The Sweetback Sisters "I'm Gonna Cry"

It's the start of another week, and it was a really busy weekend 'round these Austin parts, starting with the dedication of the new Willie Nelson statue on 4/20, and then a glorious tribute concert to Johnny Cash at the ACL Moody Theater on Friday night. Old Settler's Music Festival went on all weekend, and then yesterday was the Reckless Kelly Celebrity Baseball Jam. Founding Nitty Gritty Dirt Band member John McEuen sat in with me for an interview on KNBT.FM on Saturday, as the legendary band was playing the legendary venue of Gruene Hall on Saturday evening. John and his sons have a new album called The McEuen Sessions, which is mighty fine stuff as well!

Hope you had a fun weekend. We have news from our trusty analytics department that Music Fog hit 9,000,000 views on 4/20 on our YouTube channel, so we got to celebrate 4/20 also. Today we bring you a rousing tune from The Sweetback Sisters, who brought down the house when they performed for us during our Spring Music Fog Marathon at Threadgill’s in March. They are serious joy purveyors, even when they are singing about crying! OMG, they are playing my old college town on Wednesday, Athens, Ohio! Catch them when they come round! We have an as yet unrecorded, and therefore unreleased, tune for you today from the Sweetback’s, “I’m Gonna Cry.”

-Jessie Scott

Theresa Andersson "Hold On To Me"

If you happen to be in New Orleans this weekend, here is the hot tip. The French Quarter Music Festival is free to the public in Jackson Square, with music and oh yeah – there is lots of food, so come hungry. There are carts from some of the finest restaurants in NOLA. You know I am usually ALL OVER the music, which I will get to in a minute, but ya gotta check out the food! I recommend just walking around and chasing the aromas wafting your way before you commit to anything. There are so many choices, and there is going to have to be some mighty serious decisions made! Now to the music, it will make you dance in place, and you know everyone else will be shaking to it too! Click-through for the music schedules on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

Now, if you are indeed lucky enough to be in New Orleans, I want you to promise to go see Theresa Andersson. She is playing on the Abita Beer Stage at Woldenberg Riverfront Park at 2:15 on Sunday. She is a simply incredible live performer, and to see her in her adopted city of New Orleans, has to be an extra special treat. Today’s video was filmed during Mardi Gras a couple of months ago, and features Theresa marching with the Krewe of Muses. The song is "Hold On To Me," and is on the upcoming album Street Parade, which will come out on April 24th.

- Jessie Scott

James McMurtry "We Can't Make It Here"

My mother didn’t need to have a job, my father was able to support our family with just one salary. That is SO last century! Do you remember those days? Things are so different for so many people now, with two people working, sometimes needing to have two jobs to make ends meet. As I drive around the country, I see boarded up factories decaying along the rivers and train tracks bearing silent witness to degenerating buildings along their right of ways. They use to bring goods to the nation from every corner of the country. And I have to say, how do we remain a first world country when we don’t manufacture what we need?

When the song “We Can’t Make It Here Anymore,” by James McMurtry first came out in 2005 on the Childish Things CD, we were unaware of the chaos that would befall the financial world just a few years later in 2008. Upon the album’s release, Stephen King commented, "...this may be the best American protest song since (Bob Dylan's) Masters of War." I still believe that poets take the temperature of a society, and shine it back at us with white hot truth, warts and all. So you know, we were totally honored by James McMurtry’s appearance at the Spring Music Fog Marathon at Threadgill’s WHQ last month. And we were super stoked that he laid a solo version down of “We Can’t Make It Here.”

- Jessie Scott