Will Kimbrough "It Ain't Cool"

Man, I cannot believe that it is just a week before SXSW®! The Film and Interactive portions of the Conference start this Friday, with the Music side of things starting on Tuesday, March 15th. The city of Austin is getting gussied up for the onslaught. There are billboards all over town that reference the party that is about to happen. It is interesting watching it unfold, as a resident here, instead of just parachuting in when it is full steam. At the same time, the trees are greening up, there is spring in the air, the days are getting longer, and damn it, it is time! We have a short winter here in Texas, but you know we pay for it in the summertime. But right now, it is just about perfect. Sunshiny days, and cool nights. But if you are heading here, check the weather, because it could be cold, or rainy, or unseasonably warm. You never know. But right now, the 10-day looks just about perfect.

Music Fog is excited to be bringing our Marathon to Threadgill’s WHQ again. (44 bands in 4 days---free shows, no badges! See schedule here.) We will have a lot of new faces playing for our cameras this time. Actually, we have not evr filmed about 75% of our line up this year.

Will Kimbrough is not listed, but we think he will appear anyway, as we expect him to accompany Brigitte DeMeyer on Friday, March 18th, at 7:20 pm. And so he continues as a Music Fog MVP. We have recorded him in lots of configurations; he has been solo, with Tommy Womack as Daddy, and with an ace band at Nashville's Americana Fest back in September. In Will’s latest blog post, you can find out who all he has been in the studio with this winter. And now he gets ready for the touring season to come. Of course for me that starts here in Austin next week. While we wait, let’s bring you “It Ain’t Cool,” from his album Wings. It's an anti-gossip song he wrote with Todd Snider. Todd is everywhere these days, too! Here is Will, with Lisa Oliver-Gray, Tim Mark and Fred Eltringham.

- Jessie Scott

Tommy Shaw - The Great Divide

I am drinking Tommy Shaw’s brew, as I have been treated to a bag of Styx coffee, a special blend of fresh and robust beans, packaged by The Coffee Fool. I had the opportunity to sit down with Tommy a couple of Saturday’s ago in one of the well-appointed green rooms at the acoustically perfect, sophisticated pleasure palace that is the brand new ACL Live venue. It was my first time there, but It has only been open since late February. The room is beautiful, the staff is well trained, polite and helpful. And it was a total trip to hang with Tommy, as Styx has had an incredible run through the decades. The set list for the show was hanging on the dressing room wall, and I can attest that I have played every one of those songs on the radio.

Actually, the reason I was there was to talk about Tommy Shaw’s new CD, which comes out on March 22nd. It is called The Great Divide, and it is BLUEGRASS! No, don’t be shocked, Tommy is from Montgomery, Alabama, and this music seeped into his blood early and often as he was growing up. Then to record, he surrounded himself with the best and the brightest: Stuart Duncan, Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, Rob Ickes, Byron House, Dwight Yoakam, Alison Krauss, and Brad Davis, who also co-produced the CD along with Will Evankovich and Tommy. It is fun, rich, bubbling with bonhomie and tuneful offerings. And it was just announced that Tommy will be playing the Grand Ole Opry on March 26, which is a wonderful launch for a boy who grew up listening to that venerable show. Click on the player below to listen to some of the songs from the album.

And check out a video Tommy made taking about the making of the album and playing a couple of dates on the same day in Nashville, at The Station Inn and The Bluebird.

- Jessie Scott

David Olney & Sergio Webb "If I Were You"

Ain’t no telling what you will find when you start looking at the internets. I wanted to hear the lyrics to today’s song, so I could write about it. Oh, it is “If I Were You” from David Olney and Sergio Webb. First I tried those hoser lyric sites, you know, the ones that immediately want to sell you the ring tone, and tease you into believing that they have the lyrics, but then they don’t? And then I found some TV appearance, with the obligatory straight, non-hip, overdressed anchorwoman asking all the wrong questions with all the wrong attitude. When is TV going to realize that a pretty face is not enough? When is television going to be dragged kicking and screaming into this century? They are losing audience for a reason. But I shouldn’t complain, as they gave airtime to David Olney and Sergio Webb, and that counts for something in my book!

You will find David Olney plying his abundant craft on the web; unedited, direct and unexpected on his “Hear & Now” series on Tuesdays at 7:00 pm EST. David comments on what’s going on in the world, and performs. Sometimes it is even a brand new song that was just written that day. You can post comments and questions while he is webcasting, if you become a member of Ustream.

We filmed David and Sergio at last year’s Folk Alliance in Memphis up on the Music Fog bus. Sergio Webb provides a beautiful lace to David Olney’s tapestry. You won’t find a more beautiful song. “If I Were You,” wistful, yearning, resigned.

- Jessie Scott