Steve Poltz "License Plate Eyes/Rains"

What can you say about an artist whose work spans from 'the sublime to the ridiculous' like Steve Poltz's does? From the Jewel hit "You Were Meant for Me," to "Monkeys (Coming Out Of Your Ass)," he is adept at conveying the most heartbreaking emotion to the zaniest, and he does it all well!

Steve's latest album Dreamhouse continues in the singer/songwriter vein he has been delivering for a while now. So we were totally unprepared for what we experienced when he showed up for our SX session in Austin. The band came, Steve has had problem with his hand incurred while skiing in Rossland, BC: The diagnosis is "an undisplaced spiral fracture of the fourth metacarpal in the left hand and did not involve a joint." That was posted to Steve's website on January 27th, along with X-Rays. Little did we know what was to take place with no guitar to tether him to the stage. It was supersized. It was raw emotion, it was Iggy Pop inspired, and it was caught on camera! Check out Poltz' site, lots going on there! Kind of what you would expect from a man that has a three ring circus inside his head!

-Jessie Scott

Pieta Brown "Faller"

There is a hush that descends around Pieta Brown, kind of like she is walking in a cloud, untouchable. Now that may be the way this visit to the Music Fog bus was set up, with a warning not to delve into her life. For the record, she is Greg Brown's daughter, and she is married to Bo Ramsey. There I said it, not that you wouldn't have known it anyway. Then, I didn't hang around for the session with her as I had somewhere to be that I no longer remember, so I left with no questions being asked. I am sure it must be tough, to have everyone constantly asking you about the same things. For us, it is always about the music in any case.

Pieta Brown calls her music Prairie Stomp. I like that. She came in, got ensconced into the bus vibe, and we went from there. Her new CD came out last Tuesday, and it's being hailed for its blending of sophistication and earthiness. It is called One and All, and it is on Red House Records. She actually grew up in the red house for which the label is named, before going on an odyssey from the west coast to the east. We're happy to have had her stop in Memphis! Here's one from the new album.

-Jessie Scott

Ray Wylie Hubbard "Snake Farm"

I was shocked, shocked I tell ya', when I went to the search box on the Music Fog page, and did not get a hit on a video when I typed in "Snake Farm!" Now HOW could that be?????

Ray Wylie Hubbard is one of our most frequently recorded artists. We LOVE getting together with him, he is craggy, authentic, a beacon in the night, or the day for that matter. It is amazing to think about the trajectory of his career. He might just be the perennial late bloomer. His albums, over the course of the last decade and a half or so, are a definitive body of work and one that is continually growing! His latest, A: Enlightenment, B: Endarkenment (Hint There Is No C), continues the growl, the grit and the groove. And last weekend was his second annual Grit N Groove Festival at Luckenbach. It was a day in the Texas sun with a wonderful sense of camaraderie on stage and in the audience. Guests this year included Lincoln Durham, Elizabeth Cook, James McMurtry, Kevin Welch, The Trishas, Matt King, Hayes Carll, Slaid Cleaves, Chris Robinson from the Black Crowes, and RWH and band. Whew and a half!

But back to Snake Farm from the CD of that name back in 2006; you might know that there IS actually a Snake Farm, down I-35 from Austin in New Braunfels. A must if you are visiting the area. From our session last month at Threadgill's, here at last is the modern classic, "Snake Farm." Just sounds nasty...pretty much is!

-Jessie Scott