Emory Quinn "Holes Through the Windows"

OK, so I came down with the community croup from kissing babies and shaking hands at the Music Fog Marathon, and I have been mostly holed up trying to recuperate since then. Last night, driving home from my Threadgill’s gig, I stopped at a stop sign at the corner. I guess I was waiting for the light to change, except there wasn’t one, which became evident to me when people started honking. Yikes! I raced to the next corner, and there WAS a red light at that one, where I again sat, feeling embarrassed as the honking cars tailed me there. See you at the next light...that is the name of the most recent Emory Quinn album.

Photo Credit: Bill EllisonWe welcomed EQ back in front of our cameras for the full Music Fog treatment. We have encountered them twice before. Once was at MusicFest at Steamboat in 2009, and we saw them again at the "Black Tie and Boots" Texas State Society Inaugural Presidential Ball. (A footnote, I have now been to two of those soirees, and they are a blast. Evening clothes and cowboy boots are my idea of heaven...) Anyway, I figured it was time for a return visit, as EQ stays busy gigging and turning out albums. The guys drove up to our Music Fog Marathon at Threadgill’s WHQ last week from San Antonio and got busy. Clint Bracher, Nathan Rigney, Case Bell, and Erik Frankson visited the 2012 Music Fog Marathon on day one, and plugged in to play one of the songs from See You At The Next Light, “Holes Through the Windows.”

- Jessie Scott

ORBO & The Longshots "Highway Tears"

My houseguests left on Monday. When you live in Austin, Texas, you always have houseguests during SXSW®. It’s kind of like living in Orlando, where you always have guests that are heading to Disney World®. And I have to say, that there is a certain similarity in that Austin actually becomes a theme park of a sort this time of year. The theme is music. In retrospect, I am sifting through magazines and websites to read the raves on bands I missed, of which there are many. The Dunwells were terrific, Brown Bird wowed them, and JD McPherson was on everyone’s lips as well. Maybe we will see them all on the next Music Fog Marathon! But today we dig one event back, to October’s sessions held during Americana Fest in Nashville, at Marathon Recorders.

ORBO & The Longshots got its start in the year 2000, by singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer Ole Reinert Berg-Olsen aka ORBO. They have six albums under their belt, and won the Norwegian equivalent of the GRAMMY® Award, Spellemannsprisen, for their 2008 album High Roller. Ten years of endless touring means this band has learned their craft the hard way---on the road. In fact they will celebrate their one-thousandth live show this year. ORBO & The Longshots have recorded their albums all over the world, from the mountains of Norway, to the legendary Sun Studio in Memphis, TN. Their new album Prairie Sun was recorded at Prairie Sun Studios in Cotati, California, and features special guests Delbert McClinton, Fats Kaplin, and John Jorgenson. We bring you a tune today as yet unreleased in the States, which we recorded during our October Music Fog Marathon, “Highway Tears.”

- Jessie Scott

Will Hoge "Trying to Be a Man"

This music biz is such a mixed up ball of confusion. Most people think things are as they always have been. Those of us entrenched on the front lines are so aware of how hard it now is to MAKE it, especially in the way that you could a couple of decades ago. Truth is, it is like grass growing through the concrete, to get awareness from the masses these days. It is hard, but not totally impossible. And that brass ring, which used to be platinum or gold...today’s ring IS made of brass, or even aluminum foil!

So when an artist is lucky enough to get a cover of one of his songs by a band that has more notoriety, let it be. I find it so funny the debate that is raging on in the YouTube comments with Will Hoge’s “Even If It Breaks Your Heart” being covered by the Eli Young Band, which we filmed backstage at The 8x10 in Baltimore a couple of years ago. Everything helps. And in the case of Mr. Hoge, anything that gets his name out there sooner is just dandy in my book. We were once again blown away by his talent, his range, and his sincerity, when he came to play for us during our Fall Music Fog Marathon in Nashville this past October. Here's the Music Fog version of ”Trying To Be A Man,” a song from Will Hoge's latest album, Number Seven.

- Jessie Scott