Amelia Curran "Hands on a Grain of Sand"

I'm on the plane heading back to Austin from Nashville.  Highlights of my wild week?  Met the mayor, Karl Dean.  Met Don Was after an amazing set at Cannery Row with the newly shorn Todd Snider. Met the folks from The Utne Reader.  Was on a panel with representatives from Pandora, Clear Channel, EchoNest, and Sound Exchange.  Got to host the webcast of one of the most amazing awards shows ever, which was followed by Robert Plant's Band Of Joy.  Saturday night was our first night out.  We ran into Stonehoney at Robert's Western World, one of those legendary honky tonk's on lower Broad in Nashville, and then headed over to the Cannery/Mercy Lounge for an upstairs- downstairs double punch of shows: The Fairfield Four, Hans Rotenberry, Mike Farris, Susan Cowsill, Tony Joe White, and then Todd RIPPING IT UP!

We are tired, but happy. To help us get back our houses, and then get them in order, we're bringing you an Amelia Curran performance we shot in Memphis earlier this year.  We'll return to our Nashville cavalcade of Americana Music Association Festival artists very soon.  Amelia Curran is embarking on a European adventure later this month.  So enjoy "Hands On A Grain Of Sand," recorded in Memphis on the Music Fog bus during Folk Alliance......while I sleep it off!

- Jessie Scott

So Long, Nashville

37 is our final tally. That's how many artists we recorded over the past four days. Music Fog lives to record another day, somewhere yet to be announced! We had a short day yesterday, with session from Eric Brace & Peter Cooper, Sara Petite, Somebody's Darling, Will Kimbrough, and Susan Cowsill. Yowsa! We have been holed up behind closed doors in the Sweet Suite at the Sheraton Nashville Downtown for the 2010 Americana Music Festival & Conference, and have had a blast drinking from this well of wonderful music and great people! We thank the Americana Music Association for bringing us indoors, it was so much easier for the artists to come to us for their sessions. Thanks to the Sheraton for allowing us to build our studio in the middle of the host hotel for this event. Our commute was about twenty paces from sleeping quarters to the studio! And you know we sequester ourselves to get the mission done, so we haven't been out to see anything else. To explain it one step further, a couple of crew members literally did not step foot outside for two full days. Last night, though, we were happy to celebrate a successful trip by spending the night out on the town for some live music at a couple of the showcases. We ran into many friends, old and new.

Another thanks goes out to Gibson Guitars, who provided the guitars and amps, and we were once again so happy to have them, as that made it easier for the artists too. Watching them drool over the guitars was a sight to behold! Thanks to Sheila Francis for making the trip from Idaho to run camera, and to Beans & Aaron for driving the BBC from Maryland. Denise and I jump back on a plane to Austin today. Videos are forthcoming, once we get back to home base, and we can't wait to bring it all to you! Bye bye from Nashville, we've become airborne.

- Jessie Scott

Rodney Crowell "The Rise and Fall of Intelligent Design"

Day Three at the Americana Festival was a blur. We didn't even get outside the walls of the hotel, which by the way is the newly renovated Sheraton Nashville Downtown. Everyone here has made us feel so welcome. From the folks in the front office to those at the front desk, to the people bringing stuff to our room. Everyone has a smile, a kind word, and a can do attitude. You know, I didn't even tell you who all we had up to the Sweet Sheraton Suite on Wednesday! Defibulators, Tommy Emmanuel, Frazey Ford, Rodney Crowell, Corb Lund, Sunset Slim, Hayes Carll, Mary Gauthier, Jon Langford, Exene Cervenka, and Chip Taylor. Then yesterday it was Mike Farris, Amy Speace, The John Henrys, Peter Case, Sarah Jarosz, The Infamous Stringdusters, Over The Rhine, The Coal Porters, Cindy Bullens, Darrell Scott, Paul Thorn, David Jacobs-Strain and Danny Barnes. Wow! Plus, it was cool that we saw more than a few folks yesterday play one of the beautiful Gibson guitars in our studio, a Hummingbird and Songwriter Deluxe Standard on the acoustic front, and a Les Paul Studio and an SG Standard from the electric realm. Huge thanks to our friends at Gibson for providing them.

We are loving what we have been capturing, and can't wait to bring it to you! We have a video from day two for you now. It is the inimitable Rodney Crowell, a Cadillac of a songwriter, a crooner of the first order. When he was writing the songs for the album Sex & Gasoline, it was through the prism of watching his daughters grapple with what it means to be a female in this society. A brave and honest exploration into understanding, at the same time that he understands what the emotional landscape is of being a man. I love reading Rodney's articulate lyrics. He has a book coming out, a memoir, in 2011, and I can't wait to read that too. And you know I love to listen to him as well. Here's Rodney Crowell with "The Rise and Fall of Intelligent Design." More is coming from the abovementioned artist sessions in the coming days and weeks...you bet!

- Jessie Scott