Matt King & the Cutters "Rockabye the Cradle"

The Pennsylvanian is an Amtrak train that rolls 444 miles from New York, through Newark to Philly, and on its way to Pittsburgh. I used to live in Pittsburgh, where I started my career in radio so very last century. A friend of mine, Ed Salamon, just published one of those "Images Of America" series books called "Pittsburgh's Golden Age of Radio." I am humbled to have been included. Pittsburgh is the birthplace of commercial radio, with the FCC granting KDKA a license to operate in 1920. And there used to be magic on the airwaves in Pittsburgh. I haven't been in so long that I can't know for sure, just making the assumption that it isn't now what it used to be. But then, what is? We are in the middle of such a seismic shift, so obvious when you take a train through rust belt towns and see boarded up building bearing graffiti and broken windows; factories and warehouses that used to be serviced by the circulatory system that was once these tracks. And you know things have changed when you get to a place in your own life where you have to explain your resume, as what was once held in esteem no longer even exists! Oh, but the changes we have seen over the last half century. The landscape, the wealth, the industry, the migration to the south from the north. From once thriving communities to rack and ruin. Meth labs and prostitution, and gigantic prisons to accommodate society's losing class.

Matt King posted a train tune on his website on August 16th, "Back To Baltimore." Matt writes about the changes the march of time has brought. And he delivers biting socially commentary, deceptively clothed in an easy to swallow musical pill. Goes down without you even realizing what you are ingesting. Music with a message, what a concept!

There are Texas gigs coming up, catch 'em when you can! The EP Matt King and the Cutters, came out in March. It was recorded old school style to one-inch tape by Vance Powell in Nashville. You will find a Jeff Lynne flavor there to the tune "Rockabye The Cradle," which Music Fog also recorded, during SXSW at Threadgill's in Austin.

- Jessie Scott

Tommy Womack "On & Off the Wagon"

Tommy Womack is a wordsmith. Pure and simple. Well, actually there is nothing simple about Tommy...pure and complex! How is that? The words manifest in all different kinds of ways. There are songs, some delivered solo, and some with bands current and past; in reverse order with DADDY, The Bis-quits, and Government Cheese. There are books, The Cheese Chronicles, which is in my estimation one of the finest rock and roll books ever written; The Lavender Boys and Elsie, the collected civil war era letters of Albert and Elsie Deveraux which came out in 2008; and now we await an illustrated children's book to be published this year called Jack The Bunny. He has even contributed columns to Music Fog's website from time to time. His blog over on his website is a literate and illuminating glimpse into his life. From it, posted back in May:

"On Tuesday I got my second day of recording done for my next solo venture. John Deaderick and I – the same team who gave you There, I Said It! - are at it again. Expect a 2011 release for this one. (It makes no sense to rush these things anymore, does it.) Songs recorded so far: “On & Off The Wagon,” “Play That Cheap Trick, Cheap Trick Play,” “It Doesn’t Have to Be That God,” “Bye & Bye,” “Wishes Do Come True,” “Pothead Blues,” “I’m Too Old to Feel That Way Right Now,” “Darling Let Your Free Bird Fly,” “Guilty Snake Blues,” and “I Love You to Pieces."

Whoo-hoo! A new Tommy Womack CD is an well anticipated and wholly awesome thing to contemplate!

Tommy came up on the Music Fog bus this past February, at Folk Alliance, and brought Lisa Gray with him to lay down one of the above mentioned new tunes. Is this a song about sobriety, about being on the road, about marital fidelity, about the human condition? Answer, likely all of the above. A lot to stuff in, delivered in just two minutes and thirty-eight seconds! "On and Off the Wagon."

- Jessie Scott

John Mellencamp "No Better Than This"

For decades, John Mellencamp has been a fact of life and a force of nature, having quietly used his celebrity status to help others. It is no wonder that folks around him are now talking politics, though he seemingly discounts it. He has just released his 25th CD, No Better Than This. It is a haunting affair, crafted with a rootsy vibe, an apt follow up to the earthy and heartfelt CD of 2008, Life Death Love and Freedom. For the latest, he wrote the 13 songs in a 13 day fever in 2009, during days off from the Baseball Stadium Tour with Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan. T Bone Burnett produced it, taking it on the road this time to three locations: at the historic First African Baptist Church in Savannah, GA, the legendary Sun Studio in Memphis, and the room where Delta blues legend Robert Johnson made his archetypal recordings in the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio. And we are talking seriously Lo-Fi, as the entire album was recorded mono to a single track 1955 Ampex Reel-to-Reel recording deck, and one vintage microphone.

Mellencamp is about to be acknowledged by the Americana Music Association in the category of Lifetime Achievement Songwriting at the Americana Honors and Awards Show coming up on September 9th, at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. He has been a vocal proponent for homelessness through 1Matters and for family farms with the ongoing Farm Aid, slated this year for October 2nd in Milwaukee, WI. John is an original Farm Aid board member, along with Willie Nelson and Neil Young, having organized and participated in these iconic concerts since their inception in 1985, though none of them expected that they would still be shining a light on this issue 25 years later.

As we get ready for these upcoming events, and to celebrate the release of the new album, we bring you the title track from the new CD, "No Better Than This."

- Jessie Scott