Sunday Valley "I Wonder"

Busy, busy, busy! This time of year in Texas the weather is still warm enough to do outdoor events. Saturday, I rode out to the town of Bee Cave to The Backyard for the First Annual LaGrange Fest, with ZZ Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jamey Johnson, and Corey Taylor of Slipknot. A portion of every ticket sold was donated to the Texas Wildfire Relief Fund as well as Lake Travis Fire Rescue and Bastrop Fire Department, as support to those who lost everything and the firefighters who are risking their lives to battle the worst wildfire season in Texas history. There is another benefit at The Backyard this Friday night, with Bob Schneider and friends. It is still relentlessly sunny here, not enough rain, but at least it is not in the triple digits. We are still praying for rain.

We're back from Americana Fest, with the first of 32 artists to share with you. Sunday Valley is one of a new crop of bands that we recorded. They were all different sonically from each other; but each brings an integral part of the roots music scene. Sunday Valley’s music has been called Cow Punk and Bluegrass Rock. Whatever you call it, it will propel you. Their first album is To the Wind and On to Heaven. It WILL rock your world. Here is a taste, with pictures even! It’s the Music Fog Fall Marathon recording of “I Wonder,” filmed at Marathon Recorders. And you may notice, with this first video from our Nashville sessions, that we've upgraded to high definition cameras. Now the Music Fog "look" is even more spectacular!

- Jessie Scott

The Chapin Sisters "Palm Tree"

Nashville, Americana Fest 2011 is now a memory. The Foggers were behind closed doors, and I think the final count of artists we filmed was 33. Truth be told, we were asked to do a lot more than that, but plumb ran out of time and energy. We finished each day by grabbing some dinner, going back to our hotel rooms and crashed out. We didn’t party, we didn’t attend any official gatherings, we just worked. But when one’s work is such a joy, it is a small price to pay. For our Fall Music Fog Marathon, we were ensconsed at Marathon Recorders in Nashville, thanks to Kathy and Mike Ketchell. They made us feel mighty welcome, and we were able to use their Miktek microphones for our sessions. We loved working with their crew, Chris Woods, Jamison Haggard, Tim Holt, and Shannon Rhoades. The studio was a welcoming place with a great vibe. In upcoming weeks, we will be bringing you videos we shot there, from sessions that you were able to see in their entirety, as we presented it all on Livestream.

The last night of Americana Fest I finally made the rounds and saw lots of friends around the Sheraton Hotel and assorted clubs. Highlights included sets from The Deep Dark Woods, Amy Speace, Raul Malo, Garland Jeffries, James McMurtry and Bobby Keys and the Suffering Bastards. There were an array of clubs; Third and Lindsley which has undergone an expansion and is quite an amazing room, The Basement, The Mercy Lounge, and even a party at The Hard Rock Café on the balcony of the second floor. Good to be back in Nashville, good to broadcast the Americana Honors and Awards show for Folk Alley (where it is archived) and NPR Music.com. All in all, it was great to be celebrating Americana Music. The guys are driving, and we are flying. We will be bringing you videos soon. Meantime, Adios from Nashville. Adios from the Americana Music Association’s Americana Fest. So we are back at it, getting back to normal. Sorting, archiving and getting ready to present our latest stuff. But in the meantime, we bring you a video today from Threadgill’s in March from the Chapin Sisters. They are playing tonight at mood indigo's 2nd Annual CMJ Music Marathon showcase at The Living Room from 9 pm – midnight, along with Tai Burnette, Kaiser Cartel, and Rebecca Loebe. Theirs is a song of longing, “Palm Tree,” that Music Fog captured during SXSW 2011.

-Jessie Scott