John Mellencamp "No Better Than This"

For decades, John Mellencamp has been a fact of life and a force of nature, having quietly used his celebrity status to help others. It is no wonder that folks around him are now talking politics, though he seemingly discounts it. He has just released his 25th CD, No Better Than This. It is a haunting affair, crafted with a rootsy vibe, an apt follow up to the earthy and heartfelt CD of 2008, Life Death Love and Freedom. For the latest, he wrote the 13 songs in a 13 day fever in 2009, during days off from the Baseball Stadium Tour with Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan. T Bone Burnett produced it, taking it on the road this time to three locations: at the historic First African Baptist Church in Savannah, GA, the legendary Sun Studio in Memphis, and the room where Delta blues legend Robert Johnson made his archetypal recordings in the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio. And we are talking seriously Lo-Fi, as the entire album was recorded mono to a single track 1955 Ampex Reel-to-Reel recording deck, and one vintage microphone.

Mellencamp is about to be acknowledged by the Americana Music Association in the category of Lifetime Achievement Songwriting at the Americana Honors and Awards Show coming up on September 9th, at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. He has been a vocal proponent for homelessness through 1Matters and for family farms with the ongoing Farm Aid, slated this year for October 2nd in Milwaukee, WI. John is an original Farm Aid board member, along with Willie Nelson and Neil Young, having organized and participated in these iconic concerts since their inception in 1985, though none of them expected that they would still be shining a light on this issue 25 years later.

As we get ready for these upcoming events, and to celebrate the release of the new album, we bring you the title track from the new CD, "No Better Than This."

- Jessie Scott

Doug & Telisha Williams "Kitchen Light"

Lee Abrams was the Yoda of XM Radio. He planned the platform's diversity, understanding that there was no 'one size fits all' to the music; and that each channel needed to be authentic and the authority for the genre it represented. Then, after hiring the staff, he let the garden grow, so that there wasn't a corporate sameness to all the channels. When Lee announced he was leaving to return to the city he grew up in, Chicago, to join the Tribune Company as Chief Innovation Officer, we (the programming department) all cried as we wished him well. During his reign at XM, Lee, who started flying at age 17, used to round us up for Saturday flights to eat lunch somewhere, flying back to homebase afterwards. What was a weekend lark is now a TV show called Sky Dives on WGN. One Saturday, Lee took me for a Reuben sandwich in Morgantown, West Virginia. At least, that's where I think we went. I remember crossing the mountains west of DC. We flew VFR (visual flight rules), and we were low enough that you could see the towns and the hills and valleys as we flew over them. It was a daydream inducing thing, as one wonders what life is like in the hamlets. Flying over football fields, swimming pools, churches, forests; it is easy to romanticize. I am certain, however that life is tougher in those hills than it has been in a while. And they have known poverty all too well in the past, too. I read this amazing book a while ago, about the contributions made by people from Appalachia to the zeitgeist of America...The United States of Appalachia, How Southern Mountaineers Brought Independence, Culture and Enlightenment To America. I highly recommend it.

Photo Credit: Elizebeth LarsonDoug and Telisha Williams come from one of the towns I might have flown over with Lee, Martinsville, Virginia, where boarded up factories are an unfortunate fact of life, giving silent testament to the ebb and flow of bounty. The unemployment rate there is 20.2%. Ouch. Doug and Telisha chose to record their latest CD Ghost of the Knoxville Girl in their hometown. The songs weren’t written by people like me, flying over and trying to imagine what it’s like down there, instead they came from tales told by intimate friends and relatives. Keep it local, keep it close. There is no doubt that they draw from all they heard growing up in that rich landscape. They transport it well into today.

Doug and Telisha hit Arkansas to play the Fayetteville Roots Festival tomorrow. The rest of their dates can be found in the tour section of their website. Meanwhile, here we have a simple time weary tune of betrayal for you. Turning off the "Kitchen Light," from the Music Fog bus at Folk Alliance 2010 in Memphis.

- Jessie Scott

[From 2000 to 2008, Jessie Scott served as Program Director of X Country, a radio channel dedicated to Americana music, which was heard across North America on XM Satellite Radio.]

Kevin Welch "One Way Rider"

The cold water in my kitchen sink is running tepid. Actually, it feels as if it has been pre-heated. It is a by-product of the dog days of summer, August in Texas is a stoic affair. Not for everyone, I am sure. Though some people must love the stillness of the summer heat, shimmering up from the pavement, I just don't know that I have met many of them. We only go out at night!! I was just thinking on how I haven't seen Kevin Welch all summer. I wonder if that is by design to escape the weather, or is just making the most of the height of touring season. He is in Denmark right now. Comes back stateside and then goes to Ireland. He will be back for the Kerrville Wine & Music Festival, September 5th, which is a good thing because the cover art from the new CD is on the Kerrville brochure I was handed today! Kerrville is also playing host to other Music Fog perennial favorites Wyatt Easterling, Matt King, Uncle Lucius, The Trishas, and John Fullbright.

Photo Credit: Rodney BursielSince the spring arrival of his new CD A Patch Of Blue Sky, the road trip has been pretty constant for Kevin. The album is still sitting high up on the Americana chart. Kevin writes from this interesting place, creating brand new material that makes you feel as if it has been part of the lexicon for eons. It's just so, I don't know, familiar...somehow. And instantly memorable. I am digging how he handles the bio concept on the website, too. It is in bullet point. I read so many of these that have the 'blah, blah, blah' factor...Kevin's has got some insight into his humor, and a "just the facts, ma'am" sensibility.

We most recently sat down with Kevin in May, at the Cherokee Creek Music Festival. This song is not from the new CD, though, we challenged Kevin to dig into the catalog for a new version of "One Way Rider," which can be found on his Life Down Here On Earth CD from 2002.

- Jessie Scott