Smoke Signals "Black Holes"

Another day, and another band to turn you on to. They are called Smoke Signals. Now I just want to say that with domain usage, it is getting harder all the time to even research a band name like this, because it is so easy to get waylaid by the common usages. In this case, the rabbit hole is the use of smoke signals through the ages; from the Great Wall Of China, to the Aboriginals and Native Americans, to the Vatican using smoke to alert the masses to the selection of the new Pope. It is all on the WIKI. Seriously, though, it’s like movies having to say the title and tag it with the word ‘movie’ for the dot com. I am finding more bands these days with names that include “music” or “band.” And don’t even get me started on the global nature of all of this. I predict more absurdist names of bands, because it is getting harder to clear band names all the time these days.

That said, I love the name Smoke Signals. Coley O’Toole and Joe Ballaro formed their first band when they were in the 7th grade in Shelton, Connecticut. Then Coley met Zac Clark over a decade later, when Zac moved into a house on the banks of the Housatonic River. The three toured as The Queen Killing Kings. In early 2011, they headed out to Silverlake, California where Simon Katz  from Youngblood Hawke and Christian Letts from Edward Sharpe welcomed them at the Effie House- a home equipped with recording consoles, a Steinway baby grand, two dozen guitars, a Hammond organ, and a ghost. Woot! Smoke Signals brought more than 30 songs. Over nine days, they recorded one song each day, live in the living room, for the band’s  self-titled debut which came out in August.  The song “Black Holes” features Rocco Deluca, who also appears in the video. Urgent, gospel infused, with an overlay of the monastery choir chain gang. Note the Papal art on the wall.

-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