featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
November 16, 2025
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust
This week brings new full-length projects from Canadian traditionalist Colter Wall, a lovely collaborative instrumental collection from Jake Xerxes Fussell & James Elkington, and a lush, roots-adjacent debut from new (to us) Mia Wilson. See also Orville Peck's melancholy new EP. Buuuuut ...
IF YOU ONLY LiSTEN to ONE RECORD THiS WEEK
While we prefer to spend our time looking forward, we're actually secretly fond of well-curated retrospectives like Hallelujah the Hills' enjoyable Realistic Birthday Music (Discrete Pageantry). Gathering scraps from 2005 to the present day, two-volume compilation seems neither tired nor scattered, but attests to the longtime outfit's eclectic reach. In June, Ryan H Walsh and his Boston sextet released a wildly ambitious four-disc Deck, here condensed and curated into the second volume of Realistic Birthday Music. Disc One drags us across twenty years of the best rock, punk, and pop you've likely never heard. Think a heavier Mountain Goats, or a Hold Steady without Craig Finn's literary intentions. HtH songs can be anthemic, with heraldic horns ("Running Hot With Fate"), then crunchy like late Replacements ("What Do the People Want"), dabbling now and then with the drive and bite of early Old 97s ("We Are What We Say We Are"). Spend your week with Realistic Birthday Music, then maybe dig further into Deck for additional gems featuring guest spots from Craig Finn, Ezra Furman, Lydia Loveless, and so much (much) more.
ROUTES-cast November 16, 2025
^ Hallelujah the Hills, "Rebuilding Year (ft Ezra Furman)" Realistic Birthday Music Vol 2 (Discrete Pageantry, 25) D
- Matt Kivel, "Vampire Weekend" Escape From LA (Scissor Tail, Dec 12)
- Hiding Places, "Holy Roller" single (Keeled Scales, 25) D
- Mia Wilson, "I Want It All" Mia Wilson (Royal Oakie, 25) D
- Son Little, "In Orbit" single (Anti, 25) D
- Jeffrey Martin, "1519 (Live at the Showdown)" Alive July 25 2025 (Fluff and Gravy, Feb 20) D
- Leah Blevins, "All Dressed Up" All Dressed Up (Easy Eye, Mar 20) D
- Boy Golden, "Cowboy Dreams (ft Cat Clyde)" Best of Our Possible Lives (Six Shooter, Feb 13)
- David Huckfelt, "Race is On" I Was Born But ... (Don Giovanni, Jan 16)
- Langhorne Slim, "On Fire" Dreamin' Kind (Dualtone, Jan 16)
- Valerie June, "Rollin' and Tumblin'" single (Concord, 25) D
- Mikaela Davis, "11:11" single (Kill Rock Stars, 25) D
- Sky Chiefs, "House Full of Company" Sky Chiefs (Chimney Bird, Feb 13) D
- Sammy Brue, "Lonely Mornings" The Journals (Bloodshot, Jan 23)
- Rose's Pawn Shop, "Summer's Over" American Seams (Blue Elan, Feb 27) D
- Clay Street Unit, "Rollin'" Sin & Squalor (Leo33, Feb 13) D
- Brudi Brothers, "Serpent Lullaby" single (Mom+Pop, 25) D
- Muscadine Bloodline, "Goose Chase" Longleaf Lo-Fi (Stancaster, 25) D
- Flatland Cavalry, "Somewhere Down in Texas" single (Hell Pony, 25) D
- Orville Peck, "Oh My Days" Appaloosa EP (Warner, 25)
- Hudson Freeman, "If You Know Me" single (Freeman, 25) D
- Melissa Carper & Theo Lawrence, "Way I Remember You" single (Warner, 25)
- Colter Wall, "Memories and Empties" Memories and Empties (La Honda, 25)
- Emily Scott Robinson, "Dirtbag Saloon" Appalachia (Oh Boy, Jan 30)
- Tyler Halverson, "Smoke You Out" In Defense of Drinking (CMDSHFT, Feb 13)
- Jay Buchanan, "Caroline" Weapons of Beauty (Sacred Tongue, Feb 6) D
- Jake Xerxes Fussell & James Elkington, "Chile Roast Waltz" Rebuilding (Fat Possum, 25)
- Wendy Eisenberg, "Will You Dare" single (Joyful Noise, 25) D
- Bill Callahan, "Man I'm Supposed to Be" My Days of 58 (Drag City, Feb 27) D
- Blondshell, "Event of a Fire (ft Conor Oberst)" Another Picture (Partisan, 25) D
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