featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
June 25, 2023
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust
Mere days ago we presented our favorite records for the first half of 2023. But we're restless, so we've moved on. We're looking now at our favorite songs from the past month, the songs for which we're most grateful. After giving it a whole lot of thought and praying on it, we chose to call it:
WHAT's SO GREAT ABOUT JUNE?!!
1. Israel Nash, "Ozarker" Ozarker (Desert Folklore, Oct 20) It's reportedly the Dripping Springs songwriter's intention to release three records in the next several months. With its soaring musical intentions and sha-la-la chorus, this first single is one part Tom Petty and another War On Drugs heartland rocker.
2. Jess Williamson, "Tobacco Two Step" Time Ain't Accidental (Mexican Summer, Jun 9) Williamson's new collection posits her taking tentative steps into the social scene following the dissolution of a longtime relationship. That uncertainty and self-doubt whisper throughout this beautiful song: Questions that hang like smoke in the air / But I am drenched in lavender, I'm too cool to care.
3. Colter Wall, "Corralling the Blues" Little Songs (La Honda, Jul 14) Earnest harmonica, tinny dobro, mumbling vocal delivery: This short campfire singalong presents the Saskatchewan crooner at his best. To quote the man himself: You got to fill the big empty with little songs ...
4. Roselit Bone, "Your Gun" Ofrenda (Get Loud, Aug 25) While this Portland-based outfit has been on the scene for several years, their profane tonic of rockabilly, punk, and country is new to us. This first single from their new collection is edgy as early X, dangerous as Gun Club, and wonderfully confrontational.
5. Suzanne Santo, "Let My Love" single (Soozanto, Jun 2) We strongly supported the first couple solo records from this one-time HoneyHoney member, 2017's Ruby Red and 2021's Yard Sale. The dreamy "Let My Love" floats on fitful electric guitar, otherworldly backing vocals, and Santo's own heartbreaking delivery, an invitation: Let my love settle you down.
6. Becca Mancari, "Over and Over" Left Hand (Captured Tracks, Aug 25) Mancari's forthcoming release features collaborations with Brittany Howard, Daniel Tashian, and Julien Baker, who adds backing support on this first single. Mancari describes the cut as a queer pop song that has meat on its bones. Its breezy pop has lodged in my ears all month: Line cook / Janitor / That year I was invisible / Back in the closet / Celibate / But we don't have to talk about it.
7. Margaret Glaspy, "Act Natural" Echo the Diamond (ATO, Aug 18) The dirty guitar line that launches this first single from Glaspy's August release has more than paid its way onto this month's list. Glaspy tells us her song is about trying to play it cool when you meet someone remarkable. With its reckless spirit, "Act Natural" strikes a promising note.
8. Susto, "Hyperbolic Jesus" My Entire Life (New West, Jul 28) Susto frontman Justin Osborne has grown to be one of the most original songwriters in our kind of music. The band's fifth record reportedly drops in the wake of personal and artistic upheaval. "Hyperbolic Jesus" delivers a Jerry Garcia guitar line and a jammy groove: She says she don't believe in Jesus / But she thinks he was a pretty good guy.
9. Lydia Loveless, "Toothache" Nothing's Gonna Stand In My Way Again (Bloodshot, Sep 22) And exhale ... Few artists have meant as much to this blog over the years, with their albums landing reliably among our year-end favorites. With the rebirth of the seminal Bloodshot label, Loveless announces her first collection in three years just like we like. This rocker is guitar-forward, with retro keys and a stronger roots orientation than we've heard from Loveless' last couple records. Now that I've cobbled together the dominos / I wanna watch 'em explode.
10. Brent Cobb, "Southern Star" Southern Star (Ol' Buddy, Sep 22) Seems Cobb is back on track with his own material following a detour for a record of hymns. With smooth keys and a lazily loping rhythm, "Southern Star" pays loving tribute to his beloved Georgia home: Under the southern star I heal all of my scars / As cicadas sing, ain't it the sweetest dream / Winding kudzu vines untangle up my mind.
Let's be frank: There are few if any better country voices than Ags Connolly. The fact only becomes more impressive with the fact that the songwriter is stationed roughly 5,000 miles outside of Texas in Oxfordshire. Of course, England also claims artists like Yola, Billy Bragg, the Staves, Peter Bruntnell and many others. Which means that the truly remarkable thing about Ags Connolly isn't where he's from as much as it is the quality of his music. He could hail from San Antonio and we'd still be impressed.
Here at R&B HQ, we've dropped praise on 2017's Nothin' Unexpected as well as Wrong Again from 2019, the latter crowned UK Country Music Album of the Year. Connolly calls his new collection, Siempre (At the Helm), a sonic loveletter to the wide range of country music in the Lone Star State. From honky tonk to Tex-Mex border music, with stops for polka and plain old Texas country, the songwriter plants his boots firmly in tradition. The music I play, he comments, is undiluted country.
A quick listen to the economical ten-track record proves it out. Connolly's music is impressively simple, played by a modest but capable ensemble where even pedal steel is somewhat rationed. Both Billy Contreras (fiddle) and Michael Guerra (accordion) add a terrific accent to the sessions, which bear the stamp of a warm, live recording. Siempre's opener, "Headed South For a While" is as involved and as contemporary-sounding as the arrangements become, with the very rare electric guitar: On a sidestreet / In a tavern / Turning forty years old. Another outlier, a rare cover of fellow Brit Wes McGhee's "Half Forgotten Tunes" is a lovely, lilting ballad that spotlights Connolly's phenomenal voice, an instrument that recalls Lefty Frizzell in its depth, its flexibility and reach.
Much of Siempre dwells on missed connections, relationships on the rocks, or longing for a hand to hold. The singer sings from this place of pining on "I Trust My Heart These Days": I guess it sounds like a hell of a thing to say / But I think we belong together / And I trust my heart these days. Guerra's accordion flirts with a workmanlike acoustic guitar, with Connolly demonstrating a mastery of the subtle touches that define the country genre. He begrudgingly accepts his fate on "Turns Out", with a sweet acoustic solo and Contreras' fiddle adding to BJ Cole's melodic pedal steel: Love told me it was now or never / And never came through once again.
New to Ags Connolly's repertoire is Siempre's inclusion of south-of-the-border influences throughout the collection, appropriate for any record that claims to survey the vast expression of Texas' country music tradition. His newly-acquired bajo quinto launches the smooth and light-handed "Tell Me What You Were Gonna Tell Me", and accordion underscores the conjunto-style "In Love At All". On top of those, there is the Tejano polka of "Change My Mind", or the instantly-recognizable border spirit of the energetic "Senora (Whatever Comes First)", replete with grito for good measure: Te lo dire hasta que no haya mar. Even to the casually educated ears, these tracks will trigger memories of Doug Sahm or Flaco Jimenez and Freddy Fender, artists who helped carry Mexican folk music across the border where it was crossbred with Texas country.
But nothing on Siempre is new, just as Ags Connolly intended. There are no false steps to his simple but masterfully executed originals. To restless ears like ours, always listening for something new or different, it takes something special for a traditional, acoustic album to stand out amidst all the noise and the buzz. Connolly is special because of his single-minded focus on undiluted country. While he doesn't bring the same vocational emphasis as James Hand or Don Walser, he demonstrates a similar wonderfully unadorned quality to his songs. To the casual listener, they may gather as little attention as the sturdy bearded, bespectacled man seated in the corner. To folks who know better, we're becoming increasingly eager to pull up a chair at Ags Connolly's table.
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- Jobi Riccio, "Sweet" Whiplash (Yep Roc, Sep 8)
- Caitlin Canty, "Come By the Highway Home" Quiet Flame (Canty, 23)
- Tommy Prine, "Elohim" This Far South (Nameless Knight, 23)
- Florry, "Drunk and High" Holey Bible (Dear Life, Aug 4) D
- Johanna Samuels, "Rest of Us" Bystander (Jealous Butcher, 23)
- Bright Eyes, "Jejune Stars (Companion Version)" People's Key: Companion EP (Dead Oceans, 23)
- Buffalo Nichols, "You're Gonna Need Somebody On Your Bond" The Fatalist (Fat Possum, Sep 15) D
- Bones of JR Jones, "Heaven Help Me" Slow Lightning (Bones, Oct 13) D
- Geese, "Gravity Blues" 3D Country (Partisan, 23)
- Hellbound Glory, "Undertow" single (HG, 23) D
- Possessed by Paul James, "3am" Fighting For Our Own Survival (Conrad Wert, 23) D
- Molly Parden, "Algorhythm" single (Parden, 23) D
- Old Crow Medicine Show, "Miles Away" Jubilee (ATO, Aug 25) D
- Ryan Bingham, "Where My Wild Things Are" Watch Out For the Wolf (Bingham, Aug 11) D
- Turnpike Troubadours, "Chipping Mill" Cat in the Rain (Bossier City, Aug 25)
- Casey James Prestwood, "Wine Drunk" Where I'm Going I've Always Been (Prestwood, 23)
^ Ags Connolly, "Tell Me What You Were Gonna Tell Me" Siempre (At the Helm, 23)
- Amanda Shires, "Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground (ft Bobbie Nelson)" Loving You (ATO, 23)
- Sally Anne Morgan, "The Center" Carrying (Thrill Jockey, Sep 22) D
- Phoebe Hunt, "Galloping" Nothing Else Matters (Popped Corn, Jul 28)
- Faye Webster, "But Not Kiss" single (Secretly Canadian, 23) D
- M Ward, "Too You To Die (ft First Aid Kit)" Supernatural Thing (Anti, 23)
- Nick Shoulders, "Whooped If You Will" All Bad (Gar Hole, Sep 8) D
- Shakey Graves, "Ready or Not (ft Sierra Ferrell)" single (Dualtone, 23) D
- Watson Twins, "Hundred Miles" Holler (Bloodshot, 23)
- Brian Ritchie, "Catch the Wind (ft Sam Llanas)" Said the Firefly To the Hurricane: Celebration of the Oeuvre of Kevn Kinney (Tasty Goody, Nov 24)
- Caitlin Rose, "Nashville Moon" CAZIMI (Deluxe Edition) (Pearl Tower, 23)
- Cory Hanson, "Wings" Western Cum (Drag City, 23)
- DeYarmond Edision, "Hazelton" Epoch (Jagjaguwar, Sep 22)
- Woods, "White Winter Melody" Perennial (Woodsist, Sep 15)
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