WHAT's SO GREAT ABOUT THiS WEEK?!! (September 27, 2024)

ROUTES & BRANCHES

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

September 27, 2024

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

We're told that this time every month we opine about how long the preceding thirty days have seemed. September speaks for itself. While you might think we'd get used to all this great music rolling our way from week to week, we continue to find it so gratifying that it just keeps coming. Next month we're looking at new stuff from Bailey Bigger, Hard Quartet, Kasey Chambers and much (much) more. Lest we catch ourselves looking too far ahead, let's take a solemn moment to appreciate the treasures that have come our way over the past seven (7) days. We'll call it: 

WHAT's SO GREAT ABOUT THiS WEEK?!!

Liv Greene, "Flowers" Deep Feeler  (Free Dirt, Oct 18)

O my, this is pretty (and it owes nothing to either Bruno Mars or Miley Cyrus). To date, most of the singles from Deep Feeler have been more sparsely arranged, which makes Greene's "Flowers" sound like quite a banger. Just wait til you hear the bonus track from the record, "Flowers (Party Version)", which turns up the pedal steel and fiddle! I'm a 21st Century woman who's crying like a little child / Wearing my poor heart on my shopping cart in the frozen food aisle / And I don't know what the hell I'm doing spending my hard-earned money for / When the truth is I just can't afford to miss you any more. 

--------------------------

Samantha Crain, "Dragonfly"  single  (Real Kind, Sep 25)

Oklahoma singer-songwriter Samantha Crain can rattle off several reason she admires dragonflies (They have iridescence, which allows them to appear differently depending on the light at polarization around them ...). We're mostly impressed that they have released something new following a couple years of radar silence. The song features punchy guitars, with Crain's layered vocals grounding the poppy track, consistent with the slightly more adventuresome spirit of their past few songs (They can see 360 degrees around themselves because of their compound eyes). 

--------------------------

Wyatt Flores, "Oh Susannah"  Welcome To the Plains  (Island, Oct 18)

Here it is. Every single after single that the country up-and-comer has released has been just fine, sometimes really good. With this second peek into Flores' first full-length, we're blessed with his first excellent song, a melodic midtempo number that doesn't shoot for the stars, but just lays down a satisfying strum, adding a terrific fiddle and an undeniable, singalong chorus. As alluded in the video, the song addresses the young songwriter's public struggle processing his own skyrocketing fame, an issue that seems to be occurring increasingly in light of how a certain element of our culture devours celebrity. More specifically, it reaches back to the songwriter's awareness of the meaning of his music to a young girl who took her own life: We go together so bittersweet / Like misery and company / And I know you can't say no / I don't really want to let you go / But I gotta leave so you can be free. 

--------------------------

Angela Autumn w/Lockeland Strings, "Waltz About Death" single (Tone Tree, Sep 26)

Angela Autumn actually released this song at the beginning of August, but revisits it here with some beautiful support from the Lockeland Strings. The ensemble identifies its lofty mission thusly: creating community to bridge the gap between the local Nashville songwriter scene and the world of classical music. Same here. The ensemble's YouTube page features an impressive and growing assortment of similar sessions with other young artists like Katie Pruitt, SG Goodman, Jess Nolan and others. Just as importantly, Autumn's own page indicates that she's currently pooling her resources for her second full-length record, called Dancer. 

--------------------------

Chuck Prophet, "Red Sky Night (ft Qiensave)" Wake the Dead  (Yep Roc, Oct 25)

With his own punk origins and uncompromising artistic edge, Chuck Prophet almost gives Alejandro Escovedo a run for his money for the title of most cool guy in our kind of music. His October release pairs him with cumbia group Qiensave, as seen in the video above. With its strings and wah-wah guitars, "Red Sky Night" occupies an unusually chill lane for the San Francisco songwriter: This town don't feel like home anymore / Once upon a time it might've been / Tired of the rain filling up my shoes / I want to feel the sun shining through again. Co-written with Kim Richey and Aaron Lee Tasjan, the song's sha-la-la's are so wonderfully laid-back and inviting. 

--------------------------