Colin Gilmore "Goodnight Lane"

Do you remember how you felt when you got a new pair of sneakers as a kid. Like you could bounce all the way up to touch the net of the basket. Like you could trampoline to the sky, like you could run fast enough to fly. I used to have dreams that I could run so fast that it would launch me into the air. What precipitated this riff? I got some new Chuck’s, and boy do they feel good. I don’t recall that sensation sticking around long when I was a kid, but I have had my Converse's for a month now and they still delight. Just looking at them, they make me happy.

Photo Credit: Kim MaguireI feel the same way about Colin Gilmore’s music. I first met him leaning against a now long gone cigarette machine at Antone’s several years ago, during SXSW®. Wow, how long ago was it when there still were cigarette machines? He gave me a copy of the 4 of No Kind EP that day. I brought it into XM and put “The You That I Knew” and “Winds Of Heaven” on the air immediately. He came to visit in DC when I booked his dad, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, at XM for a performance segment, and Colin got to play with him and sing a song or two. His music has made me happy for years, even when he is singing about sorrow. I was delighted he was able to come play for us at Threadgill’s this past March during the Music Fog Marathon. His most recent album came out last year, his first after about five years, and here is the Music Fog version of the title track, “Goodnight Lane.” Dancing to this in my Chucks!

- Jessie Scott

Susan Cowsill "Dragon Flys"

Instances of animals behaving weirdly are often reported after one has suffered the loss of a loved one. And if you have had something inexplicable happen to you in one of these circumstances, I know you will be affected by this song. Susan Cowsill lost her brother Barry in the flood waters of Katrina. When she was about to sing this song for us, last September at the Americana Music Festival in Nashville, she set it up by telling this tale. She said Barry always wanted to come back as something with a very long life, like a strong majestic oak tree. But instead, Susan said, he came to her as a dragon fly outside her car window. She was happy to have the visitation, in whatever form it took. When out of the ordinary things happens, you can thank the cosmos for slowing life down enough to make sure you take a look.

Susan has had some rough times and has poured the emotion into her work, into the Lighthouse album. She has been on the road a lot, and has added a new offshoot, as she has appeared on camera in HBO’s gritty series Treme. There is a lovely blog on HuffPo about Susan’s set during April's French Quarter Fest written by Karen Dalton Beninato. Susan and Russ Broussard are playing St. Louis tonight at Off Broadway. If you go, tell her we sent you. And here goes, Susan Cowsill with her band: Russ Broussard, Sam Craft, Jack Craft, and Mary Lasseigne. I predict there won’t be a dry eye in the house. This is the Music Fog version of “Dragon Flys.”

- Jessie Scott

Midnight River Choir "Light of the Moon"

As a teenager, I used to hear stories about the American Southwest in summertime; how it was so hot that you shifted your life from day to night. It all seemed very exotic to me then. Shopping, socializing, miniature golf, all were much more comfortable when the sun went down. As this summer’s heat wave has spread to engulf 17 states, I wanted to revisit the concept of “we only come out at night.” Seriously, when the thermometer tops 100 in Texas, I don’t even get my mail until the sun goes down. Ice cream, fruit smoothies, snowballs from New Orleans, sprinkler systems to run though, pool, springs, tubing, the beach, AIR CONDITIONING. And water, water, water, every which way and for every application. It’s so important to keep hydrated.

The Midnight River Choir have it right. First off, the vision their name alone conjures up immediately cools you off. Their second album is upon us, Welcome to Delirium?, with a release date of August 2nd, and that’s a very cool thing. And then it is driven home further by the time and place we recorded them, which was at MusicFest in Steamboat Springs this past January, and it was massively snowing outside. OK, all together now...AHHHHHHH! What can I say, the grass is always greener.

Let us bask now in the glow- today’s tune is “Light Of The Moon.” There are some dates to catch up with the MRC boys in air conditioned comfort. They play at Billy’s Ice in New Braunfels, TX tomorrow night. That sounds about perfect!

- Jessie Scott