ROUTES & BRANCHES  

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

February 24, 2019

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

It's true.  Almost anything that was ever on the 'net is still there.  You can still find videos of a sweaty young Joshua Fleming fronting a Fort Worth punk trio called The Phuss, a guy who is obviously performing from his heart and leaving it all on stage.  Seven years of spit and anger and abuse took its toll, and it was time to try something new.

Inspired after catching a few episodes of Marty Stuart's RFD-TV show, Fleming set out to try his hand at a couple country songs.  With fellow Dallas artist John Pedigo (the O's), he worked his first demos until he thought he had something, then gathered six veterans from area bands to record 2015's Ameri-kinda beneath the Vandoliers flag.  Early efforts like "Blaze of Glory" and "Wild Flower" caught our attention, and Joshua Fleming's country band fast became an R&B favorite.  True to the album's name, it wasn't exactly country, though you might see it from there.

Forward not even a year to a second project with Pedigo and the Vandoliers, 2017's The Native.  Behind the strength of songs like "Rolling Out" and "Juke Joint Lover", the sophomore CD garnered praise from more established media.  What's more, heavy touring earned the band a tighter sound that more closely reflected the music of the Vandoliers' Texas home.  Along with the careening spirit of punk, Fleming juxtaposed Tejano-inspired fiddle and mariachi trumpet.  Drums pound and Fleming's voice was is terrifically frayed, but "Bluebonnet Highway" sounds like a red-white-and-blue, rocking country tune.

After two releases with Dallas-based State Farm Records, the Vandoliers have emigrated to Bloodshot for their third project, Forever.  Pedigo has ceded the producer's chair to Adam Hill, who has served previously with Low Cut Connie and Deer Tick.  Those trademark sonics remain, though Forever is largely the story of Joshua Fleming's evolution as an artist and writer.  As the Vandoliers' reputation spread, the band was taken on the road and under the wing of Rhett Miller and Old 97s.  Fleming tells how he shared his new songs with the veteran writer, who responded with generous feedback, even receiving cowriting credits on "Fallen Again".

Vandoliers share a hard-driving, fast-forward appeal with those Texas music legends, even as they've charted their own proper course.  "Ring of Fire" horns and fiddle challenge charging drums for the upper hand on "Troublemaker", a story of the artist as a young badass with a tattooed heart and bloodshot eyes.  The tune tumbles recklessly, irresistibly forward, a meeting of Josh Fleming's alt past and country present.  It's the sound of gasoline and a Zippo lighter, heard also on "Sixteen Years".  Like much of Forever, it's a story rooted in the writer's own story.

With its piano accents and fist pumping chorus, there is an anthemic element to "Miles and Miles", a touring performer's ode to wanderlust. There is still plenty of grit on songs like "Fallen Again",  though these are also more complete songs than we might've come to expect from the Vandoliers.  Come for the heavily strummed acoustic; stay for the unexpected Spanish guitar.  The night of debauchery is nothing new, it's the morning reflection that speaks to a newfound maturity:  I have been reckless, careless and selfish / Foolish in the ways of love / I woke up downtown, concrete face down / Last night I fucked it all up.

One can't say enough about that voice of his, a masterfully abrasive instrument that can only be likened to John J McCauley of Deer Tick or to the Yawpers' Nate Cook, a whiskey torn voice, holding on by a strand, to quote Fleming himself.  With its wider array of sounds, Forever allows him to showcase his gift.  "Tumbleweed" is nearly tender, its melodicism enhanced with some quality harmonies from Cory Graves.  And "Cigarettes in the Rain" sounds like little else the band has recorded.

Today you can find videos online of a sweaty Fleming channeling that same early punk energy in service of these new songs.  More than five years removed from his Phuss days, he's more then fulfilled that promise to try his hand at a few country songs.  On Forever, Joshua Fleming is still having a good time, he's simply becoming a bonafide writer in the process.


- Budos Band, "Old Engine Oil" Budos Band V  (Daptone, Apr 12)  D
- Yola, "It Ain't Easier" Walk Through Fire  (Easy Eye, 19)
- Gurf Morlix, "My Heart Keeps Poundin'" Impossible Blue  (Gurf, 19)
- Lonesome Shack, "New Dream" Desert Dreams  (Alive Naturalsound, Mar 1)
- Amy McCarley, "Farewell Paradise" MECO  (MECO, 19)
- Long Ryders, "All Aboard" Psychedelic Country Soul  (Omnivore, 19)
- Justin Townes Earle, "Ain't Got No Money" Patron Saint of Lost Causes  (New West, May 24)  D
- Molly Tuttle, "Million Miles" When You're Ready  (Compass, Apr 5)
- David Huckfelt, "False True Love Blues" Stranger Angels  (Huckfelt, 19)
- Lee Bains III & Glory Fires, "Righteous Ragged Songs" There is a Bomb in Gilead  (Alive Naturalsound, 12)
- Blank Range, "Trick of Light" In Unison  (Sturdy Girls, 19)
- Adia Victoria, "Pacolet Road" Silences  (Atlantic, 19)
- Caleb Elliott, "Don't Go Losing Your Head" Forever to Fade  (Single Lock, 19)
- Wilco, "How to Fight Loneliness" Summerteeth  (Nonesuch, 99)
- Durand Jones & the Indications, "Long Way Home" American Love Call  (Dead Oceans, Mar 1)
^ Vandoliers, "Sixteen Years" Forever  (Bloodshot, 19)
- Deer Tick, "White City" Mayonnaise  (Partisan, 19)
- Susto, "Last Century" Ever Since I Lost My Mind  (Rounder, 19)
- Our Native Daughters, "I Knew I Could Fly" Songs of Our Native Daughters  (Smithsonian, 19)
- Eli Paperboy Reed, "99 Cent Dreams" 99 Cent Dreams  (Yep Roc, Apr 12)  D
- Jimbo Mathus, "Sunken Road" Incinerator  (Big Legal Mess, Apr 5)  D
- Cowboy Junkies, "Sun Comes Up It's Tuesday Morning" Caution Horses  (BMG, 90)
- Murray A Lightburn, "Centre of My Universe" Hear Me Out  (Dangerbird, 19)
- Bohannons, "Refills" Bloodroot  (Cornelius Chapel, Apr 5)
- Matthew Logan Vasquez, "Character Assassination" Light'n Up  (Dine Alone, 19)
- Old 97s, "Victoria" Wreck Your Life  (Bloodshot, 95)
- Matt Andersen, "Quarter On the Ground" Halfway Home By Morning  (True North, Mar 22)  D
- Patty Griffin, "Hourglass" Patty Griffin  (PGM, Mar 8)
- Charles Wesley Godwin, "Seneca Creek" Seneca  (CWG, 19)
- Emily Scott Robinson, "The Dress" Traveling Mercies  (Tone Tree, 19)

Real busy week.  One which featured my laptop, home to all my music and files and life and such, going into A Big Sleep. Thanks to my generous son, I'm pretty much back in business, with his laptop with buttons in different places and a smaller keyboard and still no files.  Also, there's a touch screen that means I might delete everything next time I go to adjust the screen.

February 22 welcomed the second full-length record from hybrid Southern blueswoman Adia Victoria, Silences.  Watchers of our playlists will remember that we've been grasping at pieces of Yola's debut since the first of December.  Now, it's all yours.  And we've been enjoying the music of Matthew Logan Vasquez since 2007's Ode to Sunshine.  Vasquez has been focusing on evolving his solo sounds, with his third full length hitting shelves this week.

Come March 1, we'll be looking out for new stuff from Quaker City Night Hawks.  We're looking forward to Durand Jones & the Indications' first album for the Dead Oceans label.  And we'll hear completed sets from Cactus Blossoms, Lonesome Shack and Adam Klein.