Richmond Fontaine's Willy Vlautin picks his favourite songs

Often revered as one of Americana's most potent lyricists, Richmond Fontaine's Willy Vlautin guides Best Fit through ten of his personal favourite songs from his group's career.

Richmond Fontaine kick off a farewell tour of the UK next week. Check the full list of dates below alongside an exclusive recording of live highlight "Night In The City".

Harold’s Club

After thirteen years of writing tunes this is one of the first ones I really liked. Cow punk. A song about philandering rich guy who loves to shoot pigeons at live pigeon shoots.

Trembling Leaves

The City of Trembling Leaves is what writer, Walter Van Tilburg called my hometown of Reno, Nevada. This is a homesick song I wrote at a time when I was living pretty close to the ground. It’s the story of a guy getting kidnapped.

Savior of Time

I always love playing this one. My singing on the take isn’t the best but I was pretty insecure back then and used to have to get drunk to sing. It’s the story of a guy picking up his mentally ill girlfriend from a hospital.

Northline

There’s a sadness in this one I’ve always liked. It comes from the album Winnemucca. This is the record the band really came into its own. Sean Oldham joined up and after that things started going our way.

Willamette

One of my favorite RF tunes. It has a big epic quality that RF always tried for and I think we succeed on this one. It was my first good song about brothers. In this one the older brother, who had vanished, comes back to town with money. He says he’s a merchant marine but you’re just not sure he really is.

Exit 194B

This one comes from the record The Fitzgerald. A record we did mostly live in the studio. This is the song about the effects of a little brother’s death on an older brother and cousin who live with him. One falls into depression and the other joins the army and then goes AWOL.

The Kid from Belmont Street

We recorded this one in Tucson, Az. It has a great horn part done by Jacob Valenzuela from Calexico. RF has always had an ethereal side to it and I think this is one of our best of those. Paul’s looping pedal steel always kills me on this one.

The Boyfriends

This is one of the only songs I feel I’ve been given. I wrote it in five minutes. But I guess I’d spent my whole life thinking about it. Dan’s guitar part is so damn cool and Paul’s trumpet gives the tune both a sadness and strangely a sort of uplifting quality to it.

Inventory

Deborah Kelly was brave enough to come to Portland and hang out with us when we did our record The High Country. This is a spoken word song, a heartbreaking confessional of a woman stuck in a bad marriage. Again it’s odd and maybe not the best way to start a record but it’s one of my favorite RF tunes.

Whitey and Me

There is a big open desert feel to this one that I’ve tried to get since I started writing tunes when I was a kid. With Dan’s great guitar part, I think we succeed. Two young ranch hands get their horses stolen by an uncle who’s a junkie. The idea of the song is forgiveness or at least acceptance of a way a guy lives. What’s the point of beating down an already beaten man?

October
16 – Cardiff – Clwb Ifor Bach *^
17 – Manchester – Deaf Institute *^
18 – Edinburgh – The Caves *^
19 – Hebden Bridge - Trades Club *^
20 – Nottingham – The Maze *^
21 – London – Electric Ballroom *

* Peter Bruntnell supporting
^ Jerry Joseph supporting​