The Gourds "I Want It So Bad"

This time of year is such a tangle of emotions. We zig zag from the sweet and tender moments with loved ones. Whiplash to the crass hyper-commercialization that this holiday season has become. Then we start thinking back about the past year; then start dreaming about what we would like to see happen for the next. Work toward your dreams, overcome the odds. I wish us all a better time with cash flow and employment. I wish true love finds you. And as I am coming off a low carb Christmas, and feeling very disciplined all of a sudden, since I said no to the exceptional homemade goodies that were offered, here is hoping I might just find the energy to stick with it in the new year. Of course every other commercial on TV is for weight loss, gym memberships and over the counter snake oil diet supplements, all of which serves to remind us that many of us are in the same boat.

Whatever path you take toward a healthier 2012 is OK in my book. Stop smoking, start exercising, watch what you eat, make regular yearly doctor’s appointments. Be relentless in your pursuit, ‘cause as they say, “use it or lose it.” And know this, that you CAN do it, just set your mind to it, and be relentless in the pursuit. And don’t forget to dance! Here is a song that is impossible to be still while it is playing. “I Want It So Bad,” from The Gourds. You will find it on their latest album Old Mad Joy. Yes indeed, may you find old mad joy in 2012. Here is the Music Fog version of the song, filmed at Nashville's Marathon Recorders during this year's Americana Fest.

- Jessie Scott

Crooked Still "Look On And Cry"

While we are celebrating the season, as the year winds down, this week marks the tenth anniversary of a band we have not yet had the pleasure of filming, Crooked Still. They formed as the initiative of four distinguished musicians; Singer Aoife O'Donovan, Cellist Rushad Eggleston, banjo player Greg Liszt, and double bassist Corey DiMario, when they got together for an informal concert at the New England Conservatory. Along the way, Brittany Haas joined on fiddle, and Tristan Clarridge became the cellist. They grew the audience in New England for a few years before they released their debut album, Hop High, which came out in February 2005. Their second release, Shaken by a Low Sound, followed a year later, with their EP Friends of Fall being the fifth. That’s just about five releases in five years, which is pretty darn amazing.

If you are lucky enough to be in Australia, there are tour dates for you as they are at the Woodford Folk Festival tonight in Queensland. Oh to be Down Under right about now! We bring you a video that was done a year ago in August, “Look On And Cry.” It melds the seductive with the remarkable movement of the music. Crooked Still. Oh yeah.

- Jessie Scott

Gary P. Nunn "The Last Thing I Needed, the First Thing This Morning"

I am on a plane that I needed to get up at 4am to make my way to the airport. I yearn for the days of late night flights, of sleeping and winding up at one’s home airport in the misty morning hours. Getting up to head out at 4am is hard. Now I had to do that when I was doing the morning show on the radio in various cities, but honestly, it is not my favorite thing to do. And today, December 26th, the day after, is gonna be one heck of a migration day, getting back home, whether by plane, train, bus, car; whatever. I always find it so ironic anyway, walking into an airport at 5 am to encounter the ’bustling city effect,’ lines at the counter, security checkpoint, vendors; and all this under cover of darkness while the rest of the population is asleep.

Hope you had a lovely day yesterday. We bring you Gary P. Nunn today, whom we filmed last year at The MusicFest in Steamboat Springs. I think that Gary’s appearance gave birth to this coming year’s MusicFest tribute being offered to the Lost Gonzo Band. They formed in 1972, an iconic fraternity of musicians. Back in those days, they were the backing band for Jerry Jeff Walker and Michael Martin Murphey. They can tell lots of stories that speak of another era, and too many twists and turns of the road to account here. Suffice it to say that their history is a great read, and it will be so much fun to celebrate their legacy as the 2012 MusicFest Artists’ Tribute to a Legend Honoree with Dr. Gary Hartman, Director of the Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University. Click here to read the tribute notes on The MusicFest website.

Here is a classic from Gary P. Nunn, “The Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning.”

- Jessie Scott