WILL HOGE - TINY LITTLE MOVIES

ROUTES & BRANCHES  
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
June 28, 2020
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

It's my opinion that the only thing better than not mowing the lawn is having mowed the lawn.  This little affirmation can be applied to just about every daunting task in our lives.  The only thing better than not exercising is having exercised.  Visiting the doctor.  Having a difficult conversation.  Summer.

Throughout much of my life, Summer has been a nemesis.  Here in Our Faire Square State, temps can reach the 90s on a regular basis, with humidity just in the teens.  It almost always cools into the 50s or even the 40s overnight.  Nevertheless, I'm ready for Fall.

It's fortunate that 2020 continues to be as strong a year for our kind of music as any.  Every month, rain or shine, heat or chill, we revisit the thirty days passed in order to wrap up our favorite records for the last couple weeks.  It looks like this:

WHAT's SO GREAT ABOUT JUNE?!!
- Harmed Brothers, Across the Waves  (Fluff & Gravy, Jun 5)
- Hellbound Glory, Pure Scum  (Black Country Rock, Jun 5)
- Will Hoge, Tiny Little Movies  (EDLO, Jun 26)
- Country Westerns, Country Westerns  (Fat Possum, Jun 26)
- Kyle Nix, Lightning On the Mountain & Other Short Stories  (Bossier City, Jun 26)
... it's in order of appearance, because that's how we do.

More than a dozen records into his career, Will Hoge isn't afraid to speak his mind.  Just this week, in response to a non-masked, non-physically distanced concert held by Chase Rice:  Shame on every damn one of your selfish asses.  On his last album, 2018's My American Dream, the Nashville resident took his country and his town to task.  Hoge reserved special scorn for his fellow Southerners who chose to fly high the Confederate colors:  I'm looking away now, Dixie / Cause I've seen all I can stand / But I'm still a Southern man.

That prophetic rage echoes across a couple cuts on Tiny Little Movies.  Battered by the blunt guitars of "Con Man Blues", the titular punching bag is told, You're just fakin' / It's everything you do.  We're all at the mercy of his madness, Hoping in the morning if we wake up / It won't feel so much like we've all gone insane.  With a barking rasp that land somewhere between Tom Petty and Bob Seger, Will Hoge lands these blows soundly, leaving no question that the target of "The Overthrow" (Darth Vader with a spray tan) has earned every bit of his scorn.  The song's slicing guitars and call-and-response backing chorus sound light years away from Music City, perhaps inherited from a 1981 Billy Squier or Loverboy hit.

But, as the CD's title might suggest, the script of Tiny Little Movies is full of politics of the everyday sort.  Rather than pointing fingers at the rats scurrying from DC's bubbling swamp, Hoge glances over fences and pulls aside curtains for a glimpse of life as it's lived in places like his "Midway Motel".  I'm not alone, he sings on the opening track.  There's a bible and a telephone / And a TV that keeps flashing off and on / It's as broken as the world outside.  These are the songs that Hoge writes best, taking elements of country and heartland rock, binding them with a twine of sincerity and grit.

"Midway Motel" rides on heavy but melodic guitars, telling stories from a place we've all been, a way stop for some and a dead end for others.  The narrator includes himself in this latter cohort: I keep a key that opens up 203 / It's got everything that I need / When I want to leave it all behind.  Hoge neither admires nor pities his characters, but simply accepts them like an eagle-eyed reporter from the corner booth.  Another heartland rocker, "Even the River Runs Out of This Town" acknowledges the songwriter's rare and hard-earned skill with an observation or a turn of phrase:  The railroad track and the highway / I guess it's your turn now / Even the river runs out of this town.  A more nuanced cut, piano and orchestral flourishes are applied for cinematic effect.

Some of the most impactful moments on Tiny Little Movies come from songs that find Hoge stepping back to assess his own place in the world.  "Maybe This Is OK" alternates more reflective verses with a fiery chorus, as the writer gives himself permission to entertain the feeling of contentment as he settles into middle age: The mystery has come unwound / I slowly lay this armor down.  It was Hoge's lesser heard soulful side that first drew me to his music nearly fifteen years ago.  "My Worst" mines those bluesy veins, allowing the underrated vocalist to stretch out  into the song's deep groove. 

There's a bit of a restless streak in Will Hoge's music, a legacy that finds him increasingly comfortable in exploring all the dark corners and the implications of his music.  Where 2006's Man Who Killed Love portrayed him as a soul belter, 2015's Small Town Dreams embraced the country and heartland elements of Hoge's songwriting.  Upon the release of 2017's Anchors, he addressed the need to pare it all back to a bare minimum, to rattle around the country as a solo artist in hopes of rediscovering the joy that led him to writing and performing as a younger man.  Tiny Little Movies seems to strike his most eclectic chord to date, gathering each of these tendencies and influences into a cohesive sound even as he still allows the frayed ends to show. 

^ Will Hoge, "Midway Motel" Tiny Little Movies  (EDLO, 20)
- The Chicks, "March March" Gaslighter  (Columbia, Jul 17)
- Jerry Joseph, "Bone Towers" Beautiful Madness  (Decor, Aug 21)
- Country Westerns, "It's Not Easy" Country Westerns  (Fat Possum, 20)
- Jess Williamson, "Pictures of Flowers (feat. Hand Habits)" single  (Mexican Summer, 20)  D
- Delta Spirit, "How Bout It" What Is There  (New West, Sep 11)  D
- Sun On Shade, "Mainline Getaway (feat. Shonna Tucker)" Sun On Shade  (ATO, 20)  D
- Thad Cockrell, "Slow and Steady" If In Case You Feel the Same  (ATO, 20)
- Eric Church, "Stick That In Your Country Song" single  (EMI, 20)  D
- HC McEntire, "Time On Fire" Eno Axis  (Merge, Aug 21)  D
- Corb Lund, "Oklahomans!" Agricultural Tragic  (New West, 20)
- Town Meeting, "Goddamn Song" Make Things Better  (Town Mtg, 20)  D
- Dan Penn, "Living On Mercy" Living On Mercy  (Last Music Co, Aug 28)  D
- Bonny Light Horseman, "Green Rocky Road" Green/Green EP  (37d03d, Aug 7)  D
- Rev Greg Spradlin & Band of Imperials, "Stainless Steel" Hi-Watter  (Out of the Past, Jul 17)
- SG Goodman, "It Ain't Me Babe" Old Time Feeling  (Verve, Jul 17)
- Dead Tongues, "Bama Boys Circa 2005" Transmigration Blues  (Psychic Hotline, 20)
- Railroad Earth, "Delta Queen Waltz" On the Road: Tribute to John Hartford  (LoHi, 20)
- Kyle Nix, "Josephine" Lightning On the Mountain & Other Short Stories  (Bossier, 20)
- Hiss Golden Messenger, "Standing In the Doorway (Alive at Spacebomb Studios)" Let the Light Of the World Open Your Eyes  (Merge, 20)  D
- David Ramirez, "Hell (feat. Sir Woman)" My Love Is a Hurricane  (Sweetworld, Jul 17)
- Molly Tuttle, "Fake Empire" ... but i'd rather be with you  (Compass, Aug 28)  D
- Old 97s, "Turn Off the TV" Twelfth  (ATO, Aug 21)  D
- Texas Gentlemen, "Train to Avista" Floor It!!!  (New West, Jul 17)
- Justin Wells, "Screaming Song" The United State  (Singular, Aug 28)  D
- Joshua Ray Walker, "Cupboard" Glad You Made It  (State Fair, Jul 10)
- Ruston Kelly, "Radio Cloud" Shape & Destroy  (Rounder, Aug 28)
- Jayhawks, "Bitter Pill" XOXO  (Sham, Jul 10)
- Greyhound, "Primates" Primates  (Nine Mile, Jul 10)
- Half Gringa, "1990" Force to Reckon  (Half Gringa, Aug 28)  D


While society as we know it circles the drain in an attempt to enforce back to normal, our music world continues to provide us with reasons to carry on, fight the good fight, etc.  We typically select just five new announcements from the week passed, and we'll continue in that tradition, even as we acknowledge that there were at least a dozen additional worthy records added to A Routes & Branches Guide To Feeding Your Monster since last Episode (not counting another superb live recording uploaded to Bandcamp by Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit).  Old 97s have set August 21 as the street date for their twelfth album, Twelfth, to be released via ATO Records.  Mount Moriah frontperson HC McEntire will share her second solo CD since last recording with her band.  Eno Axis debuts courtesy of Merge Records on August 21.  Justin Wells' Dawn In the Distance earned one of the top spots on our year-end favorites list back in 2016.  Set your expectations appropriately for The United State, dropping August 28 on Singular.  Bill Callahan is wasting no time in unleashing the follow-up to last year's Shepherd In a Sheepskin Vest.  The Drag City label will drop his Gold Record on September 4.  Finally, I was just mentioning to my son that it was way past time for Delta Spirit to return to the studio.  Matthew Logan Vasquez and co. have taken my request to heart.  Expect What Is There on New West Records when September 11 rolls around.  All of the sudden, it's your weekly ROUTES-cast:

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

COUNTRY WESTERNS - s/t

ROUTES & BRANCHES 

featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
June 21, 2020
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

One of our regular stops in traipsing the nets is Bandcamp.  The site is more artist-driven than iTunes or Spotify, and during these plague months, they have featured days where they've waived their commission fees or directed profits towards social justice organizations like Black Lives Matter.  Fortunately, Bandcamp is also a fine resource for music discovery.  There are music blogs that dedicate recurring review space to stuff that's only available through the site.  The past couple weeks alone have seen excellent full releases from Tommy Alexander, Joe Pernice, Mekons, Twain and Jason Isbell & Amanda Shires, Live at Brooklyn Bowl Nashville.  While each and every one of these is worth the price of admission, none of them are available outside of Bandcamp.

But let's redirect our attention to an album that can be tracked down wherever music matters.  Perhaps nothing this year has resonated with me on a more visceral level than Country Westerns' full length debut (Fat Possum, Jun 26).  Buzzing and pounding, driving and jangling, no song straying far beyond the three minute mark, it's evocative of the college radio heyday and bands like Replacements and Meat Puppets.

The trio assembled in Nashville, hailing from other worthy acts such as Silver Jews, the Weight and State Champion.  After some time flying beneath the radar, they were spurred on to create a record in part by the late David Berman, following producer Matt Sweeney to Brooklyn's Strange Weather Studios.  In his intro to the band, Sweeney recalls their stated mission to make depressing songs with fun drums.  There is understated magic in the sessions, an urgency and vitality of the sort that originally contributed to what would eventually become alternative country.

Not that your initial impressions will necessarily bring to mind Uncle Tupelo or Son Volt.  It's harder than that, stuff with a sharper edge.  Matter of fact, what is communicated on Country Westerns is closer in line with Stephen Malkmus' more dusty, organic material.  Singer-guitarist Joseph Plunket snarls like Paul Westerberg on "It's Not Easy", and when his guitar sparks to life, the sound is fractured and primal.  You might hear strains of REM's "One I Love" between the guitar lines of "Gentle Soul": I'm just a gentle soul / When you push me I'm willing to roll / I don't want to fight with you.  The music of Country Westerns is evocative, but it is also relevant.

From Sleater-Kinney to Husker Du and Dinosaur Jr, there's a chemistry in the most successful indie trios that's hard to define.  With Plunket simply backed by Sabrina Rush on bass and Brian Kotzur at drums, there is a remarkable amount of noise to songs like "Anytime".  As we begin to test the waters of summer, it's the kind of melodic buzz that feels perfect blasting from unrolled windows.  "Times to Tunnels" speaks to the simplicity of these eleven pieces too, songs that aren't dumbed down though they never work overly hard to make an impression.  One reviewer called the tunes casually literate.

On a terrific Spotify playlist attributed to Joseph Plunket, acts like Rock*A*Teens share space with Magnolia Electric Co and Michael Hurley's "Sweet Lucy".  And it's not hard to hear a common spirit with bands like Lee Bains III & Glory Fires or Arliss Nancy on "Close to Me".  Loud guitars with a modicum of twang and spitting solos on songs like "It's On Me".  Vocals this side of shredded.  No matter how you triangulate the sound, where you draw the lines, Country Westerns is simply good rock 'n roll at a time when that's precisely what's needed.  You'll know as soon as the needle lands on the first groove - the punk fueled passion of playing with a band.  Cut down to the scar / That's how you got where you are / And you'll always wear the mark of every cheap scene, every bar ...


^ Country Westerns, "Gentle Soul" Country Westerns  (Fat Possum, Jun 26)
- Blackberry Smoke, "Grits Ain't Groceries" Live From Capricorn Sound Studios  (3 Legged, 20)  D
- Kyle Nix, "Josephine" Lightning On the Mountain and Other Short Stories  (Bossier, Jun 26)
- Jaime Wyatt, "Rattlesnake Girl" Neon Cross  (New West, 20)
- Chuck Ragan, "Bedroll Lullabye" Till Midnight  (SideOneDummy, 14)
- Israel Nash, "SpiritFalls (live)" Across the Water  (Desert Folklore, 20)
- Ronnie Fauss, "Nothing Worth Saying" single  (Normaltown, 20)  D
- Daniel Donato, "Luck of the Draw" Young Man's Country  (Cosmic Country, Aug 7)  D
- Bonnie Whitmore, "Fuck With Sad Girls" Fuck With Sad Girls  (Starlet & Dog, 16)
- Anna Tivel, "Worthless (acoustic)" The Question (Live and Alone)  (Fluff & Gravy, 20)
- Dougie Poole, "Buddhist For a Couple Days" Freelancer's Blues  (Wharf Cat, 20)
- Jeb Loy Nichols, "Season of Decline" Season of Decline EP  (Compass, 20)  D
- Michaela Anne, "Good Times" single  (Yep Roc, 20)
- Possessed by Paul James, "Take Off Your Mask" Cold and Blind  (Hillgrass Bluebilly, 08)
- Hellbound Glory, "Someone To Use" Pure Scum  (Black Country Rock, 20)
- Elizabeth Cook, "Perfect Girls of Pop" Aftermath  (Agent Love, Sep 11)  D
- Colter Wall, "Western Swing & Waltzes" Western Swing & Waltzes and Other Punchy Songs  (La Honda, Aug 28)  D
- Cory Brannan, "Muhammed Ali" 12 Songs  (Madjack, 06)
- Vincent Neil Emerson, "Road Runner (feat. Colter Wall)" single  (La Honda, 20)  D
- Will Hoge, "Overthrow" Tiny Little Movies  (Edlo, Jun 26)
- Tessy Lou Williams, "Round and Round" Tessy Lou Williams  (TLW, 20)
- Buffalo Tom, "Sundress" Sleepy Eyed  (Megadisc, 95)
- Ray Wylie Hubbard, "Drink Till I See Double (feat. Paula Nelson & Elizabeth Cook)" Co-Starring  (Big Machine, Jul 10)
- Corb Lund, "Never Not Had Horses" Agricultural Tragic  (New West, Jun 26)
- Waylon Payne, "What a High Horse" Blue Eyes, the Harlot, the Queer, the Pusher & Me  (Carnival, Sep 11)
- Pert Near Sandstone, "Hell I'd Pay" Rising Tide  (PNS, 20)
- Mike & the Moonpies, "Heart a Home" Touch of You: Lost Songs of Gary Stewart  (Prairie Rose, 20)
- Tommy Alexander, "I Blame Myself" Waves  (Alexander, 20)
- Grant Lee Phillips, "Lowest Low" Lightning Show Us Your Stuff  (Yep Roc, Sep 4)
- Richard Buckner, "Ed's Song" Devotion + Doubt  (UMG, 97)


In addition to those terrific Bandcamp releases, this week brought more quality ear candy to the roster for A Routes & Branches Guide To Feeding Your Monster.  Guitar wunderkind Daniel Donato will be wielding his Grateful Dead-influenced cosmic country when he releases Young Man's Country on August 7.  We've been sharing singles from Jenny O's New Truth since it was announced several weeks ago.  Her Mama Bird debut will have to wait until its new August 7 due date.  Colter Wall's fourth full-length release is happening on August 28, when Western Swing & Waltzes and Other Punchy Songs is delivered by la Honda Records.  We're pleased to announce that the legendary Dan Penn has made time for a record of his own, after serving behind countless other acts.  Living On Mercy will land wherever music matters on August 28 courtesy of Last Music Co.  It's coming on five years since Elizabeth Cook shared Exodus of Venus.  She's finally announced Aftermath for September 11 via Agent Love.  Finally, there's a call out for crowd funding to release what sounds like a stellar tribute to Neal Casal.  Highway Butterfly: Songs of Neal Casal will feature contributions from Jaime Wyatt, Steve Earle, Beachwood Sparks and more.  Here's your weekly ROUTES-cast:

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

FiRST HALF FAVORiTES of 2020

ROUTES & BRANCHES  

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

June 14, 2020

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

WHAT's SO GREAT ABOUT THE FIRST 1/2 OF 2020?!! 

Are we halfway through the year yet?  Can we see the finish line from here?  No.  No we cannot.  Matter of fact, the official halfway day of 2020 will happen on July 2, so we're just getting a jump start on our favorites list for the past six months.  Were we to call it a year at this point (not a terrible idea), these would be the records that have risen to the top, in order of appearance:

- Bonny Light Horseman, Bonny Light Horseman  (37d03d, Jan 24)
- Drive-by Truckers, The Unraveling  (ATO, Jan 31)
- John Moreland, LP5  (Old Omens, Feb 7)
- Nathaniel Rateliff, And It's Still Alright  (Stax, Feb 14)
- Gabe Lee, Honky Tonk Hell  (Torrez, Mar 13)
- Lilly Hiatt, Walking Proof  (New West, Mar 27)
- Waxahatchee, Saint Cloud  (Merge, Mar 27)
- Tender Things, How You Make a Fool  (Ebaugh, Mar 27)
- Caleb Caudle, Better Hurry Up  (Baldwin County Public Records, Apr 3)
- Whitney Rose, We Still Go To Rodeos  (MCG, Apr 24)
- Lucinda Williams, Good Souls Better Angels  (Hwy 20, Apr 24)
- American Aquarium, Lamentations  (New West, May 1)
- Andrew Bryant, Sentimental Noises  (Magnolia State, May 1)
- Jason Isbell & 400 Unit, Reunions  (Southeastern, May 15)
- Reckless Kelly, American Girl / American Jackpot  (No Big Deal, May 22)
- Tessy Lou Williams, Tessy Lou Williams  (TLW, May 22)
- Roadside Graves, That's Why We're Running Away  (Don Giovanni, May 22)
- Jaime Wyatt, Neon Cross  (New West, May 29)
- Harmed Brothers, Across the Waves  (Fluff & Gravy, Jun 5)
- Country Westerns, Country Westerns  (Fat Possum, Jun 26)


ROUTES-cast playlist

- Shovels & Rope, "Carry Me Home (acoustic)" By Blood (Deluxe Edition)  (Dualtone, Aug 28)  D
- Backsliders, "Abe Lincoln" Southern Lines  (Mammoth, 99)
- John Craigie, "Don't Ask" Asterisk the Universe  (Zabriskie Pt, 20)
- Waylon Payne, "Sins of the Father" Blue Eyes, the Harlot, the Queer, the Pusher & Me  (Carnival, Sep 11)  D
- Esther Rose, "My Favorite Mistake" My Favorite Mistakes EP  (Father/Daughter, 20)
- Kyle Nix, "Shelby '65" Lightning On the Mountain and Other Short Stories  (Bossier, Jun 26)
- Dougie Poole, "Vaping On the Job" Freelancer's Blues  (Wharf Cat, 20)
- Blitzen Trapper, "Mason Temple Microdose #1" Holy Smokes Future Jokes  (Yep Roc, Sep 11)
- Exene Cervenka, "Tavern Love" Sev7en  (Nitro, 06)
- Mavericks, "Poder Vivir" En Espanol  (Mono Mundo, Aug 21)  D
- Kenny Roby, "History Lesson" The Reservoir  (Royal Potato Family, Aug 7)  D
- Larkin Poe, "God Moves On the Water" Self Made Man  (Tricki-Woo, 20)
- Tommy Alexander, "End Of the World" Waves  (Alexander, 20)
- Pert Near Sandstone, "Border Waltz" Rising Tide  (PNS, 20)
- Robyn Ludwick, "Texas Jesus" This Tall To Ride  (Ludwick, 17)
- Rev Greg Spradlin & Band of Imperials, "Gospel of the Saints" Hi-Watter  (Out of the Past, Jul 17)  D
- Ruston Kelly, "Rubber" Shape & Destroy  (Rounder, Aug 28)  D
- Kathleen Edwards, "Birds On a Feeder" Total Freedom  (Dualtone, Aug 14)
- Golden Shoals, "Love From Across the Border" Golden Shoals  (Free Dirt, Aug 7)  D
- Mary Chapin Carpenter, "Between the Dirt & the Stars" Dirt and the Stars  (Lambent Light, Aug 7)  D
- Arlo McKinley, "Walking Shoes" Die Midwestern  (Oh Boy, Aug 14)  D
- Hacienda Brothers, "Cowboys to Girls" What's Wrong With Right  (Last Music, 06)
- Margo Price, "Letting Me Down" That's How Rumors Get Started  (Loma Vista, Jul 10)
- Band of Heathens, "Today Is Our Last Tomorrow" Stranger  (BoH, Sep 25)  D
- John Prine, "I Remember Everything" single  (Oh Boy, 20)  D
- Thad Cockrell, "Susie From the West Coast" If In Case You Feel the Same  (ATO, Jun 26)
- Lori McKenna, "Good Fight" Balladeer  (CN, Jul 24)
- Emmylou Harris, "Price You Pay" Cimarron  (Warner, 81)
- Harmed Brothers, "Ride It Out" Across the Waves  (Fluff & Gravy, 20)
- Paula Frazer, "It's Not Ordinary" Leave the Sad Things Behind  (Birdman, 05)


Now that we've shared our favorites for the first half of 2020, we need to continue populating A Routes & Branches Guide To Feeding Your Monster with stuff to vie for our year-end favorites list over this next six months.  The last decade has seen Waylon Payne conquer addition and place some of his songs with artists like Lee Ann Womack and Miranda Lambert.  He's ready to release Blue Eyes, the Harlot, the Queer, the Pusher & Me via Carnival Records on September 11.  One of our very favorite bands, the Dexateens will be releasing Live From Athens, GA - Heathens Homecoming 2020 on July 3.  The set features some of the band's original members, playing a fiery set at Drive-by Truckers' annual to-do.  Kenny Roby, frontman for 6 String Drag, has planned August 7 as the release date for The Reservoir, produced by Neal Casal (Royal Potato Family).  Ruston Kelly will be sharing the follow-up to his 2018 Dying Star.  Shape & Destroy will land on shelves August 28, courtesy of Rounder.  Finally, Band of Heathens are looking at September 25 as the street date for Strangers.  Give us two hours and we'll give you a playlist of thirty songs that matter.  It's your weekly Spotify ROUTES-cast:

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

HELLBOUND GLORY - PURE SCUM

ROUTES & BRANCHES  

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

June 7, 2020

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

It's always a good idea to have things to look forward to.  Whether it's the weekend, a vacation or lunch, it can make a challenging day less difficult.  For us here at R&B HQ, new music serves that purpose in Times Like These.  As we stumble ever nearer the halfway point of 2020: Year of the Plague, here are the five albums that are giving us a reason to live:

- Country Westerns, Country Westerns  (Fat Possum, Jun 26)
- Joshua Ray Walker, Glad You Made It  (State Fair, Jul 10)
- SG Goodman, Old Time Feeling  (Verve, Jul 17)
- Courtney Marie Andrews, Old Flowers  (Fat Possum, Jul 24)
- Jerry Joseph, Beautiful Madness  (Decor, Aug 21)

Leroy Virgil can be about as good a country singer and songwriter as you're likely to find.  He's also capable of clearing out a room with his unfiltered take on the world as seen from his compound looking down upon Reno, Nevada.  For every "Empty Bottles" (one of 2017's best tracks, from Virgil's Pinball record), another song will drop in a lyric like God bless the NRA / ... Sometimes we all just gotta pull and pray, or We can steal some Keystone beer from an A-rab liquor store.  But several albums and a couple lineups into his career, it's just part of his package for Virgil to speak his mind and sabotage his possible path to a more lucrative career.  That edge and unpredictability, paired with an uncanny ear for country melody; it's why we listen to Hellbound Glory.

Hellbound Glory's first three collections helped define the insurgent country movement, even as they found Virgil establishing his mercurial reputation.  Scumbag Country (08), Old High and New Lows (10) and Damaged Goods (11) boasted some remarkable country songs ...  But subsequent releases under a couple different monikers have proven as inconsistent as Virgil's notoriously evasive interviews.  While those exceptional songs shone through, they were typically accompanied by covers, re-recordings or throwaway novelties that kept more recent Hellbound Glory projects from garnering more than cursory popular attention or review acclaim.

Here's where we mention Shooter Jennings, as we've done for two other reviews in the past month.  A perfect compliment to Leroy Virgil's talents and sharp edges, Jennings served as producer for 2017's Pinball album, and returns to the helm for Hellbound Glory's new Pure Scum.  While Jennings hasn't necessarily changed the act's sound or spirit, he's at least helped focus Virgil's talents to the point where he's writing and recording, sharing quality new music on a consistent basis.  What results is a consistently accomplished concept album of sorts, a series of snapshots of life among the scumbag culture of Virgil's beloved Renowhere.

It's Jennings' road band that once again plays the part of Hellbound Glory for these new songs, laying down a workmanlike soundtrack to Virgil's scenarios.  Throughout most of the new collection, it's a remarkably traditional expression of country music, where the pedal steel bends just right and the fiddle weeps in all the appropriate places.  "Renowhere" sets the stage, suggesting a rowdy, neon-lit paradise of unanswered prayers, where the bars don't close / And the cops don't care.  The upbeat, honky-tonk vibe is infectious, even if Virgil is always quick to remind us we should know better.  Another goodtime track, "Wild Orchid" names names in a cautionary tale with pounding barroom piano and a reckless chicken-scratch guitar solo.

This is Leroy Virgil's milieu.  These are his people.  But we shouldn't close the book there, because as much as Hellbound Glory is fueled by sordid tales of the "Hank Williams Lifestyle" (For every dollar I make / Dear lord, the road takes two), we can't ignore the fact that Virgil is a savant for a strong country melody.  And there are artists who draw twelve times his crowd who don't come near his classic vocal delivery.  "Damned Angel" plays like a lost early Chris Isaak cut, a yearning romantic ballad with a dose of earnest strings.  The midtempo "Someone To Use" sets dead-end love to as catchy a melody as you're bound to hear on mainstream radio.  Even "Dial 911", featuring a narrator who is apparently succumbing to stab wounds at the hand of a jilted lover, is delivered in a heart rending baritone.

With some discipline and some well-connected help, you might think that Virgil could turn his attention to writing for the Nashville elite.  But that's not his bag.  As he proclaims on the semi-autobiographical "Neon Leon": Friday night will find me / In some honky-tonk bar / On some dim lit stage / I was born to be a star.  For now, it's enough that he and the suddenly in-demand Mr Jennings have created the most country album in Hellbound Glory's catalog.  And even as the years have assured that Pure Scum doesn't necessarily deliver the shock of those early recordings, they haven't sold their ragged soul for stardom.  In a song that could serve as Leroy Virgil's signature, "Ragged But Alright", he sings: If I win or lose / I do what I choose / It's a scumbag's life for me.

^ Hellbound Glory, "Hank Williams Lifestyle" Pure Scum  (Black Rock Country, 20)
- Phil Lee, "Blueprint For Disaster" Mighty King of Love  (Shanachie, 05)
- Jaime Wyatt, "Just a Woman (feat. Jessi Colter)" Neon Cross  (New West, 20)
- Zephaniah OHora, "All American Singer" Listening To the Music  (Last Roundup, Aug 14)  D
- Dougie Poole, "Who's Who of Who Cares" Freelancer's Blues  (Wharf Cat, Jun 12)
- Reckless Kelly, "All Over Again (Break Up Blues)" American Girl / American Jackpot  (No Big Deal, 20)
- Harmed Brothers, "In a Staring Contest" Across the Waves  (Fluff & Gravy, 20)
- Roadside Graves, "The Cutter" That's Why We're Running Away  (Don Giovani, 20)
- Lillie Mae, "These Daze" Forever and Then Some  (Third Man, 17)
- John Baumann, "Sunday Morning Going Up" Country Shade  (Next Waltz, 20)
- Jayhawks, "Dogtown Days" Xoxo  (Sham, Jul 10)
- Nick Lowe, "Here Comes That Feeling" Lay It On Me EP  (Yep Roc, 20)
- Grant-Lee Phillips, "Straight To the Ground" Lightning Show Us Your Stuff  (Yep Roc, Sep 4)  D
- Backyard Tire Fire, "Good To Be" Good To Be  (Kelsey St, 09)
- Nicole Atkins, "Never Going Home Again" Italian Ice  (Single Lock, 20)
- Tommy Alexander, "Whatever You Say" Waves  (Alexander, Jun 12)
- Dead Tongues, "Deja Vu" Transmigration Blues  (Psychic Hotline, Jun 26)
- Joan Shelly, "Bed In the River" single  (Absolute Anthem, 20)  D
- John Craigie, "Part Wolf" Asterisk the Universe  (Zabriskie Pt, Jun 12)
- Samantha Crain, "Pastime" A Small Death  (Ramseur, Jul 17)
- Jerry Joseph, "Full Body Echo" Beautiful Madness  (Decor, Aug 21)
- Lucero, "Halfway Wrong" 1372 Overton Park  (Universal, 09)
- Esther Rose, "Blue on Blue" My Favorite Mistakes EP  (Father/Daughter, 20)  D
- Ben de la Cour, "Anderson's Small Ritual" Shadow Land  (Flour Sack Cape, 20)
- Mike & the Moonpies, "That's Life" Touch of You: Lost Songs of Gary Stewart  (Prairie Rose, 20)
- Felice Brothers, "Days Of the Years" Undress  (Yep Roc, 19)
- Teddy Thompson, "Why Wait" Heartbreaker Please  (Chalky Sounds, 20)
- Zach Aaron, "Hold the Line" Fill Dirt Wanted  (Aaron, 20)
- Jason Isbell & 400 Unit, "Letting You Go" Reunions  (Southeastern, 20)
- Valerie June, "You Can't Be Told" Pushin' Against a Stone  (Concord, 13)


A Routes & Branches Guide To Feeding Your Monster grows ever richer by the week, bursting with new music to soundtrack our sorry state.  A protege of the late Jim Dickinson, the Reverend Greg Spradlin & His Band of Imperials will be taking their bow with Hi-Watter, boasting a line-up that includes Elvis Costello's Imposters drummer Pete Thomas and David Hidalgo from Los Lobos (Out of the Past, July 17).  Following up his stellar debut, 2017's This Highway, Zephaniah OHora returns with Listening To the Music via Last Roundup on August 28.  The last man signed to Oh Boy prior to John Prine's passing, Arlo McKinley is set to share the long-awaited Die Midwestern come August 14.  The prolific Grant-Lee Phillips has chosen September 4 as the street date for Lightning Show Us Your Stuff, via Yep Roc.  And the great Bob Mould returns with Blue Hearts as we head into the fall (Merge, September 25).  Time for your weekly ROUTES-cast:

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

JAIME WYATT - NEON CROSS

ROUTES & BRANCHES
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
May 31, 2020
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust


For my money, May has been the sweetest month of this year with regard to new releases.  In another month we'll be expressing ourselves about our favorite albums of the first half of the year, and I fully expect these will all land on that list without a struggle. Heck, there's a good chance that my numbers six, seven and eight would be in consideration as well ...

WHAT's SO GREAT ABOUT MAY?!
- American Aquarium, Lamentations  (New West, May 1)
- Damien Jurado, What's New Tomboy  (Mama Bird, May 1)
- Andrew Bryant, Sentimental Noises  (Magnolia State, May 1)
- Jason Isbell & 400 Unit, Reunions  (Southeastern, May 15)
- Reckless Kelly, American Girl / American Jackpot  (No Big Deal, May 22)

We might not hear anything more heart-stirring this year than Jaime Wyatt's raw and tattered piano ballad that opens her full-length debut, Neon Cross.  There are songs on the superb collection with more remarkable lyrics, or arrangements that are more deserving of attention, but there's nothing I've returned to more this week than "Sweet Mess".

We'll hit rewind for a moment, to remind folks of the LA songwriter's 2017 seven-cut EP, Felony Blues, an opening volley that earned Wyatt a number of album of the year considerations.  Her origin story of prison, drugs and hard times garnered her the reputation of an outlaw country artist.  To that point, Wyatt closed out her record with a spot-on run through Merle Haggard's "Misery and Gin".

But Neon Cross is a different beast.  Hard times haven't necessarily passed.  Jaime Wyatt reportedly relapsed since the release of that first EP.  She sings on "By Your Side" about missing the funerals of her father and another good friend while she was battling her demons.  And her subsequent scrambling to bring it all under control included a decision to announce to family, friends and fans that she is gay.

This stuff is brought up by just about every review of Wyatt's new collection, but it's the artist's hard-won skill as a songwriter that will see Neon Cross onto countless year-end favorites lists (like our own).  Credit in part producer Shooter Jennings, who has so compellingly captured her wild side, even as he polishes the settings of these songs in order to present her as a contemporary, relevant artist.  In the midst of it all is Wyatt's uncommonly expressive voice, which Jennings caught in early takes that emphasize the rawness and the hurt that makes her one of the most fascinating vocalists since Lucinda Williams.

I tried not to have any filter with these songs, she comments in her official bio, because I'll be honest - it feels like I'm gonna die if I don't tell people how I feel and who I am.  That said, much of the appeal of Neon Cross lies in the looseness and an abandon that shine through on some of the album's more upbeat tracks.  Her official coming out song, "Rattlesnake Girl" dances by on Neal Casal's air horn guitar, one of the last recordings prior to his passing.  I see my sweet friends out on the weekends, they all look happy and gay / They keep their secrets all covered in sequins, people have too much to say, she sings.  I am a rattlesnake girl.

The title track is a confident kiss off set to a galloping rhythm, lyrics sticky with sarcasm:  So sad / Goddamn / I'm wearing some pitiful perfume ... Oh poor me!  "L I V I N" is a pedal steel stamped throwback that brings to mind the groundbreaking work of Loretta Lynn, another artist who paved the way for the women of country music to express themselves, no matter the sentiment.  While Jaime Wyatt's new songs sound as contemporary as Kacey Musgraves or Ashley McBryde, they're also steeped in the spirit of what's come before.  Nowhere is that more evident than on "Just a Woman", a slyly delivered piece that finds her sharing a mic with Shooter's mom, Jessi Colter.  There's not a man in this world I would rather be / Though I have dreams of taking flight on feathered wings, the tune deserves Americana Music Association consideration for Song of the Year.

Wyatt's duet with Shooter, "Hurts So Bad" is another satisfying honky tonk number, with Casal and the band setting down a great track.  As with her EP, Neon Cross closes with a cover, though a more unexpected choice than her first.  Originally performed by metal/blues phenom Dax Riggs, "Demon Tied To a Chair In My Brain" is a swampy blues featuring some fiery fiddle by Jennings collaborator Aubrey Richmond.

Jaime Wyatt, Shooter Jennings and co. have birthed a fantastic collection that manages to build on the artist we met and appreciated on Felony Blues.  Most impressively, they accomplish this by stripping away any artifice or pretention and giving listeners full access to her voice and vision.  As she commented in a Fader interview, It's imperfect and beautiful and spontaneous.  Like Margo Price, Wyatt can deliver attitude.  Like Sarah Shook, Neon Cross can be raw and direct.  And like a young Lucinda Williams, her potential is sky high.


- Pops Staples, "Somebody Was Waiting" Don't Lose This  (Anti, 15)
- Nicole Atkins, "Am Gold" Italian Ice  (Single Lock, 20)
- Greyhounds, "Stay Here Tonight" Primates  (Nine Mile, Jul 10)
- Larkin Poe, "Back Down South (feat. Tyler Bryant)" Self Made Man  (Tricki-Woo, Jun 12)
- Teddy Thompson, "Record Player" Heartbreaker Please  (Chalky Sounds, 20)
- Thad Cockrell, "Higher (feat. Brittany Howard)" If In Case You Feel the Same  (ATO, Jun 26)  D
- Pete Bernhard, "Can't Find You" Harmony Ascension Division  (Kahn, 20)
- Steve Earle, "Black Lung" Ghosts of West Virginia  (New West, 20)
- Lambchop, "I Would Have Waited Here All Day" Damaged  (Merge, 06)
- Joshua Ray Walker, "Boat Show Girl" Glad You Made It  (State Fair, Jul 10)
- Logan Ledger, "River of Fools" single  (Rounder, 20)  D
^ Jaime Wyatt, "Sweet Mess" Neon Cross (New West, 20)
- Joe Henry, "Curt Flood" Fuse  (Mammoth, 99)
- Andrew Bryant, "Slow and Hard" Sentimental Noises  (Magnolia State, 20)
- Mike & the Moonpies, "Smooth Shot of Whiskey" Touch of You: Lost Songs of Gary Stewart  (Prairie Rose, 20)  D
- Courtney Marie Andrews, "It Must Be Someone Else's Fault" Old Flowers  (Fat Possum, Jul 24)
- Tessy Lou Williams, "Why Do I Still Want You" Tessy Lou Williams  (TLW, 20)
- Vic Chesnutt, "Square Room" Salesman & Bernadette  (Ghetto Bells, 98)
- Tommy Alexander, "Troubled Mind" Waves  (Alexander, Jun 5)  D
- Charley Crockett, "Welcome to Hard Times" Welcome to Hard Times  (Son of Davy, Jul 31)  D
- Kyle Nix, "Graves" Lightning On the Mountain and Other Short Stories  (Bossier City, Jun 26)
- Anna Tivel, "The Question (acoustic)" The Question: Live and Alone  (Fluff & Gravy, 20)
- Reckless Kelly, "Goodbye Colorado" American Girl / American Jackpot  (No Big Deal, 20)
- Ray Wylie Hubbard, "Fast Left Hand (feat. Cadillac Three)" Co-Starring  (Big Machine, Jul 10)
- Will Stewart, "Night God" Way Gone EP  (Cornelius Chapel, 20)
- Will Johnson, "(Made Us Feel Like) Kings" Swan City Vampires  (Undertow, 15)
- Gretchen Peters, "San Francisco Mabel Joy" Night You Wrote That Song  (Scarlet Letter, 20)
- Moviola, "Hollow Boon" Scrape & Cuss  (No Heroics, 20)
- Zach Aaron, "Aztec Cafe" Fill Dirt Wanted  (Aaron, 20)
- Whitney, "Take Me Home Country Roads (feat. Waxahatchee)" single  (Secretly Canadian, 20)  D


A Routes & Branches Guide To Feeding Your Monster is the best way I know to keep tabs on which artist is doing what, when.  We'll add to it as we come across info about new releases during our regular jaunts around the dark web.  Seems Mike & the Moonpies have done away with all that fancy business of announcing a release and releasing singles.  For the second record in a row, they pretty much just dropped Touch of You: Lost Songs of Gary Stewart, a celebration of the under-celebrated country writer that draws from unreleased work.  Kenyan born JS Ondara has spent the quarantine time recording some bare-bones tracks which has he just released as Folk n' Roll Vol 1: Tales of Isolation on Verve.  He also abbreviated his stage name by dropping the JS.  Ray Lamontagne seems to be upping the tempo and the spirit of his new songs, setting June 26 as the release date for MONOVISION on RCA.  One of my most eagerly anticipated debuts, SG Goodman has scooted back her Old Time Feeling to July 17 (Verve).  And the legendary telecaster wiz Bill Kirchen has announced a July 24 debut of The Proper Years, a 2-CD set featuring songs from his later catalog.  You've made it to your weekly ROUTES-cast:

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