Rodney Crowell "Highway 17"

The weather is turning chilly with winter closing in. As the year winds down with fetes, feasts and fraternity, I get wistful thinking about MusicFest at Steamboat Springs. If you have never been, you owe it to yourself to take the trip one of these years. It happens just after the first of the year, January 5th through the 10th this time around. So when you are facing the last round of New Year's festivities, you have to pace yourself to have enough energy left to make it through an extra 10 days of rocking and rolling. And what a time it is: Texas, Red Dirt and Americana music; The Rocky Mountains and gentle gossamer snowflakes. Sometimes blistering cold, so you have to wear layers, and you have to be prepared to strip them off once indoors. It is the perfect time of year, a fresh start in the fresh snowfall, with Christmas lights still twinkling in the pines. The event is welcoming, set amongst this beauty, and is enhanced even further by the quality of music and the spirit of the camaraderie. The MusicFest Tribute, an annual event, happens on January 8th at the Steamboat Grand Ballroom. It consists of two sets, with the first being a salute by the other MusicFest artists doing cover songs in homage, and then a set by the tributee! Past honorees include Ray Wylie Hubbard, Robert Earl Keen, Guy Clark, Leon Russell, and Kevin Welch. The series is curated by Dr. Gary Hartman, the director of the Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University, which is the beneficiary.

This year's MusicFest Tribute artist is Rodney Crowell. Rodney has had, and continues to have, an impressive career, with mainstream country success, and legions of A-List artists who have covered his extensive music catalog. At the turn of the century, Rodney got to reinvent himself, mining introspection, emotion, and current events for an impressive decade of CDs, with the first of the new era being 2001's The Houston Kid. And there is more news, as on January 18th, 2011 Rodney's memoir Chinaberry Sidewalks will be published. He will embark on a series of intimate, one-man shows the end of next month, playing guitar, singing, and re-living the stories in the book. Be on the lookout for a special package of a hardcover copy of the book, an exclusive digital live album, and a VIP laminate for access to a backstage meet and greet with Rodney. For tour dates, and the package, check his website.

Rodney came to visit us in Nashville during our Americana Fest sessions at the Sheraton. He played a particularly haunting tune from The Houston Kid CD, "Highway 17."

- Jessie Scott

Mavis Staples & Jeff Tweedy "You Are Not Alone"

The GRAMMY® nominations were announced on Thursday, with the awards show set for the 53rd annual event on February 13, 2011. Congratulations to all the GRAMMY nominees who make Americana Music, whether they were acknowledged in the actual category or not! Here is a first scan list: Ray LaMontange & The Pariah Dogs, The Brian Setzer Orchestra, Neil Young, The SteelDrivers, The Infamous Stringdusters, Punch Brothers, Darrell Scott, Marty Stuart, Patty Griffin, Sam Bush, Peter Rowan, Patti Loveless, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Guy Clark, Richard Thompson, The Crazy Heart soundtrack, Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Ryan Bingham, Chip Taylor's Yonkers record for packaging, and the short-form Johnny Cash video "Ain't No Grave." Forgive me if we have inadvertently left anyone out.

As of last year, we have our own Best Americana Album category, after co-branding with Contemporary Folk in previous awards. This year's honored albums are: The List from Rosanne Cash, Tin Can Trust from Los Lobos, Country Music from Willie Nelson, Band of Joy from Robert Plant, and Mavis Staples' You Are Not Alone. That CD marks an amazing rebirth of sorts for Mavis, who found her first audience with the groundbreaking Staples Singers, laying down unforgettable tracks like "Respect Yourself," and "I'll Take You There." She is a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, a GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award winner, and a National Heritage Fellowship Award recipient. You can find her on the VH1 list of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, and on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. She is a national treasure, who has explored many genres, all with panache. Jeff Tweedy of Wilco thought so too, as he set out to produce a new album with her that incorporated all that she is; socially conscious, sonically articulate, soulful, fun and funky. It is the follow up to her 2007 CD, We'll Never Turn Back, a collection of songs in homage to the Civil Rights Movement. In preparation for the new CD Jeff Tweedy dug back into Mavis' past work, both as a touchstone for all that she is capable of, and also to craft a future that was familiar, yet one that carved out a new space. We bring you an acoustic version of the title cut, "You Are Not Alone," from Mavis Staples. Beautiful. And congrats to all the GRAMMY nominees!

- Jessie Scott

Kristi Rose & Fats Kaplin "Rise and Shine"

I was grounded in New York a couple of days ago, due to downed wires on the tracks of the Northeast Corridor Amtrak. After a magical day of everything being possible the day before, suddenly nothing was happening. Though, getting back to New York City is always such a treat. Visiting with folks near and dear to me; hanging, eating, laughing, walking, listening to music, looking at the architecture. Seeing what people can accomplish by working together, it is a awe-inspiring thing. I was in no hurry, so I got to stay and take in more!

Photo Credit: Baxter BuckAnd, because it is New York, there is always a flourish, a sense of the dramatic. A touch of the show biz permeates everything, from the buskers playing music in the subway, to the people pressing hand bill ads on you in Times Square. It's THEATRE! I am reminded of the SNL Master Thespian bit with Jon Lovitz from a couple of decades ago!

Though they live in Nashville, there is a touch of New York drama to the music of Kristi Rose and Fats Kaplin. Fats is actually from New York, and Kristi, let's just say she is a citizen of the world! Funny how many times I have crossed parties with them in far flung cities this year. And it was so terrific to have had them come aboard the Music Fog bus in Memphis this past year during Folk Alliance. (The dates for the upcoming 2011 conference have been announced, too.)

Kristi and Fats have just released a new CD for the winter season, I Wonder As I Wander. But today we bring you a song that Kristi originally featured with The Handsome Strangers. Here's the Music Fog version with Fats Kaplin!

- Jessie Scott