ROUTES & BRANCHES
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
February 6, 2022
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust
We should've seen it coming in May when Ryan Culwell and Aubrie Sellers emerged with an unsettling take on Nine Inch Nails' "Head Like a Hole". 2015's Flatlands and 2018's Last American set our expectations appropriately, introducing a thoughtful singer-songwriter prone to raw emotional lyrics and bold takes. Culwell says of those collections: That first record was me setting my gaze on where I come from, and the second one was me setting my gaze on the country as a whole. This time around, though, I wanted to take a closer look at myself.
The doubt and despair, the hunger for certainty and meaning we hear on Run Like a Bull (Missing Piece) is more harrowing than the cartoon fright purveyed by NIN. It's the workingman narrating "What You Waiting For", battling the demons that force him to betray his limits while preventing him from putting it all behind him: There's an evil in my chest / Comes out a slow and steady breath / I can't recall the thing I done. And it wouldn't be entirely inappropriate for Trent Reznor and co to return the favor by setting the dread of "It Won't Stop" to industrial noise and grind.
But let's pull back for a moment. Fact is, if Run Like a Bull leaves you with nightmares, it will more likely be the foreboding that keeps us awake worrying about unpaid bills or unfulfilled dreams. As he did with his first records, Culwell gives eloquent voice to those very real anxieties that trouble most adults. Specifically, these eleven songs dwell where the hopes of youth wrestle with our adult realities. "All I Got" acknowledges that the reckless abandon that defines our earlier years doesn't age well: I'd give anything to be 25 with a beer and a black eye. Nevertheless, we do the best we can, especially in light of our responsibilities to family. Ryan Culwell's "Let's Go Crazy" isn't an invitation to irresponsibility the title might suggest, but rather a snapshot of that moment we're tempted to take the leap of faith that might land us in a better place: Let's load our shit up in our car ... this ain't who we are.
It's here in this balance that we find the sweetness and grace that inhabits Run Like a Bull. "Wild Sometimes" creates a dialogue between youth and adulthood (between saint and sinner, indulgence and redemption). The innocence of slipping out of church in pursuit of a strawberry blonde / With grape juice on her lips, juxtaposed with the father drinking in the backyard / Listening to the train. The song builds as Culwell's voice becomes the slightest bit unhinged: I get a little wild sometimes. At some level these are all sympathetic characters, neighbors and friends and even parts of our selves that pray: Set me free from all this freedom / I don't wanna run anymore.
Run Like a Bull is produced by the masterful hand of Neilson Hubbard, who also collaborated with Culwell on those first projects. Hubbard, who has worked with Matthew Ryan, Caroline Spence, Emily Scott Robinson and many others, lends his work both a solid instrumental base and an atmospheric fullness that points beyond. Culwell writes of "Colorado Blues": I've never been more satisfied with a song I've written. A gorgeously classic country-folk piece, it balances acoustic picking with the lamentations of Kris Donegan's essential pedal steel, the singer intoning Oh Lord, come and find me. Elsewhere, the fiery "Keep Your Head Up" blesses with gospel harmonies, shadowed by fire-and-brimstone electric guitars. Will Kimbrough contributes guitars, while Caroline Spence and Natalie Schlabs and Betsy Philips add vocal support to the sessions.
Ryan Culwell prefaces Run Like a Bull with a short essay: I've lived in Nashville for ten years, but this winter I'm moving back to the Texas panhandle, back home. With a voice that splits the difference between Rodney Crowell and Parker Millsap, he has been a prophet and a storyteller, a haunted angel and a precocious boy. Above all, Culwell is a bold truthteller who says of "Head Like a Hole", it scared me as a child and inspires me as an adult. Those of us who were once children have no doubt entertained the thought of how our younger selves might look upon the adults we've become, whether with admiration or condemnation or forgiveness. Heaven's full of sinners he sings. Hallelujah I believe it.
WHAT's SO GREAT ABOUT JANUARY?!!
Beginning this Episode we'll be adding a fresh spin to our month-end report. Rather than identifying our five favorite records for the past thirty-some days, we'll be doing the same for the month's strongest songs (except there's ten). Not as easy as you may think, since every month we share no fewer than 120 new songs on our Spotify ROUTES-casts.
1. Rhyan Sinclair, "Dragon Spirit" Letters to Aliens (Sinclair, Mar 4)
2. Spiritualized feat. Nikki Lane, "Crazy" Everything Was Beautiful (Fat Possum, Apr 22)
3. String Machine, "Touring in January" Hallelujah Hell Yeah (String Machine, Feb 25)
4. Cactus Blossoms feat. Jenny Lewis, "Everybody" One Day (Walkie Talkie, Feb 11)
5. Ryan Culwell, "Wild Sometimes" Run Like a Bull (Culwell, Jan 28)
6. Spoon, "Wild" Lucifer On the Sofa (Matador, Feb 11)
7. Jamestown Revival, "These Days" Young Man (Jamestown, Jan 14)
8. Angel Olsen, "Something On Your Mind" single (Light in the Attic, Jan 13)
9. Pinegrove, "Respirate" 11:11 (Rough Trade, Jan 28)
10. The Kernal feat. Caitlin Rose, "Fight Song" Listen to the Blood (Single Lock, Jan 14)
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Now that the release engine has once again rumbled to life, we're happy to be adding forthcoming records to A Routes & Branches Guide To Feeding Your Monster on a daily basis. Tamara Lindeman's 2021 Weather Station release, Ignorance nearly reached the top of our favorite albums list. Turns out she'd actually recorded another session previous to that one, the contents of which will land on shelves March 4 as How Is It That I Should Look At the Stars (Fat Possum). Onetime Dexateen Brad Armstrong has launched an intriguing first volley by way of introducing his next solo CD. Heart Like a Sigil is slated for a March 11 release, thanks to the Flower Moon label. Calexico's last project arrived with Christmas bells attached. Set your clocks for April 8 when the duo return to their secular form with El Mirador (Anti). Way back in 1992, Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal collaborated for Rising Sons. More than thirty years later, they'll be sharing the grooves on Get On Board, due April 22 on Nonesuch. New West Records is the new home for Joshua Hedley. His long-rumored follow-up to 2018's Mr Jukebox will arrive on April 22 (Neon Blue). Finally, Conor Oberst and Bright Eyes will be sharing re-recorded editions of their early albums. These will each be accompanied by newly created EPs. Save space for these Companion EPs and more beginning May 27 on Dead Oceans.
ROUTES-cast FEBRUARY 6, 2022
- Erin Rae, "Can't See Stars (feat. Kevin Morby)" Lighten Up (Good Memory, 22)
- Leif Vollebekk, "Blood Brother (Live at KCRW)" New Waves (Live Recordings '19-'21) EP (Secret City, 22) D
- Ceramic Animal, "Tangled" Sweet Unknown (Easy Eye, Mar 4)
- Madi Diaz, "Resentment (feat. Waxahatchee)" Same History New Feelings EP (Anti, Mar 4) D
- Gregor Barnett, "Driving Through the Night" Don't Go Throwing Roses In My Grave (Epitaph, Feb 18)
- Wild Rivers, "Stubborn Heart" Sidelines (Nettwerk, 22)
- Calexico, "El Mirador" El Mirador (Anti, Apr 8) D
- Bright Eyes, "Contrast and Compare (feat. Waxahatchee)" Companion EPs (Dead Oceans, May 27) D
- String Machine, "Soft Tyranny" Hallelujah Hell Yeah (Know Hope, Feb 25)
- Caroline Spence & Matt Berninger, "I Know You Know Me" single (Rounder, 22) D
- David Quinn, "Down Home" Country Fresh (Down Home, Apr 15) D
- Wilder Blue, "Okie Soldier" Wilder Blue (Soundly, Mar 25)
^ Ryan Culwell, "This Town" Run Like a Bull (Missing Piece, 22)
- Erisy Watt, "New Same" Eyes Like the Ocean (American Standard, Apr 1) D
- Brothers Comatose w/AJ Lee, "Harvest Moon" single (Swamp Jam, 22) D
- Rave-Ups, "Brigitte Bardot" Tomorrow (Omnivore, 22) D
- Banditos, "On My Way" single (Egghunt, 22) D
- Hollis Brown, "High and Dry" In the Aftermath (Mascot, 22)
- Joshua Hedley, "Neon Blue" Neon Blue (New West, Apr 22) D
- Cactus Blossoms, "Is It Over" One Day (Walkie Talkie, Feb 11)
- Jason Scott & High Heat, "Cleveland County Line" Castle Rock (Scott, Feb 11)
- Jesse Daniel, "You Asked Me To (feat. Jodi Lyford)" single (Die True, 22) D
- JD McPherson, "Just Around the Corner" single (New West, 22) D
- Sam Kogon, "Barbed Wire" Sam Kogon EP (Swap Shop, Apr 1) D
- Duquette Johnston, "Tonight" Social Animals (Single Lock, Feb 25)
- Kill County, "Bolt Breaking Blues" All That Remains (573668, 22) D
- All Them Witches, "Blacksnake Blues" single (ATW, 22) D
- Midlake, "Bethel Woods" For the Sake of Bethel Woods (ATO, Mar 18) D
- Builders & the Butchers, "Stop the Rain" Hell & High Water (Badman, May 6) D
- Wovenhand, "Dead Dead Beat" Silver Sash (Glitterhouse, 22)
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