Richmond Fontaine: We Used to Think the Freeway Sounded Like a River

Copy at Case Memorial Library
Contents: We used to think the freeway sounded like a river — Northwest (instrumental) — You can move back here — The boyfriends — The pull — Sitting outside my dad's old house (instrumental) — Maybe we were both born blue — Watch out — 43 — Lonnie — Roby & Lou — Walking back to our place at 3 A.M. (instrumental) — Two alone — A letter to the patron saint of nurses.
"Richmond Fontaine, a Portland-based band led by the singer-songwriter Willy Vlautin, has just released 'We Used to Think the Freeway Sounded Like a River' (Arena Rock), its ninth record and one of its best. The band is one of the finest proponents of what is sometimes called alt-country but is more properly described as woozy roots music, and Vlautin, who is also an acclaimed novelist, specializes in the telling detail. … None of the songs here are throwaways, and several—the openhearted plaint 'Maybe We Were Both Born Blue,' the crepuscular boxing tale 'The Pull'—are tours de force" (Ben Greenman, "Pop Notes," New Yorker, 11/2/09, p. 10).