ROUTES & BRANCHES 

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

January 19, 2020

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

A visit to Bandcamp or Allmusic will unearth dozens of strains of folk music: folk rock, indie folk, pop folk, experimental folk, contemporary folk, even anti-folk.  And arrayed along this spectrum are artists that reach from Woody Guthrie to Damien Jurado.  You'll find Bonnie Prince Billy rubbing skinny shoulders with Pete Seeger, Joan Shelly and Bedouine.  Beneath the heading for Anais Mitchell, you'll discover links for contemporary folk, political folk, alternative folk, indie singer-songwriter and more.

Once firmly embraced by the folk community, Mitchell's notoriety has exploded over the past couple years, thanks to the unanticipated success of her Hadestown musical, recipient of several Tony Awards.  Prior to that fortunate disruption, she had quietly woven a career behind her originals and her traditional interpretations, including 2013's Child Ballads, a gathering of reinterpreted English folksongs alongside Jefferson Hamer.  You'll also want to spend some time with 2012's ambitious concept record, Young Man In America.

In the wake of her Broadway folk-opera, Anais Mitchell was faced with the challenge of what's next.  That looming question was answered by her chance meeting with Fruit Bats force Eric D Johnson and Josh Kaufman, producer and multi-instrumentalist who has collaborated with artists such as Hiss Golden Messenger, Josh Ritter and the National.  Once that spark was lit, they were granted the opportunity to explore under the auspices of Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner's 37d03d collective, dedicated to the spirit of collaboration, spontaneity and expression.  Their preliminary Berlin sessions also found the trio, now christened Bonny Light Horseman, crossing paths with Lisa Hannigan, the Staves, and Christian Lee Hutson.  With feet firmly planted in the fertile soil of trad folk (primarily from the British Isles), Mitchell, Johnson and Kaufman produced a self-titled collection with a decidedly contemporary spirit.

The non-trad aspects of Bonny Light Horseman can likely be credited to Johnson and Kaufman, neither of whom claim folk as their native musical language.  Nevertheless, both artists make their contributions well within the lines of what we recognize as folk.  Johnson's lead vocal on Alasdair Roberts' "Magpie's Nest" sounds like nothing on Harry Smith's celebrated and influential Anthology, but it works beautifully.  Where the Scottish Roberts accompanied himself on a strummed acoustic, Johnson is backed by a subtle but ringing electric, atop a soft bed of brushed percussion and muted trumpet.

While folk plays by its own set of rules, it's admirably driven by interpretation and variation.  Bonny Light Horseman follow in this tradition, updating lyrics and melodies as their contemporary muse dictates.  "Deep In Love" traces its roots to "Water Is Wide", but Johnson's touches assure that the song would fit snugly alongside the rest of his Fruit Bats' existential make-out music.  The trio blend the minor key "Jane Jane" with the African American spiritual "Children Go Where I Send Thee", with Johnson and Mitchell alternating and twining their vocals.

Anais Mitchell's voice serves as the lightning rod for the project, conducting the songs' electricity and grounding the sessions.  Her delivery on the title cut isn't necessarily what we might think of as trad, but she sings with a familiarity and a mastery that only come with first-hand experience.  Breathy sax and harmonica float through the watery mix, along with atmospheric guitar and Mitchell's lovely vocal.  She is accompanied by piano on "The Roving", one of the CD's strongest tracks, an evolution of "Loving Hannah", previously performed by Mary Black, Jean Ritchie and others.  To my knowledge, just about every piece on Bonny serves as both an ode to and a departure from the original.  "Blackwaterside" (sliced, diced and reconstituted by Led Zeppelin as "Black Mountain Side") is typical of the collection's lovely vocal mix, trad lyrics brought up to date just enough to prevent the album from being a mere period piece.

Longtime R&B readers might recall my sordid history as a onetime folk music promoter.  In that guise, chances are good that I saw performers like Dougie Maclean, Tom Paxton and Peggy Seeger represent one of these tunes onstage a time or two.  My preferences have evolved in the years since, and I've sometimes expressed my distance for expressions of folk that lean towards the earnest and sincere.  Nevertheless, I'll always celebrate the spirit of collaboration, spontaneity and expression that spawned Bonny Light Horseman.  The man of the sea longed for on "Lowlands", gone to New Orleans / To spit in the eye of a hurricane, or the gospel call-and-response of "Bright Morning Stars" aren't stale museum dioramas.  On their loving new project, Mitchell, Johnson and Kaufman have tapped into a warm vein of musical interpretation, honoring tradition by bending and twisting it, then expressing it as their own.

- Left Arm Tan, "Pawn Shop Heart" Left Arm Tan  (LAT, 20)
- EDJ, "Minor Miracles" EDJ  (Easy Sound, 14)
- Samantha Crain, "An Echo" A Small Death  (Ramseur, May 1)  D
- Futurebirds, "Killing Ground" Teamwork  (VL4L, 20)
- Legendary Shack Shakers, "Hoboes Are My Heroes" Live From Sun Studio  (Chicken Ranch, 20)
- Marcus King, "Sweet Mariona" El Dorado  (Fantasy, 20)
- Drive-by Truckers, "Thoughts and Prayers" The Unraveling  (ATO, Jan 31)
- Ashley McBryde, "Martha Divine" Never Will  (Warner, Apr 3)  D
- Swamp Dogg, "Memories" Sorry You Couldn't Make It  (Joyful Noise, Mar 6)
- Kim Richey, "Come Around" Long Way Back: Songs of Glimmer  (Yep Roc, Mar 27)  D
- John Moreland, "When My Fever Breaks" LP5  (Old Omens, Feb 7)
- Khruangbin & Leon Bridges, "C-side" Texas Sun EP  (Dead Oceans, Feb 7)
- Angelica Garcia, "It Don't Hinder Me" Cha Cha Palace  (Spacebomb, Feb 28)  D
- Lake Street Dive, "Rental Love" Bad Self Portraits  (Signature Sounds, 14)
- Tre Burt, "Real You" Caught It From the Rye  (Oh Boy, Jan 31)
- Pond Diver, "Look Around" Flashbacks EP  (Pond Diver, Jan 24)
- Grahams, "Painted Desert" Kids Like Us  (Three Sirens, Mar 6)
- Possessed by Paul James, "When It Breaks" As We Go Wandering  (JKW, Jan 31)
- Jessi Alexander, "Mama Drank" Decatur County Red  (Lost Creek, Mar 27)  D
- Danny Barnes, "Awful Strange" Man On Fire  (ATO, Mar 6)  D
- Aubrie Sellers, "Haven't Even Kissed Me Yet" Far From Home  (Soundly, Feb 7)
- Mapache, "Life On Fire" From Liberty Street  (Yep Roc, Mar 20)  D
- Innocence Mission, "St Francis and the Future" See You Tomorrow  (Therese, 20)
- Jonathan Wilson, "Korean Tea" Dixie Blur  (Wilson, Mar 6)
- Esme Patterson, "Shelby Tell Me Everything" There Will Come Soft Rains  (BMG, Mar 6)  D
- Dave Simonett, "In the Western Wind and Sunrise" Red Tail  (Dancing Eagle, Mar 13)  D
- Anais Mitchell, "Cosmic American" XOA  (Wilderland, 14)
- Bill Fay, "How Long How Long (Band Version)" Countless Branches  (Dead Oceans, 20)
- Margo Price, "Stone Me" single  (Loma Vista, 20)  D
- Gram Parsons, "Sleepless Nights (feat. Emmylou Harris)" Sleepless Nights  (A&M, 76)


An unreal amount of new stuff wandered onto A Routes & Branches Guide To Feeding Your Monster this week.  For the full enchilada, you'll want to follow the link.  We're more than happy to share a couple highlights with you.  How about a trio of eagerly anticipated releases from some of mainstream country's most talked about artists.  On the heels of a couple singles and an EP in 2019, Hailey Whitters will drop a full-length, The Dream come February 28 via Pigasus Records.  Ashley McBryde has set April 3 as the date for Never Will, the follow-up to 2018's Girl Going Nowhere, which landed atop many year-end favorites lists.  Way back in '04, I was a big fan of Jessi Alexander's Honeysuckle Sweet.  Down Home also pleased in '14.  Set aside March 27 to enjoy Decatur County Red (Lost Creek).  Kim Richey is commemorating the 20th anniversary of her Glimmer CD by re-recording those songs, stripping them back to bare bones like we like and sending them our way via Yep Roc on March 27, under the name of Long Way Back: Songs of Glimmer.  Banjo wizard Danny Barnes has joined the ATO Records lineup for March 6th's Man On Fire, which finds him locked away with Dave Matthews, John Paul Jones, Bill Frisell and others.  California duo Mapache haven't waited long to unleash a follow-up to last year's self-titled Yep Roc debut.  We'll have From Liberty Street in our hands come March 20.  And there are few if any albums we're looking forward to more than Samantha Crain's self-produced A Small Death, though we'll have to wait 'til May 1 to hear it, courtesy Ramseur Records.  

Earlier ROUTES-casts have been removed; subscribe to our Spotify page to keep up with all our new playlists!