LOOKBACK MACHiNE: Big Thief

ROUTES & BRANCHES

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

October 7, 2026

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

We had the great privilege to witness Big Thief Tuesday evening at Red Rocks. Adrianne Lenker, Buck Meek, and James Krivchenia have grown into one of the most transcendent live acts in our kind of music. At last night's performance they were joined by Iris Dement and Bill Frisell, artists who reportedly contribute to Big Thief's pending triple LP, Horsepower. No release date has been announced for what will surely launch the band to new levels of appreciation. The handful of tracks from the project that were included in the Red Rocks show hinted at more direct writing and songs that skewed in a country direction. 

For this week's Lookback Machine, we've included a handful of numbers from Adrianne Lenker's solo stuff (noted in the playlist as AL). While both Krivchenia and Buck Meek maintain side projects as well, Big Thief is arguably first and foremost a vehicle for Lenker's artistic vision. While the band, including bassist Justin Felton, are essential to their captivating performance, she is a riveting stage presence and an increasingly arresting guitarist. 

Of course, we'll make some appropriate noise as soon as we have additional news and advance singles. For today, you could do much worse than to stream our Spotify playlist on repeat. 

BiG THiEF: thirty favorites

- "Steamboat" Hours Were the Birds (AL)  (2014)

- "A Love Of Some Kind"

- "Indiana"  a-sides and besides (AL)  (2014)

- "Angels"

- "Masterpiece" Masterpiece  (2016)

- "Vegas"

- "Real Love"

- "Shark Smile" Capacity  (2017)

- "Mythological Beauty" 

- "Mary"

- "Symbol" abysskiss (AL)  (2018)

- "UFOF" UFOF  (2019)

- "Cattails"

- "Forgotten Eyes" Two Hands  (2019)

- "Not"

- "Two Reverse" Song (AL)  (2020)

- "Anything"

- "Not a Lot Just Forever" 

- "Change" Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You  (2022)

- "Certainty"

- "Little Things"

- "Red Moon"

- "Simulation Swarm"

- "Sadness As a Gift" Bright Future (AL)  (2024)

- "Free Treasure"

- "Vampire Empire"

- "Born For Loving You" single  (2023)

- "Incomprehensible" Double Infinity  (2025)

- "Los Angeles"

- "All Night All Day"

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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: