The Low Anthem "To Ohio"

Recently, somebody asked us Music Foggers why we hadn't covered the band The Low Anthem. Though we try, we haven't yet mastered the art of being everywhere all the time! Even when we are as many places as we can be, sometimes we don't catch everyone we want to get on camera while we are there. To be honest, I am sure at some point we have been in the same city as they have, but our paths have not yet crossed. So we had to resort to OPV, other people's video, to bring you today's article. Nothing wrong with that, as it expands the horizons of the possible.

And we are very excited about the following particular development. The Low anthem and Emmylou Harris have been on tour together! Ten cities on the East Coast were treated to this splendor. The Low Anthem regaled the audiences with tracks from their upcoming CD, Smart Flesh, due out on February 22nd. Plus, on many of these nights, Emmy got on stage with the band, taking lead vocal on "To Ohio" from their 2009 album Oh My God, Charlie Darwin. And she returned the favor, by inviting the band back out for her encore sets. Sounds pretty simpatico! Emmylou has even asked The Low Anthem to join her at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on December 11th for a Grand Ole Opry performance. Jubilant news indeed. And The Low Anthem has already announced several fall/winter tour dates with more coming soon.

We bring you "To Ohio" from Later...with Jools Holland. We can only imagine what it sounds like with Emmylou Harris. Maybe there will be Other People's Video of that one day, too.

- Jessie Scott

The Deep Dark Woods "All the Money I Had Is Gone"

OK, so let me get this straight, because it is getting to be the twelve days of Thanksgiving: Red Wednesday, T-Day, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, (we have had no reported name for Sunday...yet, but if I had my druthers, it needs to be something football and food related. Dang, I wish Super Bowl Sunday wasn't already taken!) and then Cyber Monday. All cutesy, tied up with ribbon for the holidays. Shop, Shop, Shop, it is the mantra, and the push is on everywhere. Commercials abound, sales in every store and online, and all I can say is it's very hard to escape the magnetic pull of the sport of Christmas. Let us not forget that it is not even DECEMBER yet! I think they should just rename the 4th quarter Christmas, and be done with it. So transparent, but that's just me! I am reminded, coming off the feast of this past Thursday, that for me, what this is really about is being with people you love. I am touched by the stories you see this time of year about families donating time and resources to work in food banks to provide Thanksgiving for those that couldn't do it for themselves.

Photo Credit: Patrick Schmidt

Today's video comes from one of my favorite bands out of Canada, The Deep Dark Woods. They have just recorded a new album with engineer Darren Van Niekerk, which we hear will be out next year...hey, that isn't too far from now, ya know! I think the band is taking a bit of a breather, before they continue their frenetic tour schedule in Canada and the US in 2011. DDW member Ryan Boldt has started a new blog to keep in touch called Old Time Hour. Check it out. And for you now is the ever appropriate "All the Money I Had Is Gone," from their most recent album, Winter Hours. We filmed this, with guest Kendel Carson, at Threadgill's WHQ in Austin, Texas during SXSW 2010.

- Jessie Scott

Thomas Dolby "The Toadlickers"

The past, how it lurks in the back of one's brain. It was exciting being in New York City in the early 80s, disco-ing 'til dawn. Fun days, dangerous days; not particularly well spent, more likely ill-spent, but fondly remembered days anyway. Ah, to be a Yuppie again! Cut to today. Amidst the music on my iPod, there is Soul, R&B, Blues, Country, Americana; and there is - gasp - the guilty pleasure of 80's music. That stuff was fresh, catchy, and some of it continues to wear well to this day, it still makes a joyous noise. Thomas Dolby, for instance. I could watch the video for "She Blinded Me With Science" forever, and it is a song that never makes me want to hit fast forward when it comes up on shuffle.

Photo Credit: NK GuyIt has been twenty years since Thomas Dolby has put a new studio album out. He quit the music business in the early 90s and has spent years as a muckety muck in Silicon Valley, where he created the ringtone synthesizer that is embedded in more than 3 billion mobile phones shipped by Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and others. On the way, at long last, is A Map of the Floating City. The album features appearances by Mark Knopfler, Regina Spektor, Natalie MacMaster, Bruce Woolley and Imogen Heap. Leading up to the full-length, Thomas is releasing three digital-only EPs containing three or four songs apiece, exclusively to the members of his online fan community, The Flat Earth Society. The first EP is called Amerikana, and there is already a video from it, "The Toadlickers." We welcome yet another innovative artist digging into the rich loam of the Americana landscape for inspiration.

- Jessie Scott