HALF-YEAR FAVORiTES

ROUTES & BRANCHES

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

June 26, 2021

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

Time is malleable. Sometimes time races by, and other times can crawl lazily. Outstanding moments give time its dimension and help us recall one time from another. Regular R&B readers probably share my own practice of further differentiating time by attaching certain albums or songs to these moments. We talk about the Song of the Summer. Some of us might be obsessive about making favorites lists. When I look back at the previous year-end lists that are generously archived on our site, it all comes flooding back. 

We're at the half-year mark in a year that's twice as long as the usual ones. This analogy doesn't necessarily extend to the quality or quantity of music available, which has been about average. While nothing since the dawn of January has stood out as an obvious frontrunner, we're beginning to get a hint of what our legendary year-end list might look like. 

As we share our twenty favorite records from the past half-year, we make no promises that any of these will take their place upon that coveted roll. What's listed below is in order of appearance, as opposed to preference. Also this year, we've added a sentence or three in support of each selection. These are some of the sounds that have added dimension, sentiment, meaning to the year. 

WHAT's SO GREAT ABOUT THE FiRST 1/2 OF 2021?!!

- Buck Meek, Two Saviors  (Keeled Scales, Jan 15)  Best known as 1/4 of the phenomenally talented Big Thief, Meek has cultivated a distinct solo career since his pre-band days. Recorded live to tape with guests like Twain and Courtney Marie Andrews, Saviors simultaneously reinvests in Meek's appealing outsider qualities while exploring more immediate song ideas. 

- Lucero, When You Found Me  (Liberty & Lament, Jan 29)  Ben Nichols and his band invite their passionately devoted listeners to follow them into adulthood. Good news is that Brian Venable is bringing along his guitars, even as keyboardist Rick Steff is trying new things with his collection of vintage synths. Lucero's sound evolves smartly from one record to the next, and that's a sure sign of life. 

- Pony Bradshaw, Calico Jim  (Black Mt, Jan 29)  While I'm not a fan of sweeping generalities, Bradshaw's second full-length is certainly among the strongest songwriting of the year. With a definite pin sunk in the daily realities of North Georgia, Bradshaw seeks to think small about big things, to explore how our national conversations and arguments might appear as played out on this familiar scale. The project strikes a perfect balance, with songs that play like Lyle Lovett's earlier story-focused faire. 

- Weather Station, Ignorance  (Fat Possum, Feb 5)  Tamara Lindeman's fifth Weather Station record takes place where the world's climate crisis nestles into one person's psyche. Constructed on keys and woodwinds and strings, these jazz-colored pieces pair the wild heart of Neko Case with the compositional maturity of mid-period Joni Mitchell. Ignorance is beautifully impactful in all the subtlest ways. 

- Mando Saenz, All My Shame  (Carnival, Feb 26)  This serial collaborator's solo work is few and far between, landing with minimal fanfare. That said, Saenz is one writer whose stuff has risen to a masterful level that both embraces and transcends his genre. Come for the three minute pop-inflected Texas country gems, stay for the unexpected Dio cover ...

- Israel Nash, Topaz  (Desert Folklore, Mar 12)  Half of this expansive ten-song suite dropped in a 2020 EP, though we'd be missing an opportunity if that were to disqualify the final product for inclusion in our half-year list. Nash broadcasts this psychedelic country collection from his quonset hut studio in Dripping Springs, Texas, pairing keening pedal steel with horns and atmospherics reminiscent of the nascent days of My Morning Jacket. 

- Janet Simpson, Safe Distance  (Cornelius Chapel, Mar 19)  You could be forgiven for not knowing about Simpson's role in Birmingham bands like Delicate Cutters or Teen Getaway, or for overlooking Timber, her duo with Will Stewart. But consider this your warning that 2021 has brought us few stronger alt.country records that this debut solo session. Distance recalls Lucinda's Sweet Old World alongside Freakwater's more grounded work, though Simpson shouldn't be dismissed as just another twangy knockoff. 

- Morgan Wade, Reckless  (Ladylike, Mar 19)  There aren't sleeves or collars long enough to hide all of this Virginia-born artist's tattoos, battle scars serving as reminders of her wilder days. Produced by Sadler Vaden, Wade's debut arrives on the recovery end of the artist's twenties, rough years of addiction and longing that are catalogued in her full color contemporary pop and country. 

- Esther Rose, How Many Times  (Father/Daughter, Mar 26)  With a couple members of Deslondes sharing the studio, Rose's new CD provides our clearest glimpse yet of the country 'n pop writer's range. Fiddle and pedal steel provide a ready entry point for country fans, though Rose also invests her music with a streak of pop a'la Nick Lowe. July 16 will bring us an EP of folks like Shamir, Twain and Stef Chura interpreting songs from the record. 

- Parker Millsap, Be Here Instead  (Okrahoma, Apr 9)  Millsap has stepped away from the pulpit of the Truck Stop Gospel for his fifth collection. His nondenominational lyrical focus addresses the gifts of mindfulness, accompanied by a musical shift that leans on Millsap's inherent soul. Be Here is an ode to the human touch in a time that finds us desperately craving that warmth.

- Rosali, No Medium  (Spinster, May 7)  Rosali Middleman left Philadelphia for the seclusion of a North Carolina farm in preparation for her third project. Alongside fellow guitarist David Nance the results are far from pastoral, noisy enough to wake the horses. The raw sessions borrow only selectively from folk or country, living in the tension between sensuality and interiority. 

- American Aquarium, Slappers Bangers & Certified Twangers Vol 1  (Losing Side, May 7)  Among the best bands in our kind of music, BJ Barham and co feed our need for indulgence and abandon on this collection of 90s country covers. With Jamie Lin Wilson providing vocal support, Slappers does a better than necessary job on cuts originally performed by Patty Loveless, Faith Hill, Trisha Yearwood and more. Listeners will hope we won't have to wait til the next pandemic for Vol 2. 

- Steel Woods, All of Your Stones  (Woods, May 14)  A spirit of hope and relative positivity pervades the country-rock band's third album, even as it is delivered in the wake of the passing of guitarist and cofounder Rowdy Cope. Some of the band's heaviest moments are offset by genuinely moving ballads, each advanced by terrific instrumental work and the vocals of cofounder Wes Bayliss. Stones adds both an exclamation point and a question mark at the conclusion of a remarkable trio of records. 

- Allison Russell, Outside Child  (Concord, May 21)  By no means an unfamiliar face to our kind of music, Russell has already served with Birds of Chicago, Po' Girl and Our Native Daughters. Her debut solo collection revisits the Montreal of her childhood, where she suffered abuse at the hands of her father and ultimately found sanctuary in music. Outside Child is intensely personal, but speaks to a universal experience, beautifully fluent in jazz, gospel, soul and roots. 

- Lula Wiles, Shame and Sedition  (Smithsonian, May 21)  A pair of albums with tight 'n trad folk harmonies and acoustic arrangements barely hinted at the range demonstrated on Shame. Number three forces electric guitars into the mix and edge to the trio's harmonies for a product that holds up alongside indie folk peers like Laura Marling and Lucy Dacus. 

- Joy Oladokun, In Defense of My Own Happiness  (Verve, Jun 4)  As radio-friendly a CD as you're bound to find from a queer woman of color with Nigerian roots. Oladokun wields a perfect ear for melody in tandem with a sharp lyrical bite to her singer-songwriter roots-pop. The relative polish of In Defense can't obscure the heart and honesty of Oladokun's third full-length. 

- Amythyst Kiah, Wary + Strange  (Rounder, Jun 18)  Another artist from Our Native Daughters, multi-instrumentalist Kiah represents the blues and rock shades of the roots equation. A fierce reckoning when it first hit speakers with OND, "Black Myself" reaches manifesto levels with its fiery rendering on Wary. Nothing here lacks heft, with even the quieter moments crackling with import. 

- Amy Helm, What the Flood Leaves Behind  (Renew, Jun 18)  Levon's girl has made a living playing with an absurd variety of acts, from Mercury Rev to the Holmes Brothers and Steely Dan. While her first two solo sessions were excellent, Flood overflows the folk boundaries to remind us of Helms' value as a vocalist and writer. It's entirely appropriate that she returned to her father's legendary Woodstock studios to set these songs to tape. 

- Vincent Neil Emerson, Vincent Neil Emerson  (LaHonda, Jun 25)  This East Texas songwriter left an impression with his 2019 debut, and returns here with producer Rodney Crowell to cement his reputation as one of his generation's strongest country writers. There's no alt to Emerson's second record, no moments of folk or retro. These songs are as country as this list gets. 

- Hiss Golden Messenger, Quietly Blowing It  (Merge, Jun 25)  Album-to-album, MC Taylor and collaborators have become one of the most reliable acts in roots music. While there are more guests than usual here (from Dawes to Gregory Alan Isakov and Anais Mitchell), there's no compromise, no concession to the deep groove of soulful rock 'n country. With horns and keys and Taylor's sincere dedication to the trappings of a meaningful life, he is as much of an American poetic champion as we have. 

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Even as we look back, we're keeping an eye on the horizon and our Routes & Branches Guide To Feeding Your Monster. Fluff & Gravy Records is planning the next Anna Tivel project. Due July 16, Blue Room revisits some of the songwriter's earlier cuts in new settings. Darrin Bradbury presents his full-length follow-up to 2016's excellent Elmwood Park. Expect Artvertisement  August 20 courtesy of the Anti label. Tre Burt presented one of our favorite 2020 debuts with Caught It From the Rye. He's set an August 27 release date for You Yeah You (Oh Boy). Longtime americana songwriter Tim Easton has set his next release for that same date. You Don't Really Know Me arrives via the Black Mesa label. Onetime frontperson for the Stampede, Liz Cooper steps out on her own on September 3. Hot Sass will land on shelves wherever music matters on September 3 (Sleepyhead).