ROUTES & BRANCHES
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
August 19, 2018
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

Southeast Engine.  I'm not sure why, but during their decade or so of recording, I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the Athens, Ohio band.  Since their dissolution I've found myself turning and returning to their handful of releases, enjoying their smart, tuneful Midwest folk-rock racket (a'la Frontier Ruckus, Okkervil River, maybe a more literarily-driven Centro-matic).  Last year latter day bandmember and multi-instrumentalist William Matheny surprised and delighted with his Strange Constellations, the companion piece to which (Moon Over Kenova) hit the shelves a couple months ago.  Check that one out for a few new cuts and some fine live takes on his songs.

Adam Remnant served as guitarist and frontman for Southeast Engine.  He released his debut solo EP, When I Was a Boy, in 2016.

when I was a boy I spoke like a boy / but now those ways have come to an end / and I couldn't wait to understand / what it means to be a man / when I was a boy

Apparently, I missed that one too.  Fortunately, I have a chance to redeem my earlier oversight.  Remnant has released his first full-length project, Sourwood.   The basic tracks for the new album were completed during the same sessions as the EP, in the waning days of Southeast Engine.  While the production on the releases is different, there's some benefit to listening to both as a piece.  After years of touring with his band, Remnant dedicated himself to family life, retreating occasionally into his basement studio and applying himself to the painstaking process of learning how to set his new, more personal songs to tape.  While his cracked, worn voice will be familiar to fans of his band, Sourwood tells stories about the singer himself, and his process of giving into adulthood.

Remnant calls Sourwood, "9 New Songs Regarding Dreams and Realities".  The pieces explore the spectrum between the freedom of life on the road and the commitment of making a life at home.  They range from the allure and abandon of the dream tree in "California" to the deep local roots which reach throughout the collection.  It's that radical sense of place that largely defines this new phase of his life and work.  He's the yearning prodigal son, returning home in the evocative "Ohio":

Ohio, I'm gone with the spring and back with the fall / the boy with the map no one can draw / I thought you might still be my friend / I thought you might take me in / Ohio, Ohio

The sounds are primarily acoustic, with special praises owed to the lovely violin of Ryan Stolte-Sawa on tracks like "Ohio".  "Cross You Bear" adds some soulful keys alongside Remnant's most expressive vocal that recalls Tallest Man on Earth.  It's a warm and accessible quality that makes these songs ring truer and land closer to the heart.  Some lyrics sound like overheard conversations between Remnant and his wife Amanda (the carpenter's daughter) around an early morning breakfast table.  And while she's only occasionally mentioned by name, she's a presence throughout Sourwood, as an inspiration and an anchor, a source of guilt and strength and connection.  This speaks to the push and pull the writer feels, the attraction and restlessness generated by a life closer to home.  Each of those competing forces is present in "She Has a Way of Finding Me Out":  so forgive this actor / this small crowd attractor / and all of the money he owes.

The project's centrepiece is its title cut, a rambling, multifaceted mythology of small-town home that unspools beyond the seven-minute mark.  Instrumentation evolves from solo acoustic to keening strings and ringing electric guitars, verging on a Springsteen-like roots anthem.  You'll want to track down Remnant's lyrics, which read like a poetry of soul-searching:  she prayed to the crucified wires / she was afraid to dare look at the time / and she swore with her hands on the dashboard / I will reach my destination.

The spirit of Sourwood ranges from lush to fragile, from ambitious gestures to the sound of a man recording in his basement.  While Adam Remnant has surrounded himself with a capable cadre of accompanists, these are intensely personal statements.  It's not simply the continuation of his labors with Southeast Engine, but rather a wholesale reassessment of his musical expression.

- Southeast Engine, "Ruthie" Canary (Misra, 14)
- William Matheny, "Blood Moon Singer (live on Mt Stage)" Moon Over Kenova  (Misra, 18)
^ Adam Remnant, "She Has a Way of Finding Me Out" Sourwood  (Anyway, 18)  D
- Iron & Wine, "Waves of Galveston" Weed Garden EP  (Sub Pop, 18)
- Felice Brothers, "Radio Song" Felice Brothers  (Team Love, 08)
- Pollies, "Unknown Legend"  Transmissions  (This is American Music, 18)
- William Elliott Whitmore, "Hot Blue & Righteous" Kilonova  (Bloodshot, 18)
- Eric Lindell, "Heavy Heart" Revolution in Your Heart  (Alligator, 18)  D
- Kacey Musgraves, "Kansas City Star" King of the Road: Tribute to Roger Miller  (BMG, 18)  D
- Kevin Gordon, "Saint on a Chain" Tilt & Shine  (Crowville, 18)
- Devil Makes Three, "Pray for Rain" Chains are Broken  (New West, 18)
- Alejandro Escovedo, "Outlaw for You" The Crossing  (Yep Roc, 18)
- Bottle Rockets, "Bit Logic" Bit Logic  (Bloodshot, 18)  D
- Uncle Tupelo, "Long Cut" Anodyne  (Reprise, 93)
- Lucero, "Everything Has Changed" Among the Ghosts  (Liberty + Lament, 18)
- Lee Bains III & Glory Fires, "Red Red Dirt of Home (live)" Live at the Nick  (Don Giovanni, 18)  D
- Israel Nash, "Rolling On" Lifted  (Desert Folklore, 18)
- Bobby Bare Jr, "Motel Time Again" Touch My Heart: Tribute to Johnny Paycheck  (Sugar Hill, 04)
- Adam Hood, "She Don't Love Me (feat. Brent Cobb)" Somewhere in Between  (Soundly, 18)  D
- Larry & His Flask, "This Remedy" This Remedy  (Xtra Mile, 18)  D
- Adam Faucett, "Central Avenue" It Took the Shape of a Bird  (Last Chance, 18)  D
- Cat Power, "Woman (feat. Lana Del Rey)" Wanderer  (Domino, 18)
- Gold Star, "Get it Together (C'mon)" Uppers & Downers  (Autumn Tone, 18)  D
- Band of Heathens, "Hey Mister" Message From the People Revisited  (BoH, 18)
- Shinyribs, "Brokedown Palace" single  (Next Waltz, 18)  D
- Austin Lucas, "My Mother & the Devil" Immortal Americans  (Cornelius Chapel, 18)
- Gregory Alan Isakov, "Caves" Evening Machines  (Dualtone, 18)
- Kevin Galloway, "Hands on the Wheel" The Change  (Nine Mile, 18)
- Yarn, "Empty Pockets" Empty Pockets  (Ardsley, 08)
- Eric Church, "Heart Like a Wheel" Desperate Man  (EMI Nashville, 18)