Zack Walther "If Love Was Enough"

Pronunciations can be tricky. I am working weekends on the air at KNBT 92.1 in New Braunfels, Texas, and whenever you start at a new radio station, you have to be very careful to pronounce things properly.  It adds to the mystique that you actually know what you are doing.  I've worked in several areas of the country that have a wealth of Native American names, and it can be really hard to ascertain where the emphasis should be. Like Osceola, for instance, which is pronounced “os CEE ola”, not “O cee ola.”  These kinds of things make for blink moments...“You’re not from around here!”  

Sometimes it's even difficult nailing the names of the artists you play.  For instance, Roger Creager is pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable, and with the “A” present and accounted for, so Creager sounds like ‘CRAIG er.’ And Zack Walther is pronounced Walter, without the ‘H'. Now I wish I would have known that a couple of weeks ago when I played a tune of his, and Program Director Mattson Rainer called to correct me.  Whoops! Well, at least now you know.  The Zack Walther Band put out "Into The Fray" in May.  Back in January, we had a smashing time with them during The MusicFest at Steamboat Springs.  Zack on mellifluous vocals and guitar, Robert Cherry on guitar, David Pettit played bass, Tory “Thumper” Childers was on keyboard, and Don Dulaney was on drums.  The song?  “If Love Was Enough,” a cut off the new album, done Music Fog style.

-- Jessie Scott 

Jack Grace Band "Warm Rock In The Sun"

The era of space shuttle exploration is ending, sad to say.  I think it gave us something collectively to dream about.  In 1989, I moved to Florida to program 107.1 WAOA, and was able to absorb the culture around the Space Coast, through the different folks I met along the way that contributed their talents to the space program.  And one of my all-time career highlights has got to be the two shuttle launches I was able to broadcast from Kennedy Space Center.  

One of them was for STS 31 which launched the Hubble.  The other was STS 36, which took off in the middle of the night, lighting the entire sky.  Being on site for these, in the bleachers that were constructed next to the network news booths, we were as close as people could get.  Upon launch, the cameras would start to go black as the cords melted from the heat.

Feeling the power, hearing the roar, it made me so proud to be an American. Thinking about all the governmental and private industries that had to cooperate to make this happen is dizzying.  And that is a model for the future, for any collective dreams we might choose to conquer next. Yes, there are still things to be achieved.

We welcome the crew of the shuttle back from their last mission to our “Warm Rock In The Sun.” Bringing you a tune we recorded during or Music Fog Marathon in Austin during SXSW in March.  And I don’t know about you, but being greeted by a Mariachi Band is a most welcoming sight for anyone, whether astronaut or not.  The Jack Grace Band does the honors; road dogs all, though they haven’t quite taken to the sky yet. They are at work on new material, which Jack says, “Will be less country and more rock, with a lot of the Latin flavorings.”  This time of year, they wisely are staying in the northern tier for their touring pleasure, heading up into Canada in September.  Dare we even think about fall, and the cool air?  Let’s join the band on the Threadgill’s stage; here are Jack Grace, Daria Grace, Mark Gonzales, Stephen Butts, Bruce Martin, and Carolyn Mark.

- Jessie Scott

Justin Townes Earle "Slippin' and Slidin'"

A couple of weeks ago, Steve Earle brought his band the Dukes and Duchesses, to the Paramount Theater in Austin for a magical almost three hour long show.  I have to say I am really excited for Steve with this configuration, presenting an amazing array of material.  After all, he has been at it for decades now, starting out as a songwriter, and then finding the spotlight on his own with Guitar Town in 1986.  I love that in his career, he segues from folk to bluegrass, to rock, to edgy; and in this new show, he brings it all.  There is a warmth and an ease in the collaborative effort. Though Steve has mellowed some, you still feel the fire, and the politics are as matter of fact as ever.  I think this might have been the best Steve Earle show I have ever seen, made so by his wife Allison, and the Mastersons, Chris and his wife Eleanor Whitmore.  BTW, they were featured in Music Fog’s Bonnie Whitmore video.

During the set, Steve shares stories. That night he told one about teaching his then teenaged son Justin Townes Earle a lesson.  I am so impressed with Justin Townes Earle, who is developing into a tour de force on his own.  Yeah, sure, there are always the genetics, but Justin stands on his own merits, with his own sound and his own sensibility, actually very different from his dad.

 In 2009, Justin picked up the Americana Honors New and Emerging Artist Award. He is up for two Americana Honors this year,  for Album Of The Year and Song Of The Year for the “Harlem River Blues,” the title track from his latest album. There is a tasty new video for "Slippin' and Slidin', from the new album and  produced by Joshua Black Wilkins.  This is crooner stuff, soulful and sexy.  Justin is touring England now, and is back in the States at the end of the month for the Newport Folk Festival. Catch up with him here. 

- Jessie Scott