John Fullbright "The Flower Song"

People are posting their best of the year, and it highlights just how hard it is to keep up with everything that is coming at us these days. Here is a fan-generated Top 500 from No Depression. Instead of looking at just this last year, last night I did a search for some tasty nuggets from the way back machine in my brain to see if I could find a few titles digitized, or even on CD. There is a soundtrack that I would love to get my hands on again, from the film Steelyard Blues, with Nick Gravenites and friends. But I ain't gonna buy the vinyl for $500, or CD for $450. And then there is an amazing record from 1970 by Kathi McDonald (with Sly Stone!) called Insane Asylum that I need on my iPod! I love the mental trips down the cobwebbed synapses to find some of the music through the years that was especially meaningful. Recently I had a snippet of chorus in my head for a month before I figured out what it was, and then located it. Hate when you get a song stuck like that, but it sure feels good when the AHA moment comes!

Photo Credit: Vicki FarmerAs Music Fog gets ready for the new year, including our imminent trip to MusicFest at Steamboat and beyond, I am looking around at the new acts we want to bring you in 2011. Yes, of course we will have returning friends in for more video sessions. It is with anticipation that I think about getting introduced to new artists that, as I write this, we have not yet heard of, though. And when I think back on this year, one of the people I am most happy to have brought you is John Fullbright. I had been hearing the whispers from music biz people about him, long before I saw him play, and months before we had him visit us on the Music Fog bus. Our first encounter was at Folk Alliance in Memphis this past February. It was an abbreviated affair, as he had to run to perform at a showcase. Then we had the pleasure of a visit during the Cherokee Creek Music Festival in May. I am attaching his upcoming tour dates, though you might just have to make it to The Blue Door in Oklahoma City if you are near there or passing though, as he plays there often. We can hardly wait to see what the future holds; may his star burn bright in the coming year. Here's a new, unreleased song from our Cherokee sessions on the Music Fog bus with John. We're not sure if this is the working title, or the one that will stick, but he calls it "The Flower Song."

- Jessie Scott

Nathan Bell "The Man in the Box"

A friend of mine, Michael McCall, is a music journalist who resides in Nashville, Tennessee. He was one of the first folks I encountered when I moved there in 1996, and we wound up running into one another at various shows over the next five years. You can tell a lot about how in sync you are with someone by the amount of events you see one other at. And so when I get a recommendation from him, my ears perk up. Nathan Bell is the artist and his music is brand new to me, so let us discover him together. I do love the idea that you can instantly get to someone's website; listen to music, peruse their bio, and look at some video. That is as it should be, but it is amazing how many artists still make you dig for this stuff. In Nathan's case, there is still more to be pondered.

Nathan Bell lives in the Chattanooga area. He practiced his craft early in his life, releasing albums in various incarnations, but put away his 'childish things' to have a career and a family. Then after thirteen years he was laid off, and the guitar was once again found its way into his hands. If you would like to get to know him a bit better, his bio is here. He is releasing two albums in close succession, and so he is about to reenter the scene. He has been writing with a vengeance since he started back making music in 2007. Blood Like a River is about his life now, Black Crow Blue is his trickster's tale of a remembered life. The video I found on his website is an homage to legendary hockey player Goldie Goldthorpe, whose real life bad-ass escapades were the inspiration for the character Ogie Oglethorpe in the film Slap Shot.

- Jessie Scott

The Infamous Stringdusters "Magic #9"

I am reminded of that wonderful line from the A Team, delivered by George Peppard in the role of John "Hannibal" Smith, clenching a cigar in his mouth as he says, "I love it when a plan comes together." But I really do. I am a tireless rooter for people to accomplish cool things, and when they are rewarded for them, I have been known to actually jump up and down. Yes, I was a cheerleader in High School. Does that explain it, or am I just hopelessly sentimental? One of the reasons I am so impressed with artists of every stripe, is that they create out of thin air, it is something from nothing. The icing on the cake is that then it can touch people- it can excite, inspire, make you happy or sad. There is something so primal about this all, and miraculous at the same time.

The Infamous Stringdusters are all that. A finely honed hydra of an organic delivery machine, they are expressive, improvisational and exciting to watch. And they have been nominated for their first ever GRAMMY® in the Best Country Instrumental category for their song "Magic #9," off the album Things That Fly. The 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards will be held Feb. 13th, 2011 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles. To get an inside look at the recording of the album, click here for a video introduction.

The Stringdusters are performing out west from January through March, which they are calling The Ski Tour. That includes a performance at the 5th Annual Big Sky Big Grass Festival on February 18th in Big Sky, MT. Ooh, we hear they are on the line-up for the Telluride Bluegrass Festival for 2011, too. Hot band, hot time, with hot stuff going on. Here are The Infamous Stringdusters, filmed during September's Americana Fest in Nashville, with their GRAMMY Nominated tune...the Music Fog version!

- Jessie Scott