FAVORiTE SONGs of 2021

ROUTES & BRANCHES

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

December 12, 2021

Scott Foley, purveyor of lists

It's been a long December

And there's reason to believe

Maybe this year will be better than the last

I can't remember all the times I tried to tell myself

To hold onto these moments as they pass

Songs are moments. Or rather, songs are tangled with moments. Like streamers or prayer flags, they're woven in and through time. Timebound. 

Even as the years march on, songs can revive our memories of those places, people or situations who populated the milieu when that song entered our lives. Every year I join the tradition of bloggers everywhere who tell a story of their year with playlists. Looking back at end-of-year song lists from past years can be an experience of nostalgia. It can also be an experience of what was I thinking. There are no takebacks in year-end favorites lists. 

This year's list began with about 80 candidates from the nearly 500 records included in our Routes & Branches Guide To Feeding Your Monster. Listening on repeat, we pushed, pulled and prodded the songs into an order that we could live with, a ROUTES-cast that sounded like 2021 in all its sham drudgery and broken dreams. 

The ROUTES-cast suggests an interesting contrast with last week's favorite albums list. Only about one-third of the songs represented here are from records celebrated on that Episode. Heck, in a few cases the song was the only one we played from an album. Like last week's list, the diversity is strong here, leading us restlessly from folk and country to soul and pop (roughly in order from #30 to #1). Please enjoy your journey. 

FAVORiTE SONGs of 2021

30. Charles Wesley Gordon, "Over Yonder" How the Mighty Fall  (Godwin, Nov 5)

29. Charlie Marie, "40 Miles From Memphis" Ramble On  (Soundly, May 7)

28. Fruit Bats, "Cub Pilot" Pet Parade  (Merge, Mar 5)

27. Sean Rowe, "I Won't Run" Darkness Dressed In Colored Lights  (Fluff & Gravy, Oct 8)

26. Country Westerns, "Undeletable" Country Westerns EP  (Fat Possum, Jun 18)

25. The RTs, "Need You Right Now" The RTs  (Wombat Squad, Oct 22)

24. Parker Millsap, "Dammit" Be Here Instead  (Okrahoma, Apr 9)

23. Vincent Neil Emerson, "Learnin' To Drown" Vincent Neil Emerson  (LaHonda, Jun 25)

22. Nathaniel Rateliff & Night Sweats, "The Future" The Future  (Stax, Nov 5)

21. Janet Simpson, "Ain't Nobody Lookin'" Safe Distance  (Cornelius Chapel, Mar 19)

20. Julien Baker, "Hardline" Little Oblivions  (Matador, Feb 26)

19. Mando Saenz, "Deep End" All My Shame  (Carnival, Feb 26)

18. John R Miller, "Faustina" Depreciated  (Rounder, Jul 16)

17. Charlie Parr, "Last of the Better Days Ahead" Last of the Better Days Ahead  (Smithsonian, Jul 30)

16. Heartless Bastards, "You Never Know" A Beautiful Life  (Sweet Unknown, Sep 10)

15. Bobby Dove, "Hopeless Romantic" Hopeless Romantic  (Dove, Feb 12)

14. Suzanne Santo, "Mercy" Yard Sale  (Soundly, Aug 27)

13. John Hiatt & Jerry Douglas, "Light Of the Burning Sun" Leftover Feelings  (New West, May 21)

12. Yola, "Stand For Myself" Stand For Myself  (Easy Eye, Jul 30)

11. Lake Street Dive, "Nobody's Stopping You Now" Obviously  (Nonesuch, Mar 12)

10. Amythyst Kiah, "Black Myself" Wary + Strange  (Rounder, Jun 18)

9.  Beth Lee, "Pens and Needles" Waiting On You Tonight  (Lee, Feb 12)

8.  Steel Woods, "Run On Ahead" All of Your Stones  (Woods, May 14)

7.  Rosali, "All This Lightning" No Medium  (Spinster, May 7)

6.  Sam Fender, "Seventeen Going Under" Seventeen Going Under  (Interscope, Oct 8)

5.  Jason Eady, "French Summer Sun" To the Passage of Time  (Old Guitar, Aug 27)

4.  Sharon Van Etten & Angel Olsen, "Like I Used To" single  (Jagjaguwar, May 20)

3.  Allison Russell, "Persephone" Outside Child  (Concord, May 21)

2.  Morgan Wade, "Wilder Days" Reckless  (Ladylike, Mar 19)

1.  Cassandra Jenkins, "Crosshairs" An Overview on Phenomenal Nature  (Ba Da Bing, Feb 19)

And keep an eye open for our annual Holiday ROUTES-cast, arrival sometime in the coming week!

To enjoy our weekly Spotify ROUTES-cast, just open Spotify and search for "routesandbranches" to access this most recent playlist, as well as many others from past months.  Or click here for a preview: