ROUTES & BRANCHES

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

November 4, 2018

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

Last Episode I mentioned that I'd share some dates for our upcoming year-end ROUTES-casts.  After staring down the calendar for a couple minutes, I've emerged with these:

Favorite Songs:  November 26

Favorite Records:  December 10

Christmas Show:  December 23

Please plan your lives accordingly.  I'll let you know that my in my first pass through the year's releases I pared things down to just 52 contendahs.  Always feel free to share your own year-end favorites, either by comment below or by email to routesandbranches@gmail.com.  Partake in the joy that is the holiday season at Routes & Branches {ding dong}.

I've kept no secret that my taste in music vastly overflows the boundaries we've established here at R&B hq.  I could (and have (and still might again)) shared lists of favorite roots-free records.  As a young and opinionated music snob aficionado, my collection ran the gamut from Thin Lizzy and Iron Maiden to Kate Bush and Skinny Puppy.  Metal and hard rock were regular staples of Little Scott's audio diet, and while my attention has shifted a bit I continue to value the edge and the aggression that propel that harder stuff.

From the edgy environs of Cleveland, Mississippi, Will Griffith brings that edge in spades for Bloody Noses & Roses, his debut under the Great Dying moniker (Dial Back Sound, Nov 16).  Originally built by Bruce Watson (Fat Possum/Big Legal Mess), Dial Back Sound is the Water Valley project of Drive-by Trucker Matt Patton and engineer/producer Bronson Tew. Per their website: "As a production team, Patton & Tew referenced everything from from Townes Van Zandt and Blaze Foley to Dead Moon and the Stooges to give the songs the feel of a broken spirit or a set of bloody knuckles".

Will Griffith served time in harder rock environs before deciding to try his hand at this roots music thing.  That's not especially unusual, since so many artists from our kind of music cut their teeth on punk or rock.  The difference can be how much of the harder stuff they bring forward in their roots mix.  Bloody Noses introduces us to the Great Dying with "Nobody Arrives", an ominous stunner that lurches from acapella to acoustic strumming to a dark cloud of drums, guitars and backing vocals.  The track aptly sets the tone for the record, placing Griffith in a vortex of sound and fury: All I've loved and all I've lost / Was half a life at twice the cost.

From there, the Great Dying's debut keeps the listener on edge with whiplash juxtapositions from one song to the next, a burst of electric aggression followed by a lo-fi acoustic field recording.  No matter the setting, the pervading spirit is one of dread and self-doubt.  "Cellar Below" is a barely controlled cacophony, a jangling rockabilly exorcism with demonic voices and violently scratching guitars: I don't think you oughta go out tonight.  The next moment, "Catchin' Hell" is a beautifully raw country cut, strummy acoustics joined by pretty pedal steel and the record's most tuneful vocal.  Griffith doesn't have much of an online presence, but the few live tracks I've found speak well to his skill as an unconventional singer.

Quiet doesn't always equal peace on Bloody Noses.  "Magnolia" floats in on birdsong and pedal steel, though the song is fraught with longing and doubt: Tell me Magnolia / Is this evil or beautiful / I can see you're still an angel / And I'm always a fool.  See also "Beer by the Bed", another deceptively hushed setting that might recall a young and troubled Steve Earle.  These moments can be musically gorgeous, perfectly unadorned and emotionally immediate.

But all that unsettled beauty is routinely troubled by the buzzsaw of pieces like "Get You a Gun" and the aptly named "100 mph".  These moments of take-no-prisoners aggression are rare in our kind of music, even on the fringes of alt.country, and the adrenaline is dangerously infectious:  You're so damn sweet for posting my bail / ... If I'm gonna get drunk / I'm gonna get drunk with you.  "Tennessee Song" corrals the Great Dying's fervor in service of a terrific country punk burner a'la Jason & the Scorchers at their most incendiary.

Are we witness to the birth of a new genre here?  Has the Great Dying inaugurated a strain of roots metal?  Naw.  Even tunes like "Junkiesque Skull" will likely strike fans of pure metal as country (even as they'll be too hard for most americana ears).  But the dark into which we're immersed is not the Halloween costume horror of a lot of gothic roots.  And while we're privy to several moments of bad living and poor judgement on Bloody Noses & Roses, there's an element of Griffith's angst that runs deeper than that.  Fans of Scott H. Biram will find something to like here, as will folks who recall some of Hank 3's early efforts.  With Matt Patton and Bronson Tew, Will Griffith has created an antidote to some of our kind of music's easy listening tendencies.  It might be more accurate to liken the Great Dying to the Gun Club's late Jeffrey Lee Pierce, or even David Eugene Edwards, artists whose dark night of the soul lingers well beyond the weekend. 

- John Moreland, "Gospel" In the Throes  (FTNWSNGS, 13)
- Hiss Golden Messenger, "Black Country Woman" Virgo Fool  (Merge, 18)
- Rosanne Cash, "Eight Gods of Harlem" She Remembers Everything  (Blue Note, 18)
- Pollies, "Love's To Fault" Transmissions  (TiAM, 18)
- Neilson Hubbard, "That Was Then" Cumberland Island  (Proper, 18)
- Goshen Electric Co., "Ring the Bell" single  (Secretly Canadian, 18)
- Drew Beskin, "Midnight Avenue Edge" Nostalgia Porn  (Laser Brains, 18)
- Kent Eugene Goolsby, "Trophies of Youth" Every Way But Easy  (KEG, 18)  D
- Carson McHone, "Maybe They're Just Really Good Friends" Carousel  (Nine Mile, 18)
- ZZ Top, "Enjoy and Get It On" Tejas  (Warner, 76)
- Nick Dittmeier & Sawdusters, "All Damn Day" All Damn Day  (Eastwood, 18)
- Kelly Pardekooper, "Long Goodbye" 50-Weight  (Pardekooper, 18)
- Bottle Rockets, "Way Down South" Bit Logic  (Bloodshot, 18)
- Marshall Chapman, "Somewhere South of Macon" Me I'm Feelin' Free  (Chapman, 77)
- JP Harris, "Jimmy's Dead and Gone" Sometimes Dogs Bark at Nothing  (Free Dirt, 18)
- Hillstomp, "Goddamn Heart" Monster Receiver  (Fluff & Gravy, 18)
- Larry & His Flask, "Dearly Departed" This Remedy  (Xtra Mile, 18)
- Legendary Shack Shakers, "Hoboes are My Heroes" Agridustrial  (Muddy Roots, 10)
- Shannen Moser, "Trouble" I'll Sing  (Lame-O, 18)
- Laura Gibson, "Slow Joke Grin" Goners  (Barsuk, 18)
- Doug Paisley, "Shadows" Starter Home  (No Quarter, 18)
- Gregory Alan Isakov, "Wings in All Black" Evening Machines  (Dualtone, 18)
- Alela Diane, "Oh! My Mama" Pirate's Gospel: Bonus Edition  (Diane, 18)
- Edward David Anderson, "Dog Days" Chasing Butterflies  (EDA, 18)
- Jerry David Decicca, "I Watched You Pray" Burning Daylight  (Super Secret, 18)
- Sarah Borges & Broken Singles, "I Can't Change It" Love's Middle Name  (Blue Corn, 18)
- Philippe Bronchtein, "Joy of Repetition" Me & the Moon  (Bronchtein, 18)
- Andrew Bird, "Bloodless" single  (Loma Vista, 18)  D
- Pope Paul & the Illegals, "Dial Back Boogie" Dial Back Boogie  (Bouyear, 17)
^ Great Dying, "Catchin' Hell" Bloody Noses & Roses  (Dial Back, 18)  D

A new EP from Kent Eugene Goolsby for this week's Episode.  We dig a little further into a worthy Kelly Pardekooper effort.  Andrew Bird releases a pointed single for this crucial election week.  And Doug Paisley has issued another quiet stunner.  Plus, we've included twice as many ZZ Top numbers this year than ever before!  It's all free on your doorstep if you got The Spotify.