Rusted Root "When I Woke" 2xLP

Rust & Blue Sky Vinyl Rusted Root's "When I Woke" is a riotous fusion of tribal percussion, Appalachian folk, and jam-heavy rock, anchored by a spiritual pulse that feels both ancestral and futuristic. It's a sweat-soaked ceremony of sound where West African hand drums lock in with gospel-inflected vocals, hammered dulcimers shimmer like heat waves, and frontman Michael Glabicki’s sinewy yowl carries lyrics that oscillate between mysticism and protest. “Send Me on My Way,” with its yipping vocal improvisations and buoyant pan-global bounce, has become a cultural touchstone - an omnipresent, feel-good anthem heard everywhere from movie soundtracks to children's birthday parties - yet the album as a whole is far more intricate. Tracks like “Martyr” and “Cruel Sun” surge with the urgency of political folk but are soaked in deep, trance-inducing polyrhythms and psychedelic flourishes that suggest an alternate American roots music, one that reaches toward the Middle East, South America,