featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
May 5, 2024
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust
Ana Egge's thirteenth full-length record will see the light of day on May 17 courtesy of the StorySound label. She's been on the R&B radar since before the turn of the century, and while she's received strong praise and support from household names like Lucinda Williams and Iris Dement, Egge continues to labor just beneath the radar. Sharing In the Spirit offers listeners yet another opportunity to discover one of the most expressive, eclectic voices in our kind of music.
You're strongly encouraged to dip into Ana Egge's generous discography, a consistently satisfying playlist that wanders purposefully from folk to alt.country, with moments that lean into jazz, indie singer-songwriter, bluegrass, and more. The Canadian-born Brooklyn resident embraces such a range seamlessly, without drawing hard stylistic lines or appearing to be out of her element. Before turning twenty, her debut full-length found her backed by Asleep at the Wheel, while other collections have been produced by Steve Earle, or have featured Egge alongside Stray Birds.
Ana Egge's brand is that of a singer and guitarist, having apprenticed with a luthier as a very young woman, crafting a guitar that she continues to play to this day (among other instruments). On "Don't You Sleep", it's a grinding electric leading the charge: Meet me here for the revolution ... Change is gonna come, she declares. The gospel stomp is uplifted by backing vocals from Kiena Williams and Tyrone Davis Jr, and a churchly organ from Devon Yesberger. On the dreamlike title track, Egge plays acoustic with only Alex Hargreaves' unsteady fiddle as company. The singer references salting the skin and tanning hides, ghostly accompaniment breezing across the cut like wind through a tumbledown barn: The open hand of the inside of an animal.
Sharing In the Spirit also showcases Egge's trademark vocal instrument, a soft, breathy delivery that communicates soul and intimacy. "Mission Bells Moan" is hypnotic, with the singer caressing the lyric: My god your naked body / The side of your breast as you turn to me / For you my eyes are holy. The song features a striking electric guitar from Kirk Schoener, Egge's voice unexpectedly taking flight like Jane Siberry as the piece progresses. She brings to mind Gillian Welch to Michael 'Squeaky' Robinson's David Rawlings on the humbly bare "Where Berries Grow".
In 2007, Ana Egge presented Lazy Days, a collection of cover songs, while elsewhere she has paid tribute to writers like Dolly Parton, Charlie Rich, and even Rodgers & Hammerstein. For Sharing, she turns to the late Ted Hawkins on a soulful run through "Sorry You're Sick". Egge closes her new sessions with a moving take on Sinead O'Connor's "Last Day Of Our Acquaintance", actually recorded prior to O'Connor's untimely passing. The cover offers a raw vocal from Egge, lifting well beyond her usual measured delivery.
Like her other twelve collections, Sharing In the Spirit can be difficult to pigeonhole stylistically. A cowrite with producer and bassist Lorenzo Wolff, "If It Were Up To Me" unfolds into a lovely midtempo meditation lured in a country direction by Michael Robinson's pedal steel: If it were up to me / He'd have a way to see who you become / When you stand and when you run / How you make his footprints match your feet. Egge confronts an abusive situation on "Door Won't Close", featuring Hargreaves' trad fiddle. In interviews, Ana Egge proves to be thoughtful and good-humored, even as she harbors more refreshingly broad-minded ideas about sexuality and spirituality. Her music reflects this depth and latitude, a spirit that might best be termed progressive roots.
A Routes & Branches Guide To Feeding Your Monster is our excessively updated release calendar for our kind of music, with the link to make it go located just over there on the right margin. This week Ryan Gustafson announced two (2) new projects on his Dead Tongues horizon. The first, Body Of Light, is set for a June 14 release, followed on August 9 by the companion record, I Am a Cloud (Psychic Hotline). The last couple years have seen Dr Dog release some live material, a holiday EP, and a couple singles. July 19 marks the date for their first studio LP in awhile, a self-titled affair on their We Buy Gold label. Melissa Carper is presently on tour with her Wonder Women Of Country supergroup. The country traditionalist has announced her next solo album, Borned In Ya, due July 19 via Mae Music. Produced once again by Shooter Jennings, American Aquarium are poised to share their next recording. Fear Of Standing Still will land on shelves on July 26, courtesy of the Losing Side label. Finally, Texas songwriter Walt Wilkins will receive the tribute treatment with monthly installments leading up to If It Weren't For You. From Eight 30 Records, contributors include Gretchen Peters, Slaid Cleaves, Verlon Thompson, and more, with the final product due in late summer 2025.
ROUTES-cast May 5, 2024
- Sarah Gayle Meech, "Stars" Easin' On (Good Timin' Woman, 24)
- Charley Crockett, "Good At Losing" $10 Cowboy (Son Of Davy, 24)
- Bella White, "I'll Find a Way (To Carry It All)" single (Rounder, 24) D
- Chris Stapleton, "I Should Have Known It" Petty Country (Big Machine, Jun 21)
- Emily Nenni, "I Don't Have To Like You" Drive & Cry (New West, 24)
- AJ Lee & Blue Summit, "Hillside" City Of Glass (Signature Sounds, Jul 19) D
- Jesse Daniel, "Tomorrow's Good Ol' Days (ft Ben Haggard)" Countin' the Miles (Lightning Rod, Jun 7)
- Kelsey Waldon, "Traveling the Highway Home (ft Margo Price)" There's Always a Song (Oh Boy, May 10)
- Melissa Carper, "Lucky Five" Borned In Ya (Mae Music, Jul 19) D
- Pokey LaFarge, "So Long Chicago" Rhumba Country (New West, May 10)
- Will Stewart, "Real Drag (live)" Live In Sweden (Cornelius Chapel, Jun 7) D
- Adeem the Artist, "Nightmare" Anniversary (Four Quarters, 24)
^ Ana Egge, "If It Were Up To Me" Sharing In the Spirit (Storysound, May 17)
- Donovan Woods, "Back For the Funeral" Things Were Never Good If They're Not Good Now (End Times, Jul 12)
- Gretchen Peters, "Watch It Shine" If It Weren't For You: Tribute To Walt Wilkins (Eight 30, 24) D
- Jana Mila, "Somebody New" Chameleon (New West, Aug 30) D
- Cody Dickinson, "Goodbye Albuquerque Tuesday Night" Homemade (Petaluma, Jun 21)
- Nathan Kalish, "Congrats" Southern Poverty Guitar Center EP (Yellow Canary, 24)
- Kaia Kater, "Witch (ft Aoife O'Donovan)" Strange Medicine (Free Dirt, May 17)
- Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore, "Southwest Chief" TexiCali (Yep Roc, Jun 21)
- American Aquarium, "Crier" Fear Of Standing Still (Losing Side, Jul 26) D
- Avett Brothers, "Forever Now" Avett Brothers (Ramseur, May 17)
- Angus & Julia Stone, "No Boat No Aeroplane" Cape Forestier (Nettwerk, May 10)
- Rose Hotel, "Fruit Tree" A Pawn Surrender (Strolling Bones, Jun 7)
- Jessica Pratt, "Last Year" Here In the Pitch (Mexican Summer, 24)
- Dead Tongues, "Body Of Light" Body Of Light (Psychic Hotline, Jun 14) D
- Alex Izenberg, "Only the Moon Knows" Alex Izenberg & the Exiles (Domino, Jul 26) D
- Pearl Charles, "Smoke In the Limousine" single (Taurus Rising, 24) D
- Gold Star, "I Found a Reason (ft Johanna Samuels)" Love LA (Org, 24)
- Angie McMahon, "Reckless" single (Australian Broadcasting, 24) D
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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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