Otis Gibbs "Detroit Steel"

Yay, driving season is here. It is great to jump into the car and follow your heart to friends and family, or just to explore. I am glad gas prices are coming down a bit. In doing some research, on this day in 1942, gas rationing was put in place, with non-essential vehicles only getting 3 gallons a week. Can you imagine? What does that translate to, around 60 miles a week? Just goes to show how different our living and working pattern is these days. Ah, to be able to walk to work, or take public transportation…but that is another story.

Otis Gibbs has today’s tune from his album Harder Than Hammered Hell, which came out back in February. The import version is available as of today on Amazon. It is Otis’ sixth album, and it’s the fourth release to come out on his own indie label, Wanamaker Recording Company, the East Nashville endeavor he started in 2008 with long-time partner Amy Lashley. The album title comes from a comment about digging in frozen ground, by a seventy-year-old friend and co-worker with whom Otis worked as a tree-planter in Indiana. Otis feels that is also an apt description for the creative process today. In the meantime, it’s time to take a drive! Here is “Detroit Steel,” let’s go!

-Jessie Scott

Hurray for the Riff Raff "Look Out Mama"

Happy Mother’s Day! I was in New Orleans visiting the kids a few weeks back, when the subject came up of Mother’s Debris. For the uninitiated, Mother’s Restaurant is a NOLA institution. You go through the line to order your food, and let me tell you, you spend the whole time as you shuffle down trying to decide what you are going to order. It is really hard! One of my favorites there, though, is the roast beef po’ boy sandwich. The “debris” moniker comes from the pieces that fall into the pan gravy during the roasting process, making for well-seasoned crispy bits and a huge mess dripping down your face while you are eating it. So I was talking about this feast, and the kids heard me wrong, and thought I was saying Mother’s Day Brie, speaking of gooey messes dripping down your face, and that is what I got this Mother’s Day. I do love that, and I hope if you are a mom, that there is a modicum of comfort and joy for you and a hot mess, in the best possible way.

In our continuing campaign to discover cool music, we present the band Hurray for the Riff Raff. Their new album Look Out Mama just came out a couple of weeks ago. It was recorded in Nashville and produced by Andrija Tokic, who worked with the Alabama Shakes. The song we bring you today is the title track, “Look Out Mama,” led by the band's writer, lead singer and primary creative force, Alynda Lee Segarra. She is a Puerto Rican runaway who grew up in the Bronx until she was 17, then she bounced around for years riding the rails before landing in New Orleans. I think that is a really good fit.

- Jessie Scott

Steve Poltz "Dreamhouse"

You know how hard it is for musicians to make a living these days. We watch our road dog friends tour incessantly, and sell their merch off the stage, which allows them to get to the next town and then to the next. So anything the helps to make things more profitable for them is very cool in our book. Enter Tikly, a ticketing website which allows artists, venues and events to keep more of the money for each ticket they sell. So, if a ticket is $10 or less, Tikly charges the buyer an extra $1. Above that, fees are 10 percent of the transaction, up to $7.50. Just to give you a bit of insight on how fair that is, Ticketmaster fees can often add 50% per ticket. And they don’t ask for contracts or upfront fees.

They have a couple of clients we know and love, The Nadas and Steve Poltz. Music Fog got familiar with the Tikly story when they donated to our Kickstarter campaign. Steve Poltz swears by them, so much so, that he is using them for his present Australian tour.

Steve has a new album coming out next month, Noineen Noiny Noin, which was named during one of his previous Aussie jaunts. Steve asked a promoter if he remembered the year when he first came to Australia, “Oi reckon it was noineen noiny noin,” the man said, referring to the year 1999. Voila, an album title is born! Today’s tune comes from Steve's 2010 release, Dreamhouse.  It's the title track and this version was filmed during our Spring Music Fog Marathon at Threadgill’s WHQ in March.

- Jessie Scott