LOOKBACK MACHiNE: Mojave 3

ROUTES & BRANCHES

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

August 5, 2026

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

As declared on yesterday's post, this week's Lookback playlist observes the 4AD label's release of remastered editions of Mojave 3's five-LP oeuvre, creatively titled Mojave 3 (1995-2006). While Neil Halstead, Rachel Goswell and Ian McCutcheon served as a marginal note in our kind of music, it's worth your indulgence. Listeners might recognize notes of more familiar artists like Iron & Wine, Horse Feathers, or Beachwood Sparks/GospelbeacH, though the recordings of Mojave 3 are set apart in light of Halstead's distinctly British sensibility. Tangential links might also be drawn to earlier work from Cowboy Junkies and even Jayhawks. 

What with our always-forward orientation, it's been too long since we spent time with the songs of Mojave 3. Previewing our playlist served to remind us how relevant this stuff remains, how Halstead's artistic formula has proven visionary if not underappreciated. 

MOJAVE 3: thirty favorites

- "Love Songs On the Radio" Ask Me Tomorrow (1995)

- "Sarah"

- "Tomorrow's Taken"

- "You're Beautiful"

- "This Road I'm Traveling" single (1998)

- "Between Us" single (1998)

- "Go Lady Go" single (1998)

- "All I Want" single (1998)

- "Who Do You Love"  Out Of Tune (1998)

- "Give What You Take" 

- "Some Kinda Angel"

- "To Whom Should I Write"

- "In Love With a View"  Excuses For Travellers (2000)

- "Trying To Reach You"

- "My Life In Art"

- "Any Day Will Be Fine"

- "Prayer For the Paranoid"

- "Bringin' Me Home"

- "Girl From the North Country" single (2000)

- "Bluebird Of Happiness" Spoon and Rafter (2003)

- "Starlite #1"

- "Tinkers Blues"

- "She's All Up Above"

- "Too Many Mornings"

- "Between the Bars"

- "Star In the Sky" single (2006)

- "Truck Driving Man" Puzzles Like You (2006)

- "Breaking the Ice"

- "Big Star Baby"

- "The Mutineer" 

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To enjoy any Spotify ROUTES-cast, just open Spotify and search for "routesandbranches" to access this most recent playlist, as well as many others from past months.  Or click here for a preview:

IF YOU ONLY LiSTEN to ONE RECORD THiS WEEK (August 4, 2026)

ROUTES & BRANCHES

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

August 4, 2026

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

Back atop the proverbial horse after our week of wayfaring. Fortunately, it hasn't been an especially eventful time for new stuff (though it's our contention that there's always new music if you know where to look). 

Our Tuesday posts are dedicated to celebrating just one record from this constant stream of novelty, knowing that it requires work to keep up with what's new. 

IF YOU ONLY LiSTEN to ONE RECORD THiS WEEK

This week we're going to direct your valuable attention back to the late 90s and 00s, when Mojave 3 grew out of the dissolution of Slowdive. Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell (with an evolving cohort including drummer Ian McCutcheon) projected Slowdive's shoegaze forward, opening the hazy buzz to emphasize elements of folk, country, and pop. Over the span of their five (5) records, that evolution included regular use of pedal steel, which occasionally lent Mojave 3's music a subtly rural air. 

The legendary 4AD label has remastered and reissued the British band's LPs in a lovely box set (Mojave 3: (1995-2006) that has since sold out, though the records are individually streamable). Mojave 3 was introduced on 1995's Ask Me Tomorrow, a project that dealt in a low-key psychedelic shoegaze, sometimes trading out Slowdive's electric hum for a more acoustic setting. The band's follow-up, 1998's Out Of Tune, found Halstead and Goswell increasingly defining a more distinct, heavier direction, incorporating more pastoral pop influences in addition to keys and electric guitar. Later collections paid greater attention to melody and songcraft, flirting less with with any country influences. 

Beginning in 2002, Neil Halstead began devoting increased time to solo and side projects (2008's Oh! Mighty Engine is especially worth your attention). Following the release of 2006's Puzzles Like You, Mojave 3 declared a hiatus, and an eventual reformation of Slowdive made any further recordings unlikely. 

Our celebration of Mojave 3's reissues will continue on tomorrow's Episode, when we look back at thirty of our favorite songs from the act's relatively short run. 

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ROUTES-cast August 2, 2026

ROUTES & BRANCHES

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

August 2, 2026

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

ROUTES-cast August 2, 2026

^ Elijah Wolf, "texaco lights" track star  (Mtn Laurel, 26)  D

- Little Gold, "Pissin" Public Dog  (Tall Texan, 26)

- James Steinle, "Ragged Gunner" single  (Soggy Anvil, 26)  D

- Next Of Kin, "Dimestore Jesus" single  (Next Of Kin, 26)  D

- Chris Gantry, "Boldness Of Spirit" Worth Every Nail  (Appalachia, Oct 23)  D

- David Quinn, "Long Time Gone" single  (Quinn, 26)  

- Lindsay Lou, "I've Endured" Bluegrass Women  (Work Of Bart, Aug 14)

- Billy Strings, "Mill Town Flood" So Much For Goodbyes  (Reprise, Aug 28)

- Mountain Grass Unit, "Suspicion" Appalachian Smoke  (Dualtone, Aug 27)

- Colby T Helms, "Armed and Dangerous" One For the Losers  (Photo Finish, Oct 23)  D

- Angela Autumn, "Heavy Tobacco" Believer  (Gar Hole, Sep 11)

- Ian Noe, "Heidelberg Fisherman's Ball" Canyon Falls Trailer Band  (Lock13, Sep 25)  D

- Bures Band, "Delta" single  (Love Police, 26)  D

- Son Volt, "Serenade Song" Sound Signal Serenades  (Transmit Sound, Aug 28)

- Krista Shows, "Done My Time" single  (Shows, 26)  D

- Kyle Kimbrell, "Helmet Head" Lonesome In the Sky  (Cornelius Chapel, Oct 16)  D

- Ned Collette, "Commandeered Parade" Mixed Light  (Collette, Aug 28)

- Richard Thompson, "Cocaine Walking Booze Talking" Hippies Thugs and Heroes  (New West, Oct 16)  D

- Charlie Parr, "Rooming House" Rooming House  (Smithsonian, Oct 16)  D

- Pieta Brown, "Glitter Town" Dreamin' Of  (Righteous Babe, Aug 21)

- Shannon Lay, "What Does It Mean" Past the Veil  (All the Best, 26)

- Flora Hibberd, "Shelley" Mammoth  (22Twenty, Oct 16) D

- Brennan Wedl, "Let's Be Models" Brennan Wedl  (Anti, Aug 21)

- Sunken Man, "Hearts" Sunken Man  (Single Lock, Sep 25)

- Lawrence Rothman, "Kamakaze (ft Amanda Shires)" Here Lies Love/Sawdust To Stardust  (KRO, Sep 25)

- Yawpers, "Words On Shirts" single  (DTTW, 26)

- Valerie June, "Smokestack" Brighter Blue EP  (Concord, Sep 11)  D

- Sir Richard Bishop, "Sweet Lips Spiritual" Hillbilly Erotica  (Drag City, 26)

- Michael Nau, "Bless Your Wheels" Blue Anymore  (relearn to boogie, 26)

- Caleb Nichols, "A Feeling Of a Feeling Of a Feeling" Stone Age Is Now: Poems From Lithic  (Royal Oakie, Oct 2)  D

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MiSSiNG, PRESUMED HAViNG a GOOD TiME

We're afield this week, roaming on-and-off-the-grid, succumbing to distraction at every turn. While we might find a moment of clarity now and then, there's a good chance we won't have the time to honor this week's daily posting commitments. If something does show up, consider it a bonus. Otherwise, watch this space, and we'll see everyone on the other side of this tangle. 

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ROUTES-cast July 26, 2026

ROUTES & BRANCHES

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

July 26, 2026

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

ROUTES-cast July 26, 2026

^ Orville Peck, "Too Little Too Late" Mule  (Warner, Sep 17)  D

- Charles Wesley Godwin, "Hallelujah High" Christian Name  (Big Loud, 26)

- Chaparelle, "Two Steps Closer" single  (Western Pleasure, 26)  D

- Cody Jinks, "Know It All" In My Blood (Deluxe)  (Late August, 26)  D

- Mac Cornish, "I Fear (It's Becoming Clear)" Wayfaring Woman  (Cornish, Sep 25)

- Mo Pitney, "Happy Hour" Outskirts Of Town  (Curb, Mar 26)  D

- Wilder Blue, "Chasin' the Sun" Cinco  (Hill Country, Aug 28)  D

- Sally Rose, "Trash Heap Mountain Treasure Baby (ft Palmyra)" Feral  (Rose, Nov)  D

- Maya de Vitry, "Adaptation" All My Faith  (Mad Maker, 26)

- Fruition, "I'm Not Afraid" Something More  (Bloodshot, Aug 28)

- Katie Pruitt, "Little Boxes" Fools For the Fleeting  (Rounder, Sep 18)

- John Prine, "World Without Love" Found Dogs  (Oh Boy, Oct 9)  D

- Ray Wylie Hubbard, "Look What the Cat Drug In" Reel 2 Reel 4 Real  (WylieWorld, Aug 21)

- Buddy Miller, "Don't Look Back (ft Dan Penn)" Buddy Miller  (New West, Sep 11)  D

- Son Volt, "Coalfield Wars" single  (Transmit Sound, 26)

- Jayhawks, "American Midnight" Sanctuary Park  (SHAM, Aug 28)

- Brennan Wedl, "Two Dollar Pistol" Brennan Wedl  (Anti, Aug 21)

- Rayland Baxter, "The Fool" single  (ATO, 26)  D

- Stef Chura, "Danny" Dancing Alone On the Concrete  (Saddle Creek, Oct 2)  D

- Nathaniel Rateliff, "Aerosol Ball" Felice County Fair: Celebration Of the Felice Brothers  (Sony, Oct 16)

- Nicole Atkins, "Singing In the Mirror" Drama  (Sun, Sep 17)

- Sera Cahoone, "Not How I Hoped" I've Missed You All These Years  (Sub Pop, Aug 28)

- Ned Collette, "Curious Thing" Mixed Light  (Collette, Aug 28)  D

- Johanna Samuels, "Full Story" Sorry Kid  (Jealous Butcher, Aug 13)

- Sam & Louise Sullivan, "Since I Left" Love & Devotion  (Historic New Jersey, 26)

- Lambchop, "New World Wave" Punching the Clown  (Merge, Aug 21)

- Alex Izenberg, "South California Blues" single  (Mexican Summer, 26)  D

- Alex Dupree, "I Can See Her In Your Eyes" Talking To the Dog  (Scissor Tail, Aug 14)

- Greg Freeman, "Indu" All Set the Bone  (Transgressive, Oct 2)  D

- Wild Pink, "500 Is the New 250" Still Coming Down  (Fire Talk, Aug 21)

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WHAT's SO GREAT ABOUT THiS WEEK?!! (July 24, 2026)

ROUTES & BRANCHES

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

July 24, 2026

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

WHAT's SO GREAT ABOUT THiS WEEK?!!

Greg Freeman, "Indu" All Set the Bone  (Transgressive, Oct 2)

All I want to do / Is look at you / Looking at me with the moonlight in your eyes. Much has been said about our kind of music, but seldom has it been deemed romantic. Of all people, Greg Freeman has delivered the year's sweetest moment via the first single from his October record. It's nice to be reminded that lasting musical gems like "Indu" are still possible. 

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Sally Rose ft Palmyra, "Trash Heap Mountain Treasure"  Feral  (Rose, Nov)

Here's a charming bit of feral folk that very few are talking about so far. Backed by a couple members of Palmyra, Rose's little acoustic number lands with the innocence of early Lily Seabird or like an outtake from Dragon New Warm Mountain. Tbh, we don't even recall where we came across this, but it's been spinning on repeat ever since. 

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Orville Peck, "Too Little Too Late"  Mule  (Warner, Sep 17)

Is this exactly what we hoped Orville Peck's new record might sound like? Yes. Yes it is. The very buff singer (has he always been this muscly?) bouncing from pose to pose, the clappy mechanics, and Orville locking eyes meaningfully with a horse. Happy, happy Friday. 

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Alex Izenberg, "South California Blues" single  (Mexican Summer, 26)

We likened Izenberg's 2024 record to the sad boy pop of the late Richard Swift. Dripping with pedal steel, and arriving with a video featuring surfers and mermaid, this second single from an inevitable follow-up is a melancholy psychedelic-flavored treat. We're not fond of sand, so we'll wait in the car while you stroll meaningfully along the shore. 

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Stef Chura, "Danny" Dancing Alone On the Concrete  (Saddle Creek, Oct 2)

We don't feature much from Detroit these days, but we're happy to present the first single from Stef Chura's first project in seven years. For this tough-as-nails roots rocker, David Barbe put Chura in touch with Peter Buck and Mike Mills, formerly of REM, both of them featured on this cut. Since it might be awhile before we have something new from Lydia Loveless, "Danny" will more than suffice. 

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A ROUTES & BRANCHES GUiDE to FEEDiNG YOUR MONSTER (July 23, 2026)

A ROUTES & BRANCHES GUiDE to FEEDiNG YOUR MONSTER

good news about good noise

July 23, 2026

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

Back again for updates to A Routes & Branches Guide To Feeding Your Monster, our routinely updated new release calendar. Buddy Miller is ubiquitous in our kind of music, which is why it's surprising that it's been fifteen (15) years since his last solo album. This will be rectified with the September 11 release of his new self-titled project (New West). On the other hand, Greg Freeman released his very good last record less that a year ago. Transgressive Records has announced a follow-up, All Set the Bone, all set for an October 2 appearance. We're still awaiting the first single from Left Arm Tan's reunion album. But the band has set October 9th for the release of When Tigers Smoked! Minnesota folker Charlie Parr is working with Smithsonian Records to share Rooming House, slated for an October 16 street date. That same date, you'll want to set aside your allowance for that Felice Brothers tribute we've mentioned. Felice County Fair is hitting virtual shelves courtesy of Sony Music. 

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^Aaron Lee Tasjan is presently touring behind his new Get Over It, Underdog LP. Over the years, we've come to appreciate how he readily and intelligently speaks his mind. This refreshing habit recently resulted in a handful of concertgoers leaving his show, apparently offended by his song, "I Love America Better Than You". We're not familiar with suggest.com, but we suggest you look at their chat with ALT in which he gives his own account of the episode. 

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We've been adding singles to our ROUTES-casts from Sam & Louise Sullivan's Love & Devotion, released tomorrow (Friday). Paste calls them the next great family band, and elaborates on their lofty claim in a recent piece. The siblings address their ceramics side hustle, their shared love of the Roches' Seductive Reasoning, and unsuccessful poets who become English teachers. 

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The Guardian catches up with Brittany Howard and Alabama Shakes as we eagerly await August 28th's I Must Be Dreaming. Read all about the events leading up to the trio's reunion, as well as some info about the direction of their forthcoming project. 

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It makes us happy that Jobi Riccio is garnering increased attention for her Face the Feeling collection. Check out Bluegrass Situation's interview to find out more about Riccio's connection with John Prine, migrating from a weird hippie town in Colorado to Nashville, and the best pen she ever owned. 

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We believe Free Dirt Records does trad right. If you concur, or if you're not certain what they do, you'll want to check out Daily Bandcamp's celebration of the label's second decade. The piece also includes several streamable instances of their artists' work. 

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The Overeducated & Underemployed video blog wrangles the very well educated and quite busy David Barbe, producer/musician/director of the Music Business Certificate Program at University Of Georgia. The thorough interview touches on his work as a bassist for Sugar, his work as a drummer for Drive-by Truckers, and the impact of a 1976 Lynyrd Skynyrd show. 

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We're genuinely fond of Styrofoam Winos' recent Any River record from last month. Trevor and Joe from the band wander into the studios for Raven Sings the Blues to sing the praises of a pair of under-the-radar LPs. One of them is called The Singing Hobo and His Hobos!

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We've been following Have Gun Will Travel since their earliest years, including last year's Voyager Golden EP. Americana UK pins down frontguy Matt Burke, and provides a nice overview of the act's past, present, future. We realized that we completely missed their "Angry Monkey" single in May!

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One of last year's most interesting tribute records spoke to the national pastime of covering Neil Young. A pair of follow-up albums have been announced, both benefiting Bridge School and arriving on November 6. Heart Of Gold, Vol 2 and 3, will feature tracks from artists like Tyler Ballgame, MJ Lenderman, Lucinda Williams, and so many more. Read more at the KLOFmag blog. 

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