Mic Harrison & the High Score "Keep On Letting Me Down"

There is something so comforting to me about the sound of jangling guitars. Maybe it reminds me of growing up, when the insistence of a riff; the tone and texture, was a defining statement. Mic Harrison and The High Score bring a brand new CD to us, Great Commotion, which is the follow up to 2008's On The Right Side Of The Grass. The guys all have day jobs, and they all took a six month break to write and record the new album, adding to a catalog of music that started for Mic in the early 1990's. Back then, the Bradford, Tennessee native (just beside the Kingdom of Skullbonia) was asked to join the Knoxville based V-Roys just as the band was being signed by Steve Earle for his E-Squared Records. Harrison was a 29 year old sawmill worker and singer-songwriter. The V-Roys recorded three albums, and toured all across the United States and Europe before they called it quits on New Years Eve of 1999. Mic had short stints with The Faults, Superdrag, and then two solo albums, when he met The High Score in 2007.

Photo Credit: Annie Clark-Rankin

Great Commotion is the first release totally recorded and produced by the band, and then mastered by 'The Master' Eric “Roscoe” Ambel, marrying roots rock with power pop. And that provides for catharsis. Enjoy the video of "Keep On Letting Me Down."

- Jessie Scott

Butch Hancock "Boxcars"

It feels like I haven't been out in Austin in ages! On Wednesday night, I noticed the buildings seemed to have different colored lights than I remembered. I don't know if that's true, but it felt like I was seeing everything with new eyes. Plus, the skyline - and lights - were beautiful, pristine, glowing. I was heading to the after-party for Hayes Carll, to celebrate his just completed taping of Austin City Limits. Congrats to Hayes, so well deserved for him to appear on that illustrious TV show! We can't wait for it to air.

I hope Music Fog gets to catch up with Hayes on camera at the Americana Music Association's Festival and Conference, coming up September 8th through 11th in Nashville. Here's a link to sign up for that, whether to attend the whole conference, or just get a wristband so you can see all the music. And don't forget tickets to see the Americana Honors and Awards at the Ryman Auditorium!

This year is the first that it will be held at the Sheraton Nashville Downtown where the conference rate is $169 a night, plus tax. The hotel is completing a multi-million dollar renovation that will be finished in time for the Americana Music Festival and Conference to be the first group in the “new” hotel. The rooms are amazing! It will be a hot time in Nashville, for sure!

I am so looking forward, but also really glad I live in Austin, as there is always something going on here too. Our own Denise went to the Flatlanders show last weekend at The Paramount. Not only was she blown away by it, but there was a moment when Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore sat and watched Butch Hancock in awe. He performed a haiku, a cappella, that he had just written about a dead owl he found on his property in Terlingua. Butch is one third of The Flatlanders, a magnificent singer/songwriter on his own, and part of the Lubbock Mafia. What is it about Lubbock that has bred such individual artists? Look at this list!

Catch Butch, with various special guests, at the Cactus Cafe in Austin during a five-night stand, August 10th through the 14th, as he revisits his legendary No Two Alike series...not repeating a single song during the run. This is Butch's way of celebrating the past 30 years of the venue, as they enter a new era, and closing out the "original" Cactus. Meanwhile, Music Fog brings you a classic from Butch that we recorded in Okemah, OK during WoodyFest last month. "Boxcars."

- Jessie Scott

Butch Hancock - Eats Away the Night

Steve Poltz "Killin' Myself (To Be With You)"

First off, I think Steve Poltz should be our next 'one name' artist. Poltz. Period. On his website, he announces his west coast tour, with a picture with a boat that looks like it could be made of Lego's. Clever fellow that he is, it's not just called his HOME page, it's his DOWN HOME page. Ahem! While we are on the Steve Poltz website, there are lots of inventively named tabs, and even more inventive text that accompanies them. "Measure of the Man" is where you will find his bio, which starts with the provocative line, "He trick-or-treated at Liberace’s house, planned a two-day stay in Amsterdam that ended a month later with him escaping the city under the cover of darkness, and was Bob Hope’s favorite altar boy." No idea whether any of that is true. But ya know, it just might be! There are still west coast dates, so we encourage you to get out and see this American original.

Poltz' latest album is called Dreamhouse, and it is where you will find the song "Killin' Myself (To Be With You)." That tune, by the way, was a Music Fog debut two weeks after it was written, as we originally recorded it in February of 2009 at Folk Alliance in Memphis. We revisit it just a year later, as Poltz brought it to the Music Fog stage at Threadgill's during SXSW 2010. Sweet.

- Jessie Scott

  Steve Poltz - Killin' Myself (To Be With You)