Bearfoot "Midnight In Montana"

The Big Sky Songwriter’s Festival is underway this week at Big Sky Resort, and I am sure it has been a great and very productive time. It wraps this evening with a performance at Whiskey Jack’s starting at 5pm featuring Dustin Welch, Walt Wilkins, Kevin Welch, and Jon Pousette-Dart. The good news is there are tickets available if you happen to be in the neighborhood. As this is the inaugural year for the Songwriter’s Festival, put it on your calendar for next year, same time, same place.

Bearfoot is our band today, with a video called “Midnight In Montana.” They are on their way to the Americana Festival in Nashville next month. Now of course, if Music Fog was in attendance, you KNOW we would be asking them to appear in front of our cameras. We don’t charge the artists for our Music Fog Marathon’s, and we don’t charge you to watch our videos either. We are here to aid in music discovery. Which is the reason why we are doing another Kickstarter campaign to raise the necessary funds to get ourselves to Nashville to set up. We would love your help, both by pledging, and by sharing the link with your roots music loving friends. We sure would appreciate the opportunity to film another huge gaggle of artists. Time is running out, though, as the deadline for hitting our goal is Friday night.

Back to Bearfoot, the post-bluegrass outfit headquartered in Nashville. This song is from their American Story album which came out last year. They play Fairbanks, Alaska tonight, and are back in the South in September. Here comes “Midnight in Montana,” watch out, this is a fun video!

-Jessie Scott

Blackberry Smoke "The Whippoorwill"

I have been doing research lately on regional styles of barbecue and their respective histories. Fascinating, really, the different cooking methods, different recipes, even different conceptions of what barbecue is. Carolina, Kansas City, Memphis, Texas; they all have their charms. Mesquite or hickory, slow smoking or crisping up on a hot fire - chicken or pork, or sausage or beef. It is indeed a wondrous world. There is something so primal about the smell of meat being smoked. It takes hold and makes you follow, though I can’t imagine what that must be like for a vegetarian. Smoke. Yum.

Got another kind of smoke for you to try, as Blackberry Smoke's new album The Whippoorwill came out yesterday. The are known for prodigious and historically crafted hair, and have achieved rock outlaw status. Ain’t nothing quiet about that. Their shows are wailing and quaking affairs. I have just been in a serious Southern rock and roll mood lately, so the gloves are off for both the food and the music. The Whippoorwill comes on the heels of 2009's album Little Piece of Dixie, and is produced by the band, along with Clay Cook, Matt Mangano, and Zac Brown.

For today’s taste, we bring you Blackberry Smoke via a clip from their Live From the Georgia Theatre DVD which came out last year. It is the title track of their new album, “The Whippoorwill.” This one sways soft and sweet.

-Jessie Scott

Pebaluna "No, I Can't"

Hot days are upon us. Do you believe people made it through summer before air conditioning. It sure is hard to fathom what it was like in Texas and the rest of the Southern Tier back in those days. Heck, I remember nights when we showered and went to bed wet. As the clock approaches midnight coming home, my clothes were steamy and clingy, the air was still, and it was still 91 degrees. You could cut it with a knife. A state of torpor could easily ensue. I do find I wait until the sun goes down to do the heavy lifting. Ah, but this too shall pass.

Today’s band is Pebaluna (love the name!) The sun is shining brightly in the background of this video and they are barefoot, all putting me in mind of those AC-less days. The Los Angeles based group have debuted a new video for the song “No, I Can’t,” from the band’s forthcoming album, Carny Life, which will be released in just over a month on September 18. Pebaluna is Lauren Coleman on vocals, guitarist Matt Embree, bassist Jonathan Grillo and drummer Jessica Lankford. They will be performing a few dates in California leading up to the release of the album. Here is the exquisite  “No, I Can’t”

-Jessie Scott