ROUTES & BRANCHES
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
December 31, 2019
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust


It's one thing to indulge me as I share my own year-end lists (or decade-end lists, as the case may be).  It's a value-added to share what our favorite artists have been enjoying over the past twelve months.  This is our third post highlighting stuff from these guest editors, each of whom has been exceptionally generous with their time and their perspective, introducing us to new artists and/or helping us understand the influences behind their work. I tend to extend the invite to at least a dozen artists, and have been pleased in years where I've received three or four responses.  This year I distributed those invitations a bit late, but have been thrilled that all but a couple have come back with contributions.  I've always hoped R&B to be a conversation, so this kind of thing is heartening.

With that, we'll head into our most recent submissions.

Matthew Ryan has added to our year-end favorites lists in past years, and his picks have always been well considered.  This year, he released a 7-song collection called The Future Was Beautiful, much of which ended up on our ROUTES-cast playlists.

These aren’t listed in a preferential order per say. And certainly this list could go on and on. Sometimes I’d rather not do this at all because I don’t wish to hurt any of my friends via exclusion in something that might look so considered. This list isn’t, it’s simply what came to mind. Some are obvious heroes that I was so happy to hear from this year with songs that knocked me out and lifted me off the ground. Others are friends and acquaintances that I feel have quietly done some of their best work to date and I wanted to offer some small encouragement to keep going. So here’s my list....

1. Leonard Cohen - Thanks for the Dance

2. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Ghosteen

3. Hammock - Silencia

4. Joe Henry - Bloom

5. Will Webb - Wherever You Are

6. Micah Schnabel - The Teenage Years of the 21st Century

7. Jeremy White - Live! From a Room

8. Justin Townes Earle - The Saint Of Lost Causes

9. Molly Thomas and the Rare Birds - Honey’s Fury

10.  Jesse Malin - Sunset Kids

11. Sammy Kay - Civil/War

Erin Enderlin shared one of our favorite records of the year.  We wrote, Ultimately, Faulkner County tells stories, leaving listeners with the picture of a town haunted by lost souls and dark secrets, folks drifting away from last call with nobody to go home to.  After all, that's country.  Even so, some of Enderlin's most impressive pieces boldly challenge the long established country music traditions. Erin took a moment to shine a light on a couple collections that defined the year for her, with a special note about her number one:

Tanya Tucker - While I’m Livin’
Randy Houser - Magnolia
Reba McEntire - Stronger Than The Truth
Yola - Walk Through Fire

Tanya’s album is my favorite of the year. It’s absolutely perfect. She’s maybe singing better than she ever has - and she’s always been incredible - and the songs and production are the perfect compliments. So awesome to watch her shine.

We heaped some digital praise on Simon Joyner a couple months ago, on the occasion of the release of another of our favorite LPs of 2019, Pocket Moon.  Simon appropriately brings this year's artist picks posts to a close.  Here at R&B HQ, we frequently espouse the health benefits of music discovery, pawing through virtual crates of stuff in search of a sound that we haven't heard before.  For his entry, Joyner has written a brief appreciation of ten projects that check that box for us.

Brian Crook: This World Just Eats Me Up Alive (Ba Da Bing)
“Dark, shambolic songs of life and death from a New Zealand underground music legend (The Terminals, The Renderers).”

Bingo Trappers: Elizabethan (Morc Tapes/Almost Halloween Time)
“I’m not ashamed to admit I recently stood atop a shaky barstool in a crowded bar in Amsterdam after a few beers and proclaimed the BT’s as the best band ever to come out of the Netherlands. This album, the first in six years from the lo-fi, home-tape pioneers, is another masterpiece.”

Peter Laughner: Peter Laughner 5xLP box set (Smog Veil)
“This collects virtually everything Laughner did outside the famous Cleveland bands he was kicked out of before dying in 1977. It apparently took years to compile and it’s worth the wait. One of my favorite songwriters and guitarists (and rock critics!) I don’t know how many songs I’ve written after listening to ‘Baudelaire,’ ‘Cinderella Backstreet,’ ‘Sylvia Plath,’ or ‘Amphetamine.’ His songwriting is the earnest, naked street poetry Springsteen affects. There will be plenty of talented people dying young, as long as the world turns, unfortunately, but there will never be another Peter Laughner.”

Peter Jefferies: Last Ticket Home (Grapefruit)
“A collection of incredible unreleased songs and early singles from the 40-year career of the NZ artist who’s enjoying a renaissance due to reissues of records by his groundbreaking bands, Nocturnal Projections and This Kind of Punishment. His solo records are really important to me. This one is as good as his 90’s records, ‘Electricity’ and ‘The Last Great Challenge in a Dull World,’ in my opinion. Full disclosure, I released this on my Grapefruit Records label but I really do think he gave us one of the albums of the year!”

Roy Montgomery and Emma Johnston: After Nietzsche (Aguirre)
“A collaboration of brooding voices and electric guitars that make for a haunting, cathartic symphony on this under the radar album. It’s as if Glenn Branca and Nico made an album together.”

Jim Shepard: Heavy Action (Ever/Never)
“Another hero who died too young and whose many various essential releases have yet to be reissued. This album gathers unreleased songs from the private collection of one of Shepard’s close friends and it should be a revelation for any fan of Shepard’s bands: V-3, Vertical Slit, Ego Summit, or Columbus underground music in general.”

Mdou Moctar: Ilana, the Creator (Sahel Sounds)
“A trance-inducing psychedelic Saharan rock album from the Tuareg guitarist and his band. Mdou might be the best rock guitarist on the planet right now and he makes it look effortless. Seeing them live is even better than the record too.”

Jim Sullivan: If the Evening Were Dawn (Light in the Attic)
“A gorgeous coda of stripped down acoustic demos of songs from Sullivan’s masterpiece, ‘UFO’ and other unheard songs from a 1969 recording session. It’s so great to have more of his music unearthed and released. Light in the Attic does it again!

Arthur Russell: Iowa Dream (Audika)
‘Love is Overtaking Me’ is one of my favorite albums and ‘Iowa Dream’ continues where that one left off. More posthumous, heartfelt and surprising singer-songwriter pop songs shared by the estate of the avant-garde cellist/composer.”

Carla dal Forno: Look Up Sharp (Kallista)
“Excited to have more mesmerizing experimental electronic pop music from this Australian singer-songwriter. I loved ‘You Know What It’s Like’ from 2016 and this album is even more revelatory. Everyone should check out this music even if it’s not for everyone.”

Great Thanx to all the artists who participated in this year's poll!  I post this from one of my favorite coffee shops deep in the wilds of the Colorado Front Range, a warm retreat from the weather of the world.  My hope is that a little of that warmth finds its way to you readers, and that you disperse it among your own music community.  It's that strong spirit that we carry forward into the new days, years and decade to come.

Happy New Year.