ROUTES & BRANCHES
October 20, 2012
Scott Foley

Great thanks to Mr Ronnie Fauss for stopping by the show this week!  While a scratchy throat prevented him from playing live, we had a great chat during which he let me know that R&B was the very first radio play he'd received close to four years ago.  Ronnie also seems to be a genuinely nice guy, which makes his signing to a strong label all the more worth celebrating.

On his new album, Ronnie sings a duet with Lilly Hiatt on Gram Parsons' "Sin City".  Lilly is a labelmate on New West's Normaltown imprint, having just released a fine debut of her own with her band, the Dropped Ponies.  Let Down introduces Hiatt's musical vision, a cross between Lindi Ortega's truckstop noir and Amanda Shires' more playful flirtiness.  And yes, Lilly Hiatt is the daughter of John Hiatt (though she neither looks nor sounds like Dad).  Her songs demonstrate a maturity beyond her experience, and her Dropped Ponies features members of more weathered bands such as Drew Holcombe Band and Over the Rhine.  Hiatt sites a diversity of acts as inspirations, from Prine and Van Zandt to Pearl Jam.  And, of course, the wise and road-tested advice of her father.

Also on this Episode, we dip our musical toes to test the waters of Cody Canada's second post-Cross Canadian Ragweed album with his Departed band.  We also continue our appreciation of Jamey Johnson's appreciation for legendary country writer Hank Cochran.  

*  Lucero, "I'll Just Fall"  Tennessee  (Madjack, 02)
*  Low Cut Connie, "Brand New Cadillac"  Call Me Sylvia  (Self, 12)
*  Patterson Hood, "Fifteen Days (Leaving Time Again)"  Heat Lightning  (ATO, 12)
*  AJ Downing, "My Wagon Just Won't Roll"  Good Day  (Charkansas, 12)  D
*  Old 97s, "Beer Cans"  Too Far To Care (Remastered)  (New West, 12)
*  Allison Moorer, "Fairweather"  Getting Somewhere  (Sugar Hill, 06)
*  Ronnie Fauss, "I Don't See You"
*  Ronnie Fauss, "Night Before the War"  I Am the Man You Know I'm Not  (normaltown, 12)
*  Flying Burrito Brothers, "Sin City"  Gilded Palace of Sin  (A&M, 69)
*  Ronnie Fauss, "The Last"
^  Lilly Hiatt & the Dropped Ponies, "3 Days"  Let Down  (normaltown, 12)
*  Somebody's Darling, "Back To the Bottle"  Jank City Shakedown  (Self, 12)
*  Bo Ramsey, "Forget You"  Just One More  (Bloodshot, 07)
*  Greg Brown, "Arkansas"  Hymns To What Is Left  (Sawdust, 12)
*  4H Royalty, "Rubber City Girl"  Colossalalia  (Self, 10)
*  Departed, "Prayer For the Lonely"  Adventus  (Underground Sound, 12)  D
*  Coal Porters, "You Only Miss Her"  Find the One  (Prima, 12)
*  Long Ryders, "You Just Can't Ride That Train"  State Of Our Union  (Prima, 85)
*  Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson, "Where No One Knows My Name"  Wreck & Ruin  (Sugar Hill, 12)
*  Yawpers, "At Last"  Capon Crusade  (Self, 12)
*  .357 String Band, "One More Round"  Fire & Hail  (Self, 08)
*  Jamey Johnson, "Way  to Survive"  Living For a Song  (Mercury, 12)
*  Two Tons of Steel, "Vegas"  Vegas  (Palo Duro, 05)
*  Have Gun Will Travel, "Living Dead Blues"  internet single  (Self, 12)  D
*  Bonnie & the Clydes, "Feel the Wheels Turn"  Wrong Side Up  (Self, 12)