Eric Brace & Peter Cooper "Grandma's Batman Tattoo"

Ugh, and yikes I am so full I can barely move. I am NOT shopping today, Black Friday or not. Actually, I am in New Orleans and a stroll down Bourbon Street might be just the thing to walk off the overeating of it all. I am appalled, because New Orleans is not a city that you want to be ‘too full’ in. There are $2 pancakes at City Diner- bigger than your face, there are hamburgers reminiscent of your youth at Bud’s Broiler for $3.65, there are beignets at any hour of the day or night. Po’ Boys and muffalettas, and gumbos and it goes on and on. But I am full, and I don’t want any more food! But I am in New Orleans, so maybe the music is the subtext. Last time I was here we posted a song that referenced NOLA, and so it is again today.

Eric Brace and Peter Cooper - I could fill the page with good things to say about them. I am so impressed with the projects they have taken on, they are following their hearts and making some music that will last, like the thing they did with Lloyd Green and Mike Auldridge called the Master Sessions, and the tribute album I Love: Tom T. Hall's Songs Of Fox Hollow. Today’s tune speaks to another kind of permanence, the tattoo. And Grandma, incongruous as that might be to ponder. Today’s grandmothers may have had a wild night on the gulf coast back in the day, and wound up with the Batman tattoo in question, somewhere where it doesn’t show. Oh hell, I’ll let them tell it. Eric Brace and Peter Cooper from the Music Fog Fall Marathon in Nashville with the opus, “Grandma’s Batman Tattoo.”

- Jessie Scott

Darrell Scott "The Day Before Thanksgiving"

Thanksgiving.  The year is in the wind down as of today, though it doesn’t seem possible that 2011 is almost over. Today is a day of introspection and overeating, for counting blessings and consuming calories.  This year, I want to take a moment to give thanks while I question what comes next, personally and for this society and the world. There is so much discord, so much strife. So many hungry, homeless, war torn, out of work, out of money and out of luck. So while I am thankful for what I have, I can’t take for granted the rest. I don’t want to get used to the discord as the new normal. No one says it better than Darrell Scott, Poet Laureate of Americana.  Our condolences go out to Darrell and his family, for the loss of his father, Wayne Scott, a musician and guiding light. Among other projects, Darrell produced Wayne's 2005 album, This Weary Way, and you can read more about it on his site.

Darrell Scott's seventh studio album, Long Ride Home, will be released this coming January.  The new CD pays tribute to the country music of his youth, and many of its songs were written a long time ago; two are from when he was just 16. He is renowned for more than just his prodigious songwriting chops, to wit, for being a member of Robert Plant’s Band of Joy, which solidifies his stature as one of the finest all-around musicians in the world. Not to mention the three Grammy nominations and an Americana Music Association Honor. Today’s offering is the Music Fog recording of “The Day Before Thanksgiving,” originally found on the album A Crooked Road.  For a limited time, you can download a copy of the song on Darrell's site.   And of course, you can see the Music Fog version right here.

- Jessie Scott

The Believers "Let It Be What It Is"

It is travel day today for so many people, to grandmother's house we go, ha ha! From an agrarian society traveling by sled back in the day; to the high tech, high speed world we live in now. It is hard to fathom the intensity of the change, and our ability to turn up anywhere in the world with the snap of the fingers. Not to say that it is all easy; some friends are traveling 28 hours to an island in Thailand. Yikes, and there is weather crossing the country, which can make for delays, and we always hate to hear the stories of people trapped for hours on the tarmac. Hope that won’t be me today, as I head to New Orleans for turkey and the fixins with a Cajun twist.

Craig Aspen and Cyd Frazzini, AKA The Believers returned to our cameras last month at Americana Fest in Nashville.  It had been two years since we’d seen them, the first time being when Tara Nevins brought them along with her to the Music Fog bus. It was a fairly late night session, and as I recall, we were all a tad loopy. This time, I am sorry to have missed them, as I had run off across town to anchor the Folk Alley/NPR Music broadcast of the Americana Honors & Awards Show. By the way, I hope you caught ACL Presents: Americana Music Festival on PBS this last weekend! If you didn't, you'll be happy to know it's now available for viewing online.

Craig had been a vagabond songwriter, but didn't start a full time music career until became clean and sober at 35. Cynthia came out of the Seattle rock scene and was a personal chef for the likes of Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Their first song performed together was the Gram Parsons classic, "Hickory Wind," which spurred the pair on to record their first album, Row in 2002. Crashyertown came out next, which was when I got turned onto them. They performed a bunch of as yet unreleased tunes for us this time. Here is one of them “Let It Be What It Is.” Amen.

- Jessie Scott