Wednesday, August 29, 2012

ROUTES & BRANCHES
August 25, 2012
Scott Foley

So last week I vowed to give some R&B airlove to some of the CDs that had been sitting on my desk for weeks or months without my attention.  For this Episode, the final 6 albums fulfill that promise with some very good music.  The fact remains, however, that if I want to play some excellent music I sometimes have to push aside some very good music.  Hope to be able to spin more of these in the weeks to come. 

Have I said recently what a fine year it has been for Colorado music?  4H Royalty, Arliss Nancy, Glowing House, Johnny Hickman, Lumineers, etc etc.  Add to this auspicious line up Boulder's Yawpers, whose Capon Crusade arrived inconspicuously (passed onto me in the form of a home burned disc) but has been burning up my car and at my desk all week.  Last year's Savage Blue EP, a worthy couple songs for certain, barely hinted at the promise realized on the new full length album. Fueled by fuzzed out guitars and the borderline schizophrenic howls of Nate Cook the Yawpers might bring to mind Black Keys as crossed with Deer Tick (on a good day).  Time will tell, but there's no reason Capon Crusade shouldn't find itself the subject of some national attention. 

Also here, Iris Dement emerges from her sixteen year prairie exile with what promises to be an album that mixes the more mature songwriting of Way I Should with the more pastoral spirit of Dement's first two classic releases.  After nearly two decades, you'd certainly hope for something good ... 

Oh, and this weekend (Sat 8/2) I'll be hangin' around post-R&B to handle the mic for Andy's Tarnation! show.  Please keep me company as I occupy the airwaves for four full hours this Saturday. 

*  Elliott BROOD, "Lindsay"  Days Into Years  (Paper Bag, 11)
*  Brothers Comatose, "Van Song"  Respect the Van  (Self, 12)
*  Denver, "Way It Is"  Way It Is  (Self, 12)
*  Amanda Shires, "I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass"  Lowe  Country  (Fiesta Red, 12)
*  Butch Hancock, "Wind's Dominion"  Own & Own  (Sugar Hill, 89)
*  Flatlanders, "I Know You"  Odessa Tapes  (New West, 12)
*  Iris Dement, "Sing the Delta"  Sing the Delta  (Flariella, 12)  D
*  Sofie Reed, "Outside the City"  Simplicity Chased Trouble Away  (Self, 12)
*  Blackberry Smoke, "Pretty Little Lie"  Whippoorwill  (Southern Ground, 12)
*  Ry Cooder, "Take Your Hands Off It"  Election  Special  (Nonesuch, 12)  D
*  Spirit Family Reunion, "I Want To Be  Released"  No Separation  (Self, 12)
^  Yawpers, "Mother"  Capon Crusade  (Self, 12)  D
*  Hackensaw Boys, "Oh Girl"  Look Out  (Nettwerk, 07)
*  Old Crow Medicine Show, "Steppin' Out"  Carry Me Back  (ATO, 12)
*  Tift Merritt, "Still Not Home"  Traveling Alone  (Yep Roc, 12)
*  Tin Horn Prayer, "Stumble"  Grapple the Rails  (Paper + Plastick, 12)
*  Graham Weber, "Sweet Virginia Brown"  Women  (Self, 12)  D
*  Dwight Yoakam, "Take a Hold of My Heart"  3 Pears  (Warner, 12)  D
*  Patty Griffin, "When It Don't Come Easy"  Impossible Dream  (ATO, 04)
*  David Wax Museum, "Will You Be Sleeping"  Knock Knock Get Up  (Self, 12)  D
*  Malcolm Holcombe, "Down the River"  Down the River  (Gypsy Eyes, 12)
*  Gun Street Ghost, "Fine"  One Home  (Self, 12)
*  Carsie Blanton, "Smoke Alarm"  Idiot Heart  (Self, 12)  D
*  Washers, "Good Ole Days"  Tired Eyes  (Self, 12)  D
*  Brett Detar, "Devil's Gotta Earn"  Bird in the Tangle  (Self, 11) 
*  Mark Collie, "I Could've Gone Right (live)"  Alive at Brushy Mt State Penitentiary  (Wilbanks, 12)  D
*  Barker Band, "Bad Thing"  Dig Me a Hole  (Self, 12)  D
*  Jon Gant, "And I Always Will"  Rough Start To the Night  (Self, 12)  D

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