featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
September 14, 2025
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust
Do we feature two (2) covers of Jackson Browne's "These Days" on this week's Episode? Yes. Yes, we do. We could've features three (3), if we had selected Margaret Glaspy's rendition with James Bay. This trio of tributes were all released in the past week, not unlike when you accidentally wear the same outfit as two of your coworkers.
IF YOU ONLY LiSTEN to ONE RECORD THiS WEEK
Scott Ballew likely shares an appreciation for Jackson Browne's song, but has chosen not to cover it for his fourth full-length collection, Paradiso. We heaped praise upon the singer-songwriter-filmmaker's Rio Bravo in 2024, lifting it onto our ten favorites for the year. As we mentioned in that review, Ballew the filmmaker has created a documentary on fellow outsider artist Terry Allen, whose sprawling and poetic vision seems to inspire Paradiso. From the soulful piano and throwback backing vocals of "Hey Baby" to the ambitious "Last Viking in Sweden", there is a fullness and confidence to these new songs that were hinted at on Ballew's earlier work. Like The Band, Ballew and producer Rob Barbato color the sessions with organ, churchly backing vocals, and an admirable looseness that prevent the record from succumbing to its own ambition. The duo is joined for the New Orleans recordings by frequent collaborators Michael Nau, Mat Davidson, and Sam Doores. Scott Ballew remains beneath the popular radar of our kind of music, true to his outsider status.
ROUTES-cast September 14, 2025
^ Scott Ballew, "Missed Connection (ft Sam Doores)" Paradiso (Leisure Rodeo, 25)
- Nude Party, "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" Look Who's Back (Nude Party, Feb 13)
- Far West, "See for Yourself" Everything We Though We Wanted (Blackbird, Sep 26)
- Michaela Anne, "If Your Body Fails You" single (Georgia June, 25) D
- Dillon Warnek, "Bad Accordion" As the Neighbors Tried to Sleep (Warnek, 25)
- Loose Cattle, "Unholy Rollers" Unholy Rollers EP (Well Kept Secret, 25) D
- Joshua Ray Walker, "Telephone" Stuff (East Dallas, Oct 14)
- Lori McKenna, "Tied to You (ft Medium Build)" single (CN, 25) D
- Rhett Miller, "All for You" A lifetime of riding by night (ATO, Oct 10)
- Micah P Hinson, "One Day I Will Get My Revenge" Tomorrow Man (Ponderosa, Oct 31)
- Katie Pruitt, "Time Wasn't Wasted (ft Jess Nolan)" single (Rounder, 25) D
- Low Gap, "Someone to Call Home" single (Cloverdale, 25) D
- Greensky Bluegrass, "Windshield (ft Holly Bowling)" XXV (Big Blue Zoo, Oct 31)
- Jonny Fritz, "Hot Chicken Condos" Debbie Downers (Gar Hole, Oct 24)
- Emily Hines, "These Days" single (Keeled Scales, 25) D
- Ruston Kelly, "Twisted Root" Pale Through the Window (Rounder, 25)
- Carson McHone, "The Canvas" Pentimento (Merge, 25)
- Fruit Bats, "Building a Cathedral" Baby Man (Merge, 25)
- Great Lake Swimmers, "Youth Not Wasted" Caught Light (Harbour Songs, Oct 10)
- Iron & Wine and Ben Bridwell, "Ketchum, ID" Making Good Time EP (Black Cricket, 25)
- Jeb Loy Nichols, "Good Morning Monday" This House is Empty Without You (Timmion, Nov 7)
- St Paul & the Broken Bones, "Sitting in the Corner" St Paul & the Broken Bones (Oasis Pizza, Oct 10)
- Margaret Glaspy, "Fruits of My Labor (ft Julian Lage)" Golden Heart Protector EP (ATO, 25)
- Mountain Goats, "Armies of the Lord" Through This Fire Across from Peter Balkan (Cadmean Dawn, Nov 7) D
- Whitney, "Back to the Wind" Small Talk (Whitney, Nov 7)
- Dove Ellis, "To the Sandals" single (AMF, 25) D
- Andrew Bird, "Blood" Mysterious Production of Eggs (20th Anniversary) (Wegawam, Feb 27) D
- Muireann Bradley, "These Days" single (Verve, 25) D
- Jeff Tweedy, "Lou Reed Was My Babysitter" Twilight Override (dBpm, Sep o26)
- Alice Phoebe Lou, "Darling" Oblivion (Nettwerk, Oct 24) D
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