The Pear Ratz "Ozona"

I can’t stress how important it is to give back. After a life in the workaday world, the things that seem to recur with frequency these days are benefits and non-commercial enterprises. I am a proud member of two of them, The Americana Music Association and Leadership Music. Of late, there have been plenty of things to raise money for, with the natural calamities especially rife of late. Also, there are so many worthy things to donate your time to; boys and girls clubs, sports teams, houses of worship, doing cleanup in your community. It is all about helping those less fortunate with your time, your money, or your concern. Giving back feels good.

Tonight I am involved in a benefit to raise money for the Wounded Warriors. I see so many military folks in my travels these days, and always hope that a good life awaits them when they are done with their service to our country. Tonight, The Pear Ratz, a band I used to play on X Country back in my XM days, are doing a benefit to raise money for them. I am going to be facilitating a video stream, as it is being filmed for DVD release by Jeff Horny and his crew, and the audio is being captured by Adam Odor. Check it out tonight on the Pear Ratz site.

Here is a video that Jeff did for them in 2010, “Ozona,” which I especially love for the desert vistas.

-Jessie Scott

Tim Easton & The Freelan Barons "Burgundy Red"

My New Year’s resolutions are still in place. I have given up gluten and sugar (beware the white powder…) and laughingly came up with a colorful description: red meat, yellow liquor and black coffee. It hasn’t been hard to keep to this regime for me, and rest assured the yellow liquor is a sometime "thing," not an everyday occurrence. Red wine works too. The other part of my resolution is to dance every day. That is a fairly easy thing to accomplish, even if it’s with my iPod blaring with external speakers in the privacy of my living room. Fun.

You can dance to this song for sure. “Burgundy Red” is a throwback to the rock and roll of Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry. Tim Easton delivers the locomotion. He is a man on the move, no really! Tim Easton and his family just made the trek east, to the burgeoning music community of East Nashville, all the way from Joshua Tree in California. He will now be in striking distance for a visit to Folk Alliance in Memphis coming up in a few weeks,  before he heads to Europe for a quick tour. We had the pleasure of filming him, along with Alex Livingstone, Aaron Lee Tasjan, and Mark Stepro during our Spring Music Fog Marathon at Threadgill’s last March. BTW, you can help make this year’s Music Fog Marathon a reality by your contribution here. The song “Burgundy Red” came out on Tim’s CD Porcupine. Here is the Music Fog version with The Freelan Barons.

-Jessie Scott

Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers "Dinero"

Saturday, Miss Abbey Road of Luckenbach threw a simply marvelous blues festival. The Fifth Annual Luckenbach Blues Fest was an all-day affair, but I got there as the sun was going down; set to the strains of Johnny Nicholas, WC Clark, Guy Forsyth, Band Of Heathens, Seth Walker and Ruthie Foster. Great line up and a fun hang. Plus, it gave me the opportunity to canvas backstage for auction items for tonight’s Bastrop Wildfire Benefit at Hill Country Barbecue Market in Washington, DC. If you are in DC, come by for the show! Dallas Wayne, The Deep Dark Woods, Sons of Bill, Chris Berardo and the DesBerardos, and Ruthie and the Wranglers will all be on hand. As will Senator John Cornyn, and Congressman Michael McCaul. Gonna be a fun night for a great cause, as we raise money for those that lost their homes in the Bastrop Wildfires in September. Dinero...gimme some! Well not me, actually, The United Way will collect and administer, along with the Bastrop City Council. Hill Country is at 410 Seventh Street, NW Washington, DC 20004. See you at 7 pm. And yeah, thanks to all for the cool collection of stuff from Todd Snider, Cory Morrow, Guy Forsyth, Bloodshot Records, Band Of Heathens, Gary P. Nunn, Luckenbach, and photographer Robbyn Dodd.

Today’s tune IS “Dinero,” from Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers. Nobody has enough, it seems. Of course if you do, you can make plans now to head to Sandy Beach, next to Chango's Bar near the Sea of Cortez for fireworks, sombreros, Mexican Moonshine and more than four hours of rock-n-roll! Roger and company know how to throw a party, so put Circus Mexicus XXI on your calendar for June 9 in Rocky Point, Mexico. Music Fog caught up with RCPM last year during MusicFest at Steamboat Springs in January. Here is the result, our recording of a song you will find on the most recent Unida Cantina album. Here are Roger Clyne, Jim Dalton, Nick Scropos, and PH Naffah  with “Dinero.”

-Jessie Scott