Eliza Gilkyson "Green Fields"

Hill Country Barbecue in New York, for whom I do special projects, is hosting a Bastrop Wildfire Benefit Concert tomorrow evening, November 16th. Shooter Jennings, Chip Taylor & John Platania, Laura Cantrell, Grayson Hugh, The Defibulators, and Dallas Wayne, who lost his house in the fires, will all perform. I have been involved with two other wildfire benefits, both in Austin this last month, but the need is great. Driving down I-35 yesterday, the browned out fields and foliage are depressing, as Texas still has had no rain. Thank goodness it is not blistering hot anymore, though. If you are in New York tomorrow here is the link, it will be a great night of music for a very worthy cause. I am glad we are shining a light on it in the Big Apple.

Once there were green fields, indeed. Today’s tune is a classic, performed by a classic, Eliza Gilkyson, on a classic radio show, eTown. The show is a long running public radio and AAA Radio favorite, and I encourage you to go to a taping if you ever have the chance. Nick and Helen Forster do a wonderful job of curating, and performing, almost in the style of radio of old. I found some video they just posted; you will see Nick and his guitar at the start, and then enjoy the honey drenched voice of Austin treasure, Eliza Gilkyson, with Helen providing back up vocal support.

- Jessie Scott

Connie Smith "Blue Heartaches"

How about a peek behind the curtain of booking for one of our events? When I was putting the schedule together for the Music Fog Fall Marathon, I scoured the roster of performers that had been invited to play the Americana Music Festival in Nashville, which was the reason we were headed there. I made a list from that, especially wanting to bring artists in front of our cameras that we hadn’t had the pleasure of filming before. One of those artists was the legendary Connie Smith. Pure country, pure class, with perfect diction, perfect phrasing, and 53 albums to her credit in her well-respected career. Wow!

As we got closer to the gig, I reached back out to see what the configuration would be for each artist. In Connie’s case, it was conveyed that she’d be performing as a duo, and would just be bringing a guitarist. Now I knew this would be a world class accompanist no matter what, but I hoped against hope that it would be her husband, Marty Stuart. It was confirmed on the day before the performance that indeed, Marty was coming along with Connie. Woot! Marty produced her latest CD, Long Line of Heartaches. It is her first recording since 1996 and only her second since 1978. They produced it at the historic Nashville RCA Studio B, which is a comfortable place for sure. When Connie first came to Nashville in the 60s, her first nine years of albums for the RCA Victor label were recorded nearly in their entirety in the same celebrated location.

We brought Connie to our studio for her Music Fog session, at Marathon Recorders in Nashville's Marathon Village. What can I say? It was an honor to have Connie Smith and Marty Stuart record with us.

- Jessie Scott

Will Hoge "When I Get My Wings"

I like how we call it "shameless self pimping," but I was scrolling through old emails, and one caught my eye. I wrote to a friend when Music Fog hit its first million views, the date was July 4th, 2010. Just a few days ago, on November 2nd, we hit six million views on YouTube. Which means that in the last year and five months we have added five million views. Now that might not seem like much in these viral days when a cute kitten or puppy can gather millions of views seemingly overnight...awwww. But when you think about it, six million views is pretty substantial for the Americana genre, which in general gets very little mainstream attention. We like to keep it real here. We ask that if you like what you see, that you turn someone on to us. Oh yeah, and we ask that if you like what you hear, you might just like to have 12 of our hand curated tracks, audio only, on your iPod. Who’s First? is our first ever compilation, and you can buy it here (highest quality) or on iTunes, whatever is your pleasure.

I can tell you that assembling these artists and this music is a total labor of love. It has been the focus of my career for the last fifteen years, and it sustains me, nourishes me, in a way that mainstream music doesn’t quite. Here is why: these are real talents singing real songs. They would do so whether there was a microphone in front of their faces or not. I am very glad we were on site to provide our best technology for the Will Hoge session, though, during our Fall Marathon at Marathon Recorders in Nashville. This is a song that speaks to commitment and love, while it attests to the powerful and soaring voice of Will Hoge. The version from his brand new album Number Seven is mighty tasty. This right here is why we do it. Here is the Music Fog version of “When I Get My Wings” filmed last month, at Americana Fest. Solo Will Hoge. Immaculate.

-Jessie Scott