Lera Lynn "Fire & Undertow"

I have fantasies of the world being all right. I wish for world peace and prosperity, to be done with the white water rapids of turmoil that we are in now. It is so hard to think about how many people have lost their jobs, never to work at the same level, or pay grade again. To look at the rust belt and know it is shedding population as the townspeople move on to find a better life. Not even qualitatively better, but just something self-sustaining a job, benefits, a bit of security. Money to pay the bills, and a place to rest one’s head. It is unsettling looking at the future what with the erosion in our society. It is easy to be mystified by all this, to ponder what has happened, and to wonder what comes next. Music is a microcosm of it too. Back in the day, artists could reach out and touch the stars, become household names and live happily ever after. Well sort of. But things are different in today’s hard scrabble world.

The indie spirit is born of this, of trying to make sense out of this environment. In March, Houston Native Lera Lynn released her debut CD, Have You Met Lera Lynn? She is already well-known in Athens, GA where she now lives, for her stint as part of the group, Birds & Wire. She says,

“Like many songwriters, most of my songs come from turbulence in my life, be it with a lover or with family or with myself as an artist, or my job. This record is about my rebelliousness in love, hard-headedness, distrust. It’s also about being confused about where I’m going and not always getting what I want out of my creative self.” 

Confusion can lead to clarity, beauty too. Lera came to us during Americana Fest at Marathon Recorders. She brought Ben Lewis on guitar, Bain Mattox on bass, and C.K. Koch on drums. We were bewitched.

-Jessie Scott

Billy Burnette "Wrong One Right"

Today is a tale of music royalty. In the 50s, brothers Dorsey Burnette and Johnny Burnette were two of the three members in the legendary Rock and Roll Trio (Paul Burlison was the third one). We are talking the dawn of rock and roll here. And Billy Burnette is to the castle born, as Dorsey Burnette was his dad. The term Rockabilly – well, Billy is the ‘billy’ part of it; his cousin is Rocky. There is a cool short history to be found here.

By age eleven Billy had recorded his first album, and then two years later at thirteen, he toured with Brenda Lee while he was teaching himself to play guitar. Aside from myriad solo projects through the years, Billy spent time playing with the likes of Fleetwood Mac, Roy Orbison and John Fogerty. Among lots of others, Ray Charles, The Everly Brothers, Gregg Allman, and Ringo Starr have recorded his songs. And he had the good taste to cover Peter Green’s classic “Oh Well,” just part one, on the album Memphis in Manhattan in 2008.

Cut to 2011, as we welcome a new release from Billy Burnette called Rock N Roll With It. It is his first studio album in a decade. Later this week, on Saturday, November 12, he will be inducted into the International Rockabilly Hall of Fame in Jackson, TN. Billy has kept it fresh, powerful, and alive for all these years. He brought royalty to Marathon Recorders in Nashville when he came to play for Music Fog: guitar God, Kenny Vaughan, monster drummer Jimmy Lester, and the legendary Dave Roe on upright bass. It don’t get no better, that is for sure, as Billy Burnette pours it on. This is a wake up, a Monday song, so fasten your seat belt, it’s “Wrong One Right.”

-Jessie Scott

Bottle Rockets "Smokin' 100's Alone"

First off, an impassioned plea for you to quit smoking if you still smoke cigarettes.  There ain’t no upside to it, it will make you sick.  It is poison, ya know?  Remember the first drag you ever took; how it made you gag, how the blood rushed to your head, how you might have felt like throwing up? I quit four years ago.  I chewed Nicorette gum until my jaw hurt, but I was over the addiction by the end of one week.  And I didn’t much feel like chewing anymore after that.  And then the trick is, don’t even take a drag, don’t bum, not even one. You can’t waver, or you will be smoking again.

This rant was prompted by “Smokin' 100's Alone,” a masterful portrait from the Bottle Rockets.  Yay! We were finally in the same city, at the same time, and they came in for the Music Fog Fall Marathon.  The band will celebrate their 20th anniversary next year,  and they recently released a new, deconstructed album, Not So Loud: An Acoustic Evening with the Bottle Rockets.  It was recorded in an acoustic setting at a 19th century schoolhouse, and reimagines their songs through the keen eye of American folk music.  Brian Henneman’s voice is a remarkable instrument, as he beseeches us to look at a woman who is questioning her choices. The song was originally on the 1997 album 24 Hours A Day, and can be found on their new album, too.  Today we bring you the Music Fog version, with Mark Ortman on drums and Keith Voegele playing bass, filmed in Nashville last month during Americana Fest.  And what to do with all that money that you’ll be saving by not buying cigs?  Pick up a couple of Brox albums! Hell yeah.

- Jessie Scott