ROUTES & BRANCHES 

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

October 21, 2018

Scott Foley, purveyor of gourds

As a librarian, I serve my fair share of people experiencing homelessness.  I accept it as one of the perks of my job, to welcome them and to touch base with them in passing.  If you ask them who they are and what they do, not a one would start with the homeless thing.  Like you and me, these are people with childhoods and with interests and demons, some with careers and all with dreams.  There's one who curates a website of his remarkable paintings, and another who boasts an encyclopedic knowledge of children's lit.  One spends his mornings watching retro hip hop videos in the Computer Lab, pushing back his chair and mouthing along to the good parts.  Another hangs with her homeless friends by day, retreating to her comfortable home as the evening cools.

Every artist courts their muse.  Whether for inspiration, for direction or just for an extra shot of confidence.  Becky Warren finds hers in the least-of-these.  Her 2016 solo debut, the semi-autobiographical War Surplus told stories of an Iraq War vet and his wife, coping with and crumbling under the weight of his post-battle trauma.  For her follow-up, Undesirable, she sat with fellow Nashville residents selling a regular newspaper focused on the stories of the homeless.  The songwriter tells how she entered into the conversations expecting to hear about health problems and substance abuse, but came away with notebooks full of hope and heart.

Those stories shine brilliantly on Warren's sophomore CD, shot through with humor and heartbreak, told with great pathos and yearning.  The opener, "We're All We Got" is an Alejandro Escovedo-worthy rocker, featuring the trademark vocal stamp of Indigo Girls' Amy Ray.  The tune ably establishes the spirit of the album:  We're all we got / Just a bunch of half-empties / A couple last shots.  The odds aren't tipped in the favor of the struggling forgotten, but there's an element of pride, optimism and identity that remains.

I'll stop down and say right here that Becky Warren may already be among the best writers of her generation.  Lyrically, she drops rich lines like the one that portrays her characters Rolling around the city all day like loose change, and enforces her words with a solid musical buzz.  Like the opener, "Highway Lights" is tough and tuneful, a guitar based rocker delivered in a voice that's immediately credible:  Underneath the overpass / Counting dimes and nickels in jelly jars / Waiting on the evening rush / Ten thousand heartaches in ten thousand cars.  These are people we know, or at least folks that we pass everyday on our way from here to there.  Warren's portrayal is compassionate without being patronizing:  Now I'm old / Older than I ever thought I'd be / Sleeping 'neath the auto parts store marquee.

While War Surplus was among my favorites for the year, there is an increased confidence and identity in Undesirable.  Warren is a tough rocking horse like Sarah Shook on "You're Always Drunk" or "Nobody Wants to Rock n Roll No More", tracks that keep the CD from sinking too far into sincerity.  Both boast some gritty electric guitar, and pedal steel shines through whenever appropriate.  "Carmen" creates another diversion, a good-natured piece featuring a farting bass, playful toy instruments and some retro arcade noises.  Even here, her music is focused and her message is consistent:  I'm gonna find a little blue house / We'll peel potatoes on a couch someone left on the curb.

Undesirable is at its best on songs like "Drake Motel" and "Half-Hearted Angel".  Becky Warren is not a rising star, timidly testing her voice.  She is a fully established artist awaiting the attention of the roots music masses.  She didn't quite spring out of thin air, having served as the frontperson on a couple releases with The Great Unknowns.  But with her first two albums she presents herself as among our most deserving writers.  Like Mary Gauthier, her stories emerge direct from the trouble and clutter of our daily lives.  Like Eliza Gilkyson, she spreads her poetic wings to soar beyond it all:  Some girls wear welcome signs / Free as blown dandelions / I don't shine like that anymore / Instead I burn neon / If there's a barstool to lean on.

- Margo Price, "Most Likely You Go Your Way" single  (Spotify, 18)
- Turnpike Troubadours, "1968"  Diamonds & Gasoline  (Onward, 11)
- Texas Gentlemen, "Pretty Flowers" TX Jelly  (New West, 17)
- Larry & His Flask, "Hoping Again" This Remedy  (Xtra Mile, 18)
- Alela Diane, "Blackberry (feat. Mariee Sioux)" Pirate's Gospel: Bonus Edition  (Diane, 18)  D
- Will Hoge, "My American Dream" My American Dream  (Edlo, 18)
- John Hiatt, "One Stiff Breeze" Eclipse Sessions  (New West, 18)
- Blackberry Smoke, "You Got Lucky (feat. Amanda Shires)" Southern Ground Sessions  (3 Legged, 18)  D
- Colter Wall, "Tying Knots in the Devil's Tail" Songs of the Plains  (Young Mary's, 18)
- Amanda Shires, "Detroit or Buffalo" Carrying Lightning  (Silver Knife, 11)
- Drew Beskin, "Heavenly Sway" Nostalgia Porn  (Laser Brains, 18)  D
- Stephen Kellogg & the Sixers, "Glassjaw Boxer" Glassjaw Boxer  (Fat Sam, 07)
- Gregory Alan Isakov, "Bullet Holes" Evening Machines  (Dualtone, 18)
- Glorietta, "I Know" Glorietta  (Nine Mile, 18)
- Steel Woods, "Old News" Old News  (Woods Music, 18)  D
- Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster, "Laid Low" Constant Stranger  (Big Legal Mess, 16)
- Jamie Lin Wilson, "Eyes For You" Jumping Over Rocks  (JLW, 18)
- Jason Isbell & 400 Unit, "24 Frames (live)" Live From the Ryman  (Southeastern, 18)
- Phosphorescent, "These Rocks" C'est la Vie  (Dead Oceans, 18)
^ Becky Warren, "Half-Hearted Angel" Undesirable  (Warren, 18)
- Tim Barry, "5 Twenty 5" Manchester  (Chunksaah, 11)
- Hillstomp, "Goddamn Heart" Monster Receiver  (Fluff & Gravy, 18)
- Adam's House Cat, "Long Time Ago" Town Burned Down  (ATO, 18)
- Lucero, "Cover Me" Among the Ghosts  (Liberty + Lament, 18)
- Eric Bachmann, "Dead and Gone" No Recover  (Merge, 18)
- Edward David Anderson, "Ballad of Lemuel Penn" Chasing Butterflies  (EDA, 18)  D
- Will Oldham, "Glory Goes" Songs of Love & Horror  (Drag City, 18)  D
- Cody Jinks, "Stranger" Lifers  (Rounder, 18)
- Michigan Rattlers, "Just Good Night" Evergreen  (Rattlers, 18)  D
- Neilson Hubbard, "Don't Make Me Walk Through This World On My Own" Cumberland Island  (Proper, 18)

This Episode introduces promising new projects from Southern rockers Steel Woods.  Will Oldham sets aside his Bonnie "Prince" Billy persona for a stripped back take on his oeuvre.  We give into the "Heavenly Sway" with former District Attorneys frontguy Drew Beskin.  And Michigan Rattlers offer a tuneful strain of Midwestern roots rock on their full-length debut.