The John Henrys "New Years"

(Video contains explicit language)

Happy New Year! Music Fog turns two today! We started this experiment in direct music delivery to you on the heels of being the remote broadcast team at XM Satellite Radio that covered Bonnaroo, Willie's Picnic, Farm Aid, SXSW, Austin City Limits Music Festival, and various other special events in the U.S. and even out of the country. One of the things we took away from our time together, is that we actually LIKED each other, and that we were incredibly lucky to have been 'up close and personal' with the artists that serenaded us. We realized the only thing that was missing was the pictures along with the sound, so we bought some cameras and set out on the Music Fog mission, with the mantra, "How hard can it be?" We aim to expand on that concept in the coming year. It is so interesting that walking the path means things are now possible that were not even on our radar two years ago. We thank you so much for your support and for sharing us with your friends. The artists that we showcase deserve to be heard by more people. And that is our mission too! Fasten your seatbelt, and come along for the ride. First up this year is the MusicFest in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, which is just days away!

We take you back to Nashville, now, at September's Americana Music Festival. It was still quite warm. We cruised around in short sleeves, that is, on the rare occasions we were out of the Sheraton, on maneuvers. Actually, it only happened once a day. We try to eat one good meal, the rest of the time, there are artists coming and going. We try to squeeze as many recordings in as we can in a short time. But even in the rush, we love feeling each entity that is put before us. Everybody just brings it! I think since time is so compressed, it acts as an adrenalin rush of incentive to nail it. I suspect it's just human nature that if you think you can do it again, sometimes the magic doesn't happen in quite the same way. And we have come to rely on magic. The John Henrys came to visit, booked in at the last minute. They chose to look ahead to the holidays, even though autumn hadn't yet begun in Tennessee. They are a rocking, stringed, bad ass band out of Canada. We had to hold this tune for today. "New Years" from their CD Sweet As The Grain, which I am happy to say I did get to play at XM a few years back. Be forewarned though, this one is not for the kiddies, as it contains some "language!" Happy New Year.

- Jessie Scott

Hans Rotenberry "Sweet Bitch"

If things have seemed squirrelier than usual, Mercury has been retrograde since December 10th and it went direct yesterday. Whoa, what'd you say? Whatever does all that mean, anyway? Who knows! I don't know that I believe celestial bodies being able to predict the future and all that, but Mercury Retrograde, now that's another story, as it is said to disrupt travel and communication. So if things have been out of whack, we can blame it on the planets and move on. After all, it is just in time to ring out the old and ring in the new. I hope that you have made some fond memories in 2010, even in the midst of tough stuff going on in the economy, on the job front, with the housing crisis, not to mention all the other things that might have befallen someone you know, or even you for that matter. Here is to an end that will yield a new beginning.

The song for the last day of the year is from Hans Rotenberry, who tells us how it came to be.

"I think it was when I had my cat spayed that I first said 'so long, sweet bitch,' hoping her behavior would change. It struck me as a good title. Then I wrote the words and had them around for a while, then my oldest cat died, one I'd had for half my life. So I got to thinking about all the Roy Orbison tearjerkers whilst digging a cat's grave, then all the music came. So I used the sadness of Max's passing to add to the, uh, emotional authenticity, or something. It's my mom's favorite tune of mine. I dedicate it to her all the time. Mom gets the joke. Amen."

Remember to take inspiration wherever you can. Goodbye to 2010 and hello to Hans Rotenberry, recorded at Americana Fest in Nashville this past September. "So Long Sweet Bitch."

- Jessie Scott

Jason & the Scorchers - Halcyon Times

Halcyon Times Indeed!

In 2010, when it’s the last thing you’d expect, Jason & the Scorchers released a masterpiece.

By Tommy Womack

I’ve put off writing this article for months. I wanted to be sure the CD I received in the mail really sounded like I thought it did, that my mind wasn’t just playing tricks on me. Is it really this good, I thought, or am I just digging hearing songs I co-wrote? I didn’t want to blither sycophantic hyperbole prematurely.

So it’s been a while now, months! Months of starting the record from the top, going through all 14 songs, starting it over, listening again, starting songs over mid-way just to repeat a nice moment, digging a sequence that makes every song better than the one before it, and just marveling in general.

I’m going to say something now that none of you are going to believe, but as a life-long fan who has written extensively about them, and having listened to this record enough times now to know I’m not crazy, here it is: Halcyon Times is the best record Jason & the Scorchers have ever made. Better than Lost & Found, better even than Fervor. If I’m lying, I’m dying. You in the back, sit down. I’m actually serious here.

Fervor had it easy. It was only seven songs and one of them was a Dylan cover. Halcyon Times is twice as many songs, no covers, and each song has something to offer that is equal to anything on that sacred EP of yore. Hand on the Bible.

More points in its favor: Dan Baird & Brad Jones.

The guitar partnership of Warner Hodges and Dan Baird that started with the DB & Homemade Sin record has extended into the Scorchers. Dan appears on almost all the tracks and – just as these two have already demonstrated on the Dan Baird & Homemade Sin record – the marriage of one of rock’s most distinctive twang-shredders and one of its best-ever rhythm players is the best thing this side of AC/DC. It adds a whole new dimension and thrust to what Jason & the Scorchers can sound like and still be Jason & the Scorchers.

There are textures on this record, the harmonies, the ever-so-slight pop touches that are Brad Jones’ signature, and it makes these tracks into something more than another hard rock record. It’s still Jason & the Scorchers and it’s still in your face, but there are little decorations in the sounds that come from a different realm and are something you’ve never heard before on any previous Jason & the Scorchers record.

Photo Credit: Tony MottramJason’s vocals are the most multi-faceted of his career. The almost spoken-word slurs in “Twangtown Blues” are a new turn of phrase for the plain-spoken/sung Midwestern twangster maniac we all know and love. And Jason sang all his vocals at the same time the band was laying down the track, a first at Brad Jones’ behest. The immediacy shows.

Their lyrics have always been great in a plain-spoken country-western way, but the sharp wordplay that flies off of this platter is a personal best. (“Tonight he’ll kill a six-pack, just to watch it die!” “I beat on the mountain, but the mountain doesn’t say a thing.” “He’s a moonshine guy in a six-pack world.”) People live whole lives in single lines. I’m proud to have been on the writing team, in consort with Jason and Warner, or Jason and Ginger (from England’s Ginger & the Wildhearts. No late name, just Ginger), or Warner and Dan, or Al, or everybody who contributed.

The rhythm section of Pontus Snib (drums) and Al Collins (bass) were the guys with the difficult gig here, as in having big shoes to fill. If anyone wants to come against me on my “best ever” claims over this new record, it would have to be how there will never be another Perry & Jeff, and that’s true. But there can be a rhythm section that rocks like hell all the same, which Pontus and Al do.

“These are golden days!” Jason sings in a voice that is joy itself. And they are. Will this record make you a 19-year-old Kappa Sig seeing Jason & the Nashville Scorchers open for R.E.M. at the 40-watt in Athens? No. But these are golden days. Growing older is not a bad thing. If it was, there wouldn’t be so much of it. Get this record if you’re a Scorcher fan, or better yet, give it to a friend. “God bless, God save, golden days!” Indeed.

God bless and Happy New Year,

Tommy