Randy Newman "Mama Told Me Not To Come"

It’s Mother’s Day. If you have been tuned out to the drubbing of the media machine, fair warning, you might still be able to get flowers delivered. Though as my Grandmother used to cynically point out, flowers die. There is still time to make a phone call, which for my money, is better than any gift. If you are lucky enough to be in the same location, a meal out, or even cooking for Mom or doing something around the house for her is always a welcome option.

For me, I would love to be at the last day of the 2011 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival for Mother’s Day. I would be wafting from stage to stage for Tommy Malone, Anders Osborne, Playing For Change, Chubby Carrier, Lost Bayou Ramblers, Cowboy Mouth, Papa Grows Funk, Henry Butler, Feufollet, Rebirth Brass Band, Bluerunners, Sonny Landreth, Punch Brothers, Sonny Rollins, Neville Brothers, Radiators, Robert Randolph and Rockin’ Dopsie Jr. But word is that they will be streaming. Maybe I will just be wafting from room to room listening! But next year, New Orleans for sure. The line up today is such an embarrassment of riches that honestly I couldn’t pick. So let’s go with something completely different, a theme song, perhaps. This version does have a New Orleans influenced piano, though. It is from the pen of Randy Newman, “Mama Told Me Not To Come.”

-Jessie Scott

Bonnie Whitmore "Embers To Ashes"

It has been a delicious week of music. Today is a treat from Bonnie Whitmore, with her sister Eleanor and Eleanor’s significant other, guitar virtuoso Chris Masterson. Pure fun. Meantime, now I am reading Bonnie’s blog, and she bakes! We were too busy to read it before SXSW, and so until now, I did not know she made cookies while she was here in Austin during SXSW. I am sure by the time we saw them on Saturday, the baked goods were long gone, but they sure look tantalizing.

Bonnie is not a stranger to our cameras, as she duets with Hayes Carll in the Music Fog version of “Another Like You.” On her own project she spins honey in the funk, but dig deeper and you will find that there is a body count on her album! As she says, “Nothing says ‘go to hell’ better than an uptempo, catchy song!” Actually the album has an arc: boy meets girl, the breakup, and then the post script. It is called Embers to Ashes, which just about says it all. Today, we bring you the title track from the Music Fog Marathon in March at Threadgill’s WHQ.

-Jessie Scott

Carrie Rodriguez "La Punalada Trapera"

Hola, Bienvenido, Cinco De Mayo! Una cerveza, por favor? Tecate o Corona con lima. I can ask for the check, too, but that’s about the limit of it for me. And maybe for you too. In which case it is handy that I am stopping, because likely you couldn’t read it anyway. I wish we were all bilingual-trilingual, even! I think it is important to embrace our own and other cultures, to celebrate our heritages in this awesome nation of immigrants. My kin are from various European areas. I wish I could speak those languages too.

I don’t know if Carrie Rodriguez is fluent, but it wouldn’t surprise me if she is. I do know that she can sing in Spanish. Do you know that she moved back to Austin? And that she did something really cool called The “Woodshed Series,” as she showcased new songs at Threadgill’s WHQ on Wednesday nights, where sometimes a special guest or two stops by to join her. And that she will be playing a gig at Threadgills on June 9th?  Of course, you know that she has a new album out, a set of duets with Ben Kyle called We Still Love Our Country. It was just over a year ago, in March of 2010 that we had her come before the Music Fog cameras, at the above mentioned Threadgill’s WHQ. She sang in Spanish for us, a song that her great aunt recorded 40 years ago called “La Punalada Trapera.”

-Jessie Scott