Susan Cowsill "The Way That It Goes"

I wanted to take a minute and tell you the tale of Sheila Francis, whom we met on our very first outing to MusicFest in Steamboat Springs 2009, as the fledgling company called Music Fog. It was the last day, and Ben Krech was hell bent on executing an idea he had for a "Gondola Concert Series," getting artists to play while in motion in a confined space, and filming it. We tweeted for a "contest winner" to take the ride in the gondola with Paula Nelson and George Devore for this private mini-concert up and down the mountain. Sheila answered the tweet, and magically appeared in the allotted 5 minutes. Since then, she has gamely interned on many other Music Fog road trips, and contributed articles from events we didn't cover; all while she was getting her degree in accounting! A couple of road trips back she wound up behind the Music Fog camera, as an operator, and though that was neither her career path intention, nor ours, we are digging what she is putting down! Don't forget the Music Fog motto is, "How hard can it be?" So, most of our Nashville sessions feature Sheila on camera two, and you can clearly see that she "gets it." Some beautiful shots there!

Our last session on the last day at the Americana Fest in Nashville was with a legend. I have a policy of not telling anyone on the crew when they are going to be in the presence of royalty, so I didn't say Susan Cowsill of THE COWSILLS, though I guess it's not that common of a name, is it? Susan was also with the Continental Drifters, one of the most amazing live bands I have seen over the last 20 years! Susan and band - Russ Broussard, Sam Craft, Jack Craft, and Mary Lasseigne - came in early, and sussed out our 'studio set' the Sweet Suite at the Sheraton Nashville Downtown. Susan checked out the fine guitars we had on hand from Gibson, and decided to play the Hummingbird. She broke a string towards the end of this song, the first in her set, so she grabbed the Songwriter Deluxe Standard for the remaining songs. Nice choices, huh?! The drum kit was on loan from Somebody's Darling, who you will see very soon here at Music Fog. The feeling of tiredness was catching up with us from having recorded 36 previous sessions, the struggles to stay on schedule, and the OMG moment of coming back to our space that morning to discover that a vendor had mistakenly tore down our set; they had removed our "mojo." Frantic phones calls, emails, and texts yielded their return, and then the race was on to rebuild and get the set ready for the day. What originally took over three hours to build, was reset in about twenty minutes! And magic ensued on that last session of the last day.

Susan Cowsill's latest CD is Lighthouse, and was beautifully reviewed by David Fricke in Rolling Stone magazine. In a song that is guaranteed to make you cry, to make you ponder the ebb and flow of the seasons, the eternal pull of the cycle of life, here is "The Way That It Goes," which can be found on the new album.

- Jessie Scott

Morgan O'kane "Time"

The Music Fog crew is busy doing the due diligence, getting ready for another trip, but this time on a private shoot for an artist. Sometimes we move like a military cadre, quietly making our preparations out of the line of sight. There is a clandestine feel to it. We are scattered in different cities, and that is not an obstacle to us as a company, what with communication being what it is these days. But when we get mobilized, it has a kind of George Peppard "A Team" vibe, though I hear it with different music. Of course, the "A Team" is back as a movie this year. I get a little worried that our culture spends so much time recycling rather than inventing. I guess there are always periods like this before moving on, but it seems we've been in ennui land for a decade. TV shows coming back to life as movies, sequels, prequels, and now I see that Cheap Trick is playing Vegas doing a reprise of Sgt. Peppers! Yikes.

Photo Credit: Martin Diver Photography

We don't subscribe to the notion that everything good has already been invented, and that there is nothing new to explore. The building blocks remain the same, but even when people pick up threads from before, they can create something new. And so it is with the melting pot of Americana. Throw all that roots music into the gumbo pot, and form something that isn't a pure bit, but instead a Heinz 57 of music. Morgan O'kane is true to the roots, but his music has a rock and roll energy to it. We hold this truth to be self evident, that a society without artists is a less rich one. You have to have dreamers, schemers, to move things forward. Morgan O'kane, Ferd Moyse and Zeke Healy have been on a campaign of their own, to conquer Europe these last three weeks. They are playing a free show this Thursday (9/23) at King's Cross Social Club in London, and we are all invited to their Hootenanny. This ain't your Grandpa's string band music!

- Jessie Scott

Ben Prestage "2:19"

It's the six degrees of separation thing at work here. While the Music Fog crew was doing our thing in Nashville, at the Americana Music Festival, the bombardment of press releases from PR agents, label promotion people, artists, and managers didn't stop coming in to my email inbox. I average one an hour during the 40 hour work week, adjusted of course for east and west coast time zones, which bumps it way past 40 a week. And there are those that straggle in at all hours of the night, so there is always some new bit of music being released, or announcement of a tour or festival for me to ponder. But what I love best is getting one that is totally out of the blue. Here is an email from this fellow named Jim from Coral Gables, Florida:

"I just discovered your site and think it's terrific. I just linked to your Facebook page. Do you take artist suggestions? I recently got turned onto this musician by the name of BEN PRESTAGE, out of Vero Beach, FL by a local folk musician friend, Bob Ingram from Coconut Grove, FL. I've been to see Ben play several times. He is truly a one man band, and I think your viewers would really appreciate his music."

Ben Prestage distills Mississippi Country with Florida Swamp Blues - muddy water meets black water - and he was hailed as "one of the three best unsigned performers in the world” at the 2006 International Blues Challenge. He plays many cigar box guitars (made by John Lowe, also a one man band from Memphis), one of which has guitar and bass strings that are played independently. Ben also plays foot pedals on a drum kit by the heels and toes of both feet. It makes me dizzy to think of all those functions at the same time, but it sure is fascinating to watch. So, thanks to Jim from Coral Gables for the head's up! Here's a version of the song "2:19," recorded in the Netherlands last year, taken from his album Down-Home & Home-Made.

- Jessie Scott