featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
December 4, 2022
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust
Every day, new songs come
across our radar. If merited, we’ll add them to our weekly ROUTES-casts. Once
the ROUTES-casts are published on Spotify, we’ll listen to them like any other real
person. Standout tracks might be pulled into a private folder we call BEST
SONGS EVER. As each month closes, we’ll share WHAT’s SO GREAT ABOUT … ,
presenting our ten favorite songs for the month.
That’s how the system works. Then
every month we’ll empty that playlist into a larger list from which we draw our
year-end favorites. For 2022, that initial list sprawled to 176 songs. From that foolishly
large pool, we’ve crafted this Episode’s ROUTES-cast, just 30 songs that have
defined our year. Is this easy? No. No, it is not. While we are judgy and
opinionated, we also love good music. And apparently we’re pretty easy when it
comes to a really good song. And we really want everyone to hear the 146 songs
that didn’t make this list. Rules are relatively few. Just one song per artist
(tbh, some artists deserve more than that). No covers, though I’ve considered a
separate list of my favorite covers of the year.
That said, please enjoy the best of the best, in order of preference. Damn, these are some great songs.
FAVORiTE SONGs of 2022
1. Orville Peck, "Daytona Sand" Bronco (Columbia, Apr 8)
2. Kevin Morby, "This is a Photograph" This is a Photograph (Dead Oceans, May 13)
3. Father John Misty, "Goodbye Mr Blue" Chloe and the Next 20th Century (Sub Pop, Apr 8)
4. Sophie & the Broken Things, "Dashboard" Delusions of Grandeur (Petaluma, Feb 25)
5. Big Thief, "Red Moon" Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You (4AD, Feb 11)
6. SG Goodman, "If You Were Someone I Loved" Teeth Marks (Verve, Jun 3)
7. Caroline Spence, "Scale These Walls" True North (Rounder, Apr 29)
8. Rhyan Sinclair, "Dragon Spirit" Letters to Aliens (Sinclair, Mar 4)
9. Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, "Stranger" Nightroamer (Abeyance, Feb 18)
10. Ryan Culwell, "Wild Sometimes" Run Like a Bull (Culwell, Jan 28)
11. Sarah Borges, "Something to Do (ft Eric Ambel)" Together Alone (Blue Corn, Feb 18)
12. Nikki Lane, "First High" Denim & Diamonds (New West, Sep 23)
13. Elizabeth Moen, "Synthetic Fabric" Wherever You Aren't (Moen, Nov 11)
14. Banditos, "On My Way" Right On (Egghunt, May 20)
15. Plains, "Abilene" I Walked With You A Ways (Anti, Sep 30)
16. Angel Olsen, "Big Time" Big Time (Jagjaguwar, Jun 3)
17. Spiritualized, "Crazy" Everything Was Beautiful (Fat Possum, Apr 22)
18. String Machine, "Touring in January" Hallelujah Hell Yeah (String Machine, Feb 25)
19. Dead Tongues, "Dust" Dust (Psychic Hotline, Apr 1)
20. Courtney Marie Andrews, "These Are the Good Old Days" Loose Future (Fat Possum, Oct 7)
21. Amanda Shires, "Stupid Love" Take It Like a Man (ATO, Jul 29)
22. Anna Tivel, "Heroes" Outsiders (Mama Bird, Aug 19)
23. Hallelujah the Hills, "God Is So Lonely Tonight" single (Discrete Pageantry, Sep 9)
24. Julianna Riolino, "Queen of Spades" All Blue (You've Changed, Oct 14)
25. Wilco, "Tired of Taking It Out On You" Cruel Country (dBpm, May 27)
26. Sarah Lee Langford & Will Stewart, "Robby" Bad Luck & Love (Cornelius Chapel, Nov 18)
27. Delines, "Golden State" Lost Duets EP (Jealous Butcher, Oct 6)
28. Will Hoge, "John Prine's Cadillac" Wings On My Shoes (Edlo, Aug 26)
29. Fran, "So Long" Leaving (Fire Talk, Jan 30)
30. Caitlin Rose, "Blameless" CAZIMI (Pearl Tower, Nov 18)
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:
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