ROUTES & BRANCHES
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
April 19, 2026
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust
We're hoping your Record Store Day proved rewarding, for those who celebrate. If you're still on the hunt for good new music, you could reach back to last week's creative indie/folk release by My New Band Believe. We confidently stand behind this week's new projects from Benjamin Tod and Vincent Neil Emerson, one of our strongest country writers. See also, the reissue of A Derby Spiritual by Rick Alverson and his act Drunk, first produced in 1996 as Jagjaguwar's very second LP.
IF YOU ONLY LiSTEN to ONE RECORD THiS WEEK
Chris Grigoroff and Joe Adducci didn't intend to allow thirty years to pass before releasing the seventh Souled American record. As the act's core, the duo had begun in 1988 creating albums that were referencing alt.country before it was even a thing. The British-based Rough Trade label signed Souled American and Lucinda Williams as their first two American artists. You can mine the band's history on a very welcome retrospective assembled last year by Omnivore, Rise Above It.
Quite a bit can change in thirty years, and on Grigoroff and Adducci's new collection, Sanctions (Jealous Butcher), Souled American's already unique sound displays the creaks and sighs of age. Another writer called the band's roots-informed slowcore, a study in resonance, echo, and disintegration. Songwriting credits are evenly divided, as are vocals and instruments, though Grigoroff tends to handle guitar duties, with Adducci on bass. Nothing on Sanctions progresses beyond a mosey pace, with vocals drawn out and arrangements informal and approximate.
Long overlooked by the general listening public but enthusiastically embraced by their rabid converts, Souled American's new sessions are unlikely to earn new evangelists. Like Giant Sand or Califone, their work can be challenging but beautiful. New songs like "Stranger" and "Freeing Wheels" will fit snugly beside earlier hits, and "Bad To Be Good" is dangerously almost a bop. But Souled American's output helps illuminate a dusty corner of old weird americana.
ROUTES-cast April 19, 2-26
^ Souled American, "Bad To Be Good" Sanctions (Jealous Butcher, 26)
- Waterspouts, "Train Dreams" single (Approaching Perfection, 26)
- Vandoliers, "Girl On the Run" single (Break Maiden, 26) D
- Angela Autumn, "Trampstamp" single (Cacti Omen, 26) D
- Vincent Neil Emerson, "Angeline" Blue Stars (LaHonda, 26)
- Kacey Musgraves, "Middle Of Nowhere" Middle Of Nowhere (Lost Highway, May 1)
- Benjamin Tod, "Bottle's Gone" Vengeance and Grace (Tod, 26)
- Ashley McBryde, "Lines In the Carpet" Wild (Warner, May 8)
- Ben Chapman, "Out In the Country" Feet On the Fire (Hippie Shack, May 22)
- Emily Nenni, "What Have I Done Wrong" Movin' Shoes (New West, May 1)
- Whitehorse, "Bullet In the Chamber" All I Want Is All Of It (Six Shooter, May 8)
- Rodney Crowell, "Are You One Of Us (ft Guy Clark)" Then Again (New West, Jun 26) D
- Bella White, "Pink Living Room" Sign In the Weather (Rounder, Jun 12)
- Breakfield, "Pull Some Strings" Breakfield (Rounder, Jun 12)
- Andrew Sa, "Under You" American Rough (Bloodshot, Jun 26)
- SG Goodman, "Pepper" single (Slough Water, 26) D
- Caleb Elliott, "Dead Ringer" single (Single Lock, 26)
- Sam Blasucci, "SSTAR" Physical Dream (Calico, 26)
- Rosali, "Other Side" single (Merge, 26) D
- Kevin Morby, "Badlands (ft Amelia Meath, Justin Vernon)" Little Wide Open (Dead Oceans, May 15)
- Daughn Gibson, "Cocoa Beach" Lake Mary Not Mysterious (El Ed Eb, May 8)
- I'm With Her, "Lord Lead Me On" Sing Me Alive (Rounder, 26)
- Natalie Wildgoose, "Sibyl" Rural Hours EP (state51, 26)
- Aaron Lee Tasjan, "Lost and Alone" Get Over It Underdog (Blue Elan, Jul 17)
- Shakey Graves, "On My Own" Fondness Etc (Dualtone, May 15)
- Gregory Alan Isakov & Sylvan Esso, "Fade Into You" single (Suitcase Town, 26) D
- Touch Girl Apple Blossom, "I'm Lucky I Found You" Graceful (perennial, May 15)
- Will Sheff, "Funny Feeling" Extra Mile (Solid Ghost, Jul 10) D
- Widowspeak, "No Driver" Roses (Captured Tracks, Jun 5)
- This Is Lorelie, "Where's Your Love Now (ft Waxahatchee)" Box For Buddy Box For Star (Super Deluxe) (Double Double Whammy, 26)
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To enjoy any 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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