John Brannen "I Could Be Persuaded"

The town is alive with the sound of music! Austin City Limits Music Festival is going on, and Zilker Park is playing host to a smorgasbord of the most happening artists in America. Over the three days, there is plenty of Americana being represented. Starting with the annual appearance of Asleep At The Wheel, Two Tons of Steel, Sahara Smith, JJ Grey and Mofro, Those Darlins, Ponderosa, Carolyn Wonderland, Tom Freund, Band of Heathens, Sarah Harmer, and Ryan Bingham and The Dead Horses. And that was just yesterday! Here is today's schedule. Plus, this year there are aftershows in clubs around town. Sorry, we don't mean to tease you, but instead to tantalize you with the choices to dive into. Next year, when you are scheduling vacation time, pick one of the incredible music festivals and immerse yourself, right! And a head's up, for ACL you have to buy tickets early, cause this one sells out every year.

"I Could Be Persuaded" is the song we bring you today from John Brannen. He is one of those mysterious people that just starts you to guessing - where he came from, how he grew up, what his story is. His travels have taken him to many of the music centers in the United States: New York, Nashville, Memphis, Muscle Shoals, Los Angeles, and there are hints of each layered in, on top of his Southern roots, Charleston, where he was born. With chiseled features and a Southern rock sensibility, he makes common man music. It is an easy groove to live in. John's 6th, and latest CD is called Bravado, and it was co-produced by David Z, whose credits include Prince, Fine Young Cannibals, Buddy Guy, and Kenny Wayne Shepherd.

When we hooked up with John in Nashville, during the Americana Fest last month, he had one of those crazy long travel days, and we so appreciate that he came to see us anyway. I guess he really could be persuaded...Game On!

- Jessie Scott

The Trishas "Moses"

ACK! I have the creeping-crud-sore-throat-sinus-infection that so often accompanies the rock and roll lifestyle. The kissing and handshaking of a festival, and then the dastardly plane ride home. In this case, taking an extra three hours because San Francisco was fogged in, and we were unable to take off. So the trip home became a 12 hour affair. So I had to visit the walk-in clinic today for some antibiotics. It hurts to talk, and well, that's just bad. Well maybe my silence is not bad for some people. Just ask Beans, and he'll say it's hard to get a word in edgewise with me. So my laptop becomes even more essential. I also met a singer at the clinic today who said she'd had this throat thing going on for a month. Perish the thought! I am living on ice pops and Hall's® Mentho-Lyptus, and typing away. Life is grand.

It is a good week when you can see The Trishas twice. Not that we expected that, but when we brought you the Raul Malo video for "Sinners & Saints" on Tuesday, there they were, in all their glory. The new CD They Call Us The Trishas is out, though they call it a mini-album, not an EP. We look forward to more from them soon, as this is a time for writing, growing, and becoming everything their promise holds. The road trip continues for them tonight in Conroe, Texas for the Cajun Catfish Festival. Mmmmnn, that sounds DELICIOUS. And fun! They have lots of other Texas dates coming up, and will be back to play the MusicFest at Steamboat Springs in Colorado this coming January. It is an incredible lineup there again this year. Meantime, click here for the rest of The Trishas' schedule. We bring you a SXSW 2010 performance of the song "Moses."

- Jessie Scott

Frazey Ford "Firecracker"

The creative process is so interesting to me, finally to take to heart the concept that to everything there is indeed a season. To soak up, to craft, to work toward a goal, to make something happen out of thin air. For me, that is the magic to keeping it interesting, to getting somewhere meaningful, to using one's time well on this planet. Being engaged is the goal, so really, the goal is not the goal at all. I flew back from San Francisco on a full plane, to find a teeming airport awaiting in Austin. The world comes to Austin's doorstep a couple of times a year, and this is one of them. Austin City Limits Music Festival is this week, and the parties and buzz have already started. It is so cool to get to be in a roomful, a city-ful really, of people that are equally excited, that get to live the American dream of doing what they love. Music. Or as Joni Mitchell astutely wrote, "Stoking the star maker machinery behind the popular song."

The Be Good Tanyas were a band out of Canada that we played on X Country at XM, seemingly eons ago. They released three albums and it has since taken four years, but Frazey Ford is back with a solo record released in July called Obadiah. Of it she says, “I get to have the elements of solo-ness in terms of fully directing the direction, but then I'm also able to incorporate other people's visions when it feels right.” This album combines the Be Good Tanyas' folk centeredness with the other thing she loves, soul and gospel. Her voice is simply impossible to believe, that it could be as fragile as fine bone china, yet still retain the tensile strength for a moon shot in a space capsule. Frazey takes you on a ride. And not just any ride, exactly where she wants you to go. There is a ghostliness, as if just maybe her voice could unlock the mystery of the universe, the genome project and win a Nobel Peace Prize as people unite to celebrate it. It is a voice whereby everything is possible.

Frazey came by our Sweet Suite studio at the Sheraton a couple of weeks back during the Americana Fest in Nashville. Let's light this firecracker!

- Jessie Scott