Marty Stuart "Freight Train Boogie"

Having visited the Mississippi Delta multiple times in the last couple of years, I have a much richer appreciation of the music and the culture that grew from there. Recently my Borders bookstore closed, and before it did, I stocked up on music books. The one I am reading now is the Muddy Waters biography by Robert Gordon, Can't Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Waters.  I have been into the blues since the 60s when a Rolling Stones album credited McKinley Morganfield and I went on a pre-computer search to find out who that was...Muddy’s real name, ya know. “Can’t Be Satisfied” is an especially wonderful read now that I have felt the land, I just have so much more understanding. So much has changed in our society in the last 100 years, that is driven home by this wonderfully written book also.

Photo Credit: James MinchinToday we take you east on MS-16 from Issaquena County, Muddy’s birthplace, to the town of Philadelphia, MS, Marty Stuart’s hometown. He has been on a mission to preserve the changing landscape, and the music that shaped him. There is a new biopic of him; Marty Stuart In Philadelphia, Mississippi, that you can watch on Hulu. There is a short teaser of it here. This documentary sets up the making of last year’s Ghost Train: The Studio B Sessions CD, and gives us an insight into Marty’s upbringing and front porch picking as a framework for the track his career has taken.

Here is Marty with guitar guru Kenny Vaughan and the rest of the Fabulous Superlatives with the very first song from the very first Marty Stuart show on RFD.

- Jessie Scott

Waco Brothers "Do What I Say"

I have been in a haze of tunes this weekend, as I cruise through an on-line music library that is in beta testing mode. It gives one that ‘glued in place on the couch’ posture. You log off, then you think of other stuff, and log back on to look for that too. This is a rabbit hole I have been lucky enough to fall down many times in my life. It has been decades, really; in the form of singles, vinyl, CDs and waveforms. I have been tracking a lot of Alt. Country on this go round, from Hank III, Buddy & Julie Miller, Doug Sahm, the Bottle Rockets, and Dave Alvin, just to name a few. And I have listened to plenty of Jon Langford, in all his incarnations. He is one talented and one driven cat.

Jon has made appearances with Old 97's, Kelly Hogan, Sadies, Sally Timms, Danbert Nobacon, Jon Rauhouse, Alejandro Escovedo, the Mekons, the Pine Valley Cosmonauts, The Sadies, and Wee Hairy Beasties. His latest release is Old Devils, as Jon Langford and Skull Orchard, and we brought you a track from them featured in our Americana Fest sessions. But when we heard the Waco Brothers were going to be at SXSW, we just HAD to have them stop by. They came to us in a somewhat stripped down configuration, and you know we always love to have something a bit different. So here goes, from back in March at the Music Fog Marathon from Threadgill’s, “Do What I Say,” with Jon being joined by Deano Waco, Tracey Dear, and Jean Cook.

- Jessie Scott

Heidi Spencer "Hibernation"

Austin is in high spirits this time of year. It feels like summer vacation is drawing people to the capital of Texas. They are in the clubs, spilling out into the streets from the restaurants, bars and cafes. It has been a good music week here with Robert Ellis and Jonny Corndawg, Steve Earle and the Dukes and Duchesses, which includes Chris Masterson, Eleanor Whitmore and Allison Moorer, and then last night Roger Clyne and The Peacemakers and Sons of Bill. It has been a display of lots of expertise, great writing, harmonies, amazing playing. I think about all these folks just starting out practicing in their rooms, spending hours by themselves to get good. Learning chords, learning how to marry the voice with the instrument, putting in the 10,000 hours.

We want to take you back to that beginning feeling. When I watch this video, I think about all the alone time, all the determination, all the discipline it takes to get to having a career in music. We taped Milwaukeean Heidi Spencer without her band The Rare Birds at the Music Fog Marathon in Austin in March. Her debut album Under Streetlight Glow had just come out. She came to see us very early in the morning, giving us a gentle peak behind the curtain to how she crafts her music. This is “Hibernation.”

-Jessie Scott