife, 18)
- National Reserve, "Motel la Grange" Motel la Grange  (Ramseur, 18)
- Sam Lewis, "When Come the Morning" Loversity  (Tone Tree, 18)
- Sadies, "Walking Boss" Pure Diamond Gold  (Bloodshot, 99)
- Israel Nash, "Rolling On" Lifted  (Desert Folklore, 18)  D
- Rodney Crowell, "Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight" Acoustic Classics  (Crowell, 18)  D
- Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore, "Downey to Lubbock" Downey to Lubbock  (Yep Roc, 18)
- Erin Rae, "Can't Cut Loose" Putting on Airs  (Single Lock, 18)
^ Brent Cobb, "Ain't a Road Too Long" Providence Canyon  (Elektra, 18)
- Phil Cook, "Deeper Kind" People Are My Drug  (Psychic Hotline, 18)
- Gretchen Peters, "Lay Low" Dancing With the Beast  (Scarlet Letter, 18)
- Justin Townes Earle, "What Do You Do When You're Lonesome" Good Life  (Bloodshot, 08)
- Parker Millsap, "Other Arrangements" Other Arrangements  (Okrahoma, 18)
- Dead Tongues, "Won't Be Long" Unsung Passage  (Psychic Hotline, 18)
- Lucero, "For the Lonely Ones" Among the Ghosts  (Liberty & Lament, 18)
- Nude Party, "Records" Nude Party  (New West, 18)
- Jayhawks, "Everybody Knows" Back Roads & Abandoned Motels  (Sony, 18)  D
- Arthur Buck, "Forever Waiting" Arthur Buck  (New West, 18)
- Horse Feathers, "Broken Beak" Appreciation  (Kill Rock Stars, 18)
- Ryley Walker, "22 Days" Deafman Glance  (Dead Oceans, 18)
- American Aquarium, "One Day At a Time" Things Change  (New West, 18)
- Karen Jonas, "Gospel of the Road" Butter  (Jonas, 18)
- Romantica, "Dear Caroline" Outlaws  (Romantica, 18)
- Paul Cauthen, "Resignation" Have Mercy EP  (Lightning Rod, 18)
- Richmond Fontaine, "Casino Lights" The Fitzgerald  (El Cortez, 05)
- Robbie Fulks & Linda Gail Lewis, "Wild Wild Wild" Wild Wild Wild  (Bloodshot, 18)  D
- Cody Canada & the Departed, "Lipstick" 3  (Underground Sound, 18)
- Dwight Yoakam, "Pretty Horses" single  (Reprise, 18)  D
- Kelly Joe Phelps, "Doxology" Roll Away the Stone  (Ryko, 97)

ROUTES & BRANCHES
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
May 20, 2018
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

Back in my radio days, I would enjoy opportunities to serve as a substitute host for other programmers.  Over the years I broadcast a fill-in blues show, a bluegrass show, a world music show and countless "mix" programs.  Invariably, I would receive calls from listeners wondering what had happened to their beloved host, and why I wasn't playing blues, bluegrass, etc.

Bottom line is that I thought I was playing blues, bluegrass, etc.  But I'm so drawn to hybrids and cross-genre-pollination that my definitions tend to be much wider than those of aficionados.  The same goes for the lines I draw around our kind of music here at R&B.  Matter of fact, I think I've mentioned before that my alternate name for the show more than a decade ago was Shades of Gray.  I'm a fan of outliers, mavericks and exceptions to the rule.

Which is all to say that even if this ain't your father's Sons of Bill, Oh God Ma'am (June 29, Tone Tree) is a brilliant and bold step into the light.  The Virginia band's fifth record is a far cry from 2006's Far Cry From Freedom or One Town Away, and it continues the evolution begun with 2012's Sirens and 2014's Love & Logic.

The new project arrives on the heels of a fluke episode that nearly cost frontman James Wilson the use of his guitar-playing hand.  Which is a bit ironic considering that Oh God Ma'am is Sons of Bill's most guitar-centric record to date.  Electric guitars pulse and soar and chime across the ten-song set, with hardly a twang to be heard.  Having debuted as an americana rock act, the band of brothers have become more War on Drugs than Reckless Kelly .

The album's first single, "Believer/Pretender" is built on those chiming guitars, treated drums and vocals awash in reverb.  And it's beautiful.  The song speaks to our perennial battle between the self we pretend to be and our true identity.  Expressed in musical terms, an act either strikes us as genuine and heartfelt, or hollow and plastic.  While the sounds on Oh God are less organic, less readily classifiable, they plumb deeper into the Wilsons' soul.  They emanate from nearer the heart.

On "Old and Gray", whipcrack drums compliment ringing guitars and the vocal reverb that echoes throughout the record.  Lyrics engage in the sort of personal accounting and psychological inventory in which the Wilsons have become experts.  All this introspection doesn't readily lend itself to your boot scootin' Friday night to-do.  It's thinkin' music as opposed to drinkin' music ...

"Firebird 85" is one of Oh God Ma'am's most rewarding tracks, providing a suitable bridge between Sons of Bill's earlier and more recent expressions.  These songs are more sweeping and cinematic than  twangy and grainy, though James Wilson's low-slung vocals continue to express some of those deeper roots.  Duet partner Molly Parden provides a beautiful compliment on the moving and evocative "Easier".

These flights are firmly anchored in the skin and soil of real life.  Like Matthew Ryan's excellent recent work, there is a deep intimacy to songs like "Sweeter Sadder Farther" that prevents these from being simply dreamy departures. "Sweeter" features a moving vocal, supported by little more than a piano and ambient electronics.  It would've sounded out of place alongside earlier material like "Roll on Jordan" or "Broken Bottles" or even "Life in Shambles" from the relatively recent Sirens.  But these are different days, and they evoke a more somber, measured response.  Oh God Ma'am may not win Sons of Bill new fans in the sometimes superficial roots music world, but such an honest and soul-baring effort earns on space on any playlist that features music that matters.

- Vandoliers, "Wild Flower" Ameri-kinda  (State Fair, 16)
- Ruen Brothers, "All My Shades of Blue" All My Shades of Blue  (Ramseur, 18)
- Luke Winslow-King, "Born to Roam" Blue Mesa  (Bloodshot, 18)
- Lake Street Dive, "You Are Free" Free Yourself Up  (Nonesuch, 18)
- Blitzen Trapper, "Furr (live)" Live in Portland  (BT, 14)
- John Calvin Abney, "Broken Bow" Coyote  (Abney, 18)
- Trampled by Turtles, "Annihilate" Life is Good on the Open Road  (Banjodad, 18)
- Johnny Irion, "Salvage the Day" Driving Friend  (Irion, 18)
^ Sons of Bill, "Easier (w/Molly Parden)" Oh God Ma'am  (Tone Tree, 18)
- Lindi Ortega, "Lovers in Love" Liberty  (Shadowbox, 18)
- Shooter Jennings, "Fast Horses & Good Hideouts" Shooter  (Elektra, 18)  D
- Chris Knight, "Oil Patch Town" Pretty Good Guy  (Drifter's Church, 01)
- Pat Reedy & Longtime Goners, "Nashville Tennessee at 3am" That's All There Is  (Muddy Roots, 18)  D
- Jason Boland & the Stragglers, "Tattoo of a Bruise" Hard Times are Relative  (Proud Souls, 18)
- Ike Reilly, "She Haunts My Hideouts" Crooked Love  (Rock Ridge, 18)  D
- American Aquarium, "Work Conquers All" Things Change  (New West, 18)
- Charles Lloyd & the Marvels w/Lucinda Williams, "We've Come Too Far to Turn Around" Vanished Gardens  (Blue Note, 18)  D
- Ronnie Fauss, "Night Before the War" I Am the Man You Know I'm Not  (Normaltown, 12)
- Nude Party, "Chevrolet Van" Nude Party  (New West, 18)  D
- Kelly Willis, "Don't Step Away From Me" Back Being Blue  (Premier, 18)
- Phil Cook, "Another Mother's Son" People Are My Drug  (Psychic Hotline, 18)
- Brent Cowles, "How to Be Okay Alone" How to Be Okay Alone  (Dine Alone, 18)
- Gretchen Peters, "Wichita" Dancing With the Beast  (Scarlet Letter, 18)  D
- Neko Case, "Curse of the I-5 Corridor" Hell-on  (Anti, 18)
- T Hardy Morris, "Homemade Bliss" Dude the Obscure  (Normaltown, 18)  D
- Lucero, "Loving" Among the Ghosts  (Liberty + Lament, 18)
- I See Hawks in LA, "Ballad for the Trees" Live and Never Learn  (ISHiLA, 18)  D
- Kasey Chambers, "Harvest & the Seed (w/Emmylou Harris)" Campfire  (Essence, 18)
- Amanda Shires, "Leave it Alone" To the Sunset  (Silver Knife, 18)  D
- Joey Kneiser, "To My Younger Self" The Wildness  (TiAM, 15)

ROUTES & BRANCHES 
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
May 13, 2018
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

More than twenty persons have called American Aquarium home since the band's inception just over a decade ago.  Matter of fact, the band of brothers who created 2015's superb Wolves have left and/or been replaced.  The constant voice and vision through it all has been BJ Barham.

It was a master of understatement that decided to name their new record Things Change (New West, June 1).  Aside from the mega-morphing of the band's lineup, Barham's life itself has changed, adding family members and untangling some crooked roads in his personal life.  There's also the matter of what's going on with our country.  Last November, Barham sings, I saw firsthand / What desperation makes good people do.

Barham embraces people over politics on "Tough Folks", certainly among the strongest songs he's written.  While he acknowledges life ain't fair, that's not the end of the conversation.  Neighbors aren't defined by where they place the blame. In the end, from one generation to the next our most important job is simply to find a way through.  I'm caught in the shadows, the American South / Somewhere between hypocrite and hallelujah / Six generations of barely getting by / Six generations of hate, what's it to ya.

Barham is by no means encouraging a concession to what's passing for today's status quo.  The alarm is sounded with the record's first words:  She looked out the window and said, "The world is on fire".  But what begins as fear and frustration is put in perspective by the pending birth of Barham's daughter.  "World is On Fire" is a genuinely personal anthem - a curious juxtaposition that's not uncommon in the American Aquarium songbook.  The personal is political.  What impacts each of us is an issue for all of us.  That initial anger finds expression as hope and commitment in light of such a personal event as the birth of a child.

I got a baby girl coming in the Spring / I worry about the world she's coming into / But she'll have my fight, she'll have her mama's fire  /  If anyone builds a wall in her journey / Baby bust right through it 

Things Change is produced by songwriter John Fulbright, and features guest roles for John Moreland, Jamie Lin Wilson, Byron Berline and others.  Where Wolves and 2012's Burn Flicker Die tipped the musical equation in favor of more of a Midwest rock vibe, much of this new material is delivered on the back of pedal steel, fiddle and instrumentation more common to country music.  Maybe we can look to the acoustic folk of Barham's 2016 solo project, Rockingham, as a "reset" of sorts.

Where "Crooked + Straight" conveys its story with three chords and the truth / and the ring of an electric guitar, that country spark shines through in songs like the good-natured "Work Conquers All" or "I Gave Up the Drinking (Before She Gave Up On Me)".  Both promise to be concert crowd-pleasers, with sing-a-long choruses and music suitable for stepping onto the sawdust floor.

On "When We Were Younger Men" Barham shows an abiding affection for his former bandmates.  In a Ford Econoline, chasing a shared dream to the soundtrack of Tom Petty, young men became older men as the reality of the commitment took its toll.  It's a heartfelt tribute to friends on the front lines, burnt bridges and all.

I still think about that Summer and how it passed us by / Petty on the radio, us Learning How to Fly / I called you my brother but you were closer than my kin / And it kills me knowing you may never pass my way again.  

But ... Things Change, and it's up to each of us to find a way forward.  BJ Barham and his new comrades aren't reinventing American Aquarium as much as they're charting the next step in the band's evolution.  With the support of a new label and with a family waiting at home, Barham's priorities have become clearer, his mission better defined, embracing his status as a bit of a spokesman for the working class.  With the losing side of twenty-five distant in the rearview mirror, we have no choice but to look forward.

- Lucero, "To My Dearest Wife" Among the Ghosts  (Liberty & Lament, 18)  D
- Lucero, "For the Lonely Ones" Among the Ghosts  (Liberty & Lament, 18)
- Goodnight Texas, "Outrage for the Execution of Willie McGee" Conductor  (Cent Bank Check, 18)
- Sons of Bill, "Firebird 85" Oh God Ma'am  (Tone Tree, 18)
- Water Liars, "Ray Charles Dream" Water Liars  (Big Legal Mess, 14)
- Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, "What it Takes" Years  (Bloodshot, 18)
- Brent Cobb, "King of Alabama" Providence Canyon  (Elektra, 18)
- Sam Lewis, "Great Ideas" Loversity  (Tone Tree, 18)
- National Reserve, "Other Side of Love" Motel la Grange  (Ramseur, 18)
- William Matheny, "Moon Over Kenova" Moon Over Kenova  (Misra, 18)
- Horse Feathers, "Born in Love" Appreciation  (Kill Rock Stars, 18)
- Leon III, "Alberta" Leon III  (Cornelius Chapel, 18)
- Patterson Hood, "Back of a Bible" Killing Oscar (& Other Love Songs)  (Ruth St, 99)
- John Calvin Abney, "Get Your House in Order" Coyote  (JCA, 18)
- Dead Tongues, "Like a Dream" Unsung Passage  (Psychic Hotline, 18)
^ American Aquarium, "Crooked + Straight" Things Change  (New West, 18)
- Hellbound Glory, "Streets of Aberdeen" Streets of Aberdeen  (Black Country Rock, 18)
- Eric Ambel, "If Walls Could Talk (w/Bottle Rockets)" Roscoe Sampler  (Ambel, 18)
- Tim Easton, "Broken Hearted Man" Paco & the Melodic Polaroids  (Campfire Propaganda, 18)
- Parker Millsap, "Gotta Get to You" Other Arrangements  (Okrahoma, 18)
- Phil Cook, "Steampowered Blues" People Are My Drug  (Psychic Hotline, 18)
- Lori McKenna, "People Get Old" Tree  (CN, 18)  D
- Ryley Walker, "Spoil With the Rest" Deafman Glance  (Dead Oceans, 18)
- Joshua Hedley, "Counting All My Tears" Mr Jukebox  (Third Man, 18)
- Luke Winslow-King, "Thought I Heard You" Blue Mesa  (Bloodshot, 18)
- John Paul Keith, "Ain't No Denying" Heart Shaped Shadow  (Last Chance, 18)
- Romantica, "Love in the Winter" Outlaws  (Romantica, 18)  D
- Milk Carton Kids, "Big Time" All the Things That I Did & All the Things That I Didn't Do  (Anti, 18)
- Leon Bridges, "Mrs" Good Thing  (Columbia, 18)
- Cody Jinks, "Give All You Can" I'm Not the Devil  (Jinks, 16)