Eric Brace & Peter Cooper "Suffer a Fool"

I was in the kitchen, preparing dinner, thinking about how it summons memories. I was cooking chicken with capers, artichokes, and mushrooms with oregano, basil, and parsley. Garlic and shallots. Yum. Thinking about my Mom, who always made sure to serve an appetizer course: melon in summer, grapefruit in winter; tomato juice if the fruit wasn't worthy. It was a three course meal every night. This also makes me think of my son, who learned early to use a French Chef's knife to slam garlic cloves. And who acquired a deft sense for seasoning, and is not afraid of the creativity. The decades march with skills handed down, food as connective tissue between the generations.

I am listening to perfect food prep music; Eric Brace and Peter Cooper doing the song "Suffer a Fool," which is from their new Master Sessions CD. It is an album that has an authentic 70's sound in the very best way, that honors the tradition being true to the flavors, the textures and the composition. And oh, the glorious pedal steel, provided by instrumental hero Lloyd Green, and the incredible Mike Auldridge on dobro. Oddly enough, though both these guys were admirers of each other, until this album, they had never been together on one. This is one of two CDs that have just come out, Eric and Peter putting their names on the first, Master Sessions, and Peter Cooper with Lloyd Green on the second, The Lloyd Green Album. I just cruised through that, too. Pay special attention to "The Last Laugh," a co-write between Peter and Todd Snider. Hell, buy 'em both!

When we are in the force field of the same event, or the general geographic city or region of Eric Brace and Peter Cooper, they have a standing invite to come before the Music Fog cameras. We like them to bat clean-up. Though this time, we had to settle for it being just on the last day, not the very last set. It was Saturday morning at the Sweet Suite in the Sheraton Nashville Downtown, during Americana Fest. They didn't bring the gang, just their enigmatic selves, and that is always a treat in itself.

- Jessie Scott

Asleep at the Wheel Celebrates 40 Years

In a long ago and far away universe, almost another lifetime, I was a country DJ on the air in New York City. 1050 WHN became a country station in 1973, and as a New Yorker, I was totally surprised. It was a mystery to me if there were actually any country listeners in the Tri-State area. In 1975, it was my honor to join the WHN staff to do the evening show, and I immediately started hitting the clubs to see what there was of a country scene. I found it, with Freddie The German Cowboy at The Blue Ribbon Inn in Hillside, New Jersey, and Hugh O'Lunney's on 2nd Avenue at 48th Street in New York. And when the Lone Star Café opened in a former Schraftt's Restaurant (where prior, ladies in white gloves lunched) at the corner of 13th Street and Fifth Avenue, I was hooked. I became a regular there, with Mort Cooperman's imaginative bookings, which included regulars Greasy Wheels, Kinky Friedman, James Talley, and many more. Later, more clubs popped up; City Limits in the Village, Cody's in Chelsea, and WHN started partnering to promote shows at Carnegie Hall, Madison Square Garden, and even Giant's Stadium. When that started happening, we knew that country had taken root in New York City. But for me, those early days of discovery were the most exciting. Traveling a path with my compatriots, a merry band of believers. Playing music I loved on the radio. Back in those days, "The Letter That Johnny Walker Read," was in heavy rotation from a group called Asleep At The Wheel, who also were frequent visitors to the stage at The Lone Star. I fell in love with the cool voice of Chris O'Connell, the unique persona of Ray Benson, and the pure energy the band brought.

Armstrong Community Music School, AustinThe Wheel has released more than twenty studio albums, have placed more than twenty singles on the Billboard country charts, have been awarded nine GRAMMYs, and have had 80 members through their history. Here it is, 40 years later. Not many bands can claim that record. Tonight, Asleep At The Wheel celebrates that feat with a gala concert at The Long Center in Austin. Willie Nelson, Leon Rausch of The Texas Playboys, and Wheel alumni will be on hand. The night is a benefit for the Austin Lyric Opera which runs the Armstrong Community Music School; the evening is part of Opera Stampede, a week of education, music, and events. Click here to purchase tickets for tonight's show. And here is a taste, with "Oh! You Pretty Woman," from Willie and the Wheel at Austin City Limits in 2009.

- Jessie Scott

Danny Barnes "Pizza Box"

Back in the 60's, when I was growing up and the music business was flourishing, there were a couple of record label names that set the standard for excellence. Brand awareness being an operative principle, when you saw the names Elektra or Vanguard, you knew that there was art contained within. Those were days when you couldn't actually hear the music before you bought an LP. There were no listening stations, and there was no ability to surf the web to see if you like what the artist was putting down. So having faith in a label really was a sacred trust, and only a few imprints were known for their ability to consistently deliver. Cut to today, major labels are so much less important, as they chase the flavor of the minute, forsaking the art in the process. But there are a few folks out there that are doing it the old fashioned way, one great album at a time, though using the new world order to spread the word.

'According To Our Records,' that would be the full name of what is known as ATO Records to you and me. It is a fairly recent addition to the record company landscape having been founded in 2000 by Dave Matthews, Coran Capshaw, Michael McDonald, and Chris Tetzeli. It is a new breed company, which puts out a limited amount of releases, pledging to give each the resources and time that they need to maximize the awareness for their artists. Their initial success was with David Gray's CD White Ladder which yielded the hit "Babylon." ATO's current roster includes Widespread Panic, Drive-By Truckers, Dawes, John Butler Trio, Mike Doughty, Patty Griffin, The Whigs, Brendan Benson, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, My Morning Jacket, Ben Kweller, Gomez; the list goes on, and is very impressive, I might add.

Also on that mighty list is musical savant Danny Barnes. Danny is the banjo (strings, really) maestro who Dave Matthews celebrates, saying, "...the music is smart and soulful, and the lyrics are profound. It is heaven and earth." He just laid down a magnificent performance with Robert Earl Keen on Austin City Limits, which debuted last weekend. He unveiled his new banjo/guitar hybrid, called a "Barnjo," this summer at the Northwest String Summit in North Plains, OR. And he plays in Oregon tonight, as he is bringing it, the zany and erudite, on the road out west for the month.

"Pizza Box" is from the album of the same name, and this version is from our Music Fog shoot in Nashville this past September. Here is a thumbnail about the song from Danny, which was featured in Glide Magazine's Track by Track. "This song is about all those weird artifacts that make up our lives and how, as you get older especially, they take on meanings of their own. Intertextuality. Like when you see an object and it reminds you of an experience. The character in this story let one get away from him. He sees something and it reminds him of her. The orchestration is very simple." And beautiful. Danny Barnes!

- Jessie Scott