Gary Nicholson "Fallin' & Flyin'"

Every year, as Music Fog heads into the great white north for MusicFest at Steamboat, Delbert McClinton takes a merry band of swashbucklers south for the Sandy Beaches Cruise. This year, they'll be sailing from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on Sunday, January 8, 2012, with two stops to visit three ports: St. Barts, St. Kitts and Nevis. And the roster? Well hell, that would be Al Anderson, Marcia Ball, Bruce Channel, Nick Connolly, Bob DiPiero, Fred Eaglesmith, Joe Ely, Jimmy Hall, Tom Hambridge, Teresa James & the Rhythm Tramps, J.T. Lauritsen & the Buckshot Hunters, Colin Linden, Big Joe Maher, Raul Malo, Clay McClinton, The McCrary Sisters, Mingo Fishtrap, Jonell Mosser, Lee Roy Parnell, Jill Sobule, Paul Thorn, Wayne Toups & Zydecajun, Seth Walker, Kevin Welch, Mike Zito, Miles Zuniga, Chuck Cannon, Matraca Berg, Eric Lindell, Danny Myrick, Gretchen Peters, Lari White, and Delbert’s longtime friend and songwriting partner Gary Nicholson. For ticket information, check here.

Gary Nicholson came before the Music Fog cameras at Americana Fest last month in Nashville. We were honored to have him, and the added bonus was that he brought Colin Linden and David Roe along with him. His life is a chronicle of the American Music scene dating back decades.  It is an impressive array of sights and sounds, as Gary has explored the roles of performer, songwriter and producer in his illustrious career. The song we bring you today is a classic, and if you remember, was in the movie Crazy Heart, performed by Jeff Bridges and Colin Farrell. It was co-written by Gary and the late Stephen Bruton. You can find Gary’s version on the album Texas Songbook, which came out back in June. Here is the Music Fog recording.

- Jessie Scott

Eric Brace & Peter Cooper "Grandma's Batman Tattoo"

Ugh, and yikes I am so full I can barely move. I am NOT shopping today, Black Friday or not. Actually, I am in New Orleans and a stroll down Bourbon Street might be just the thing to walk off the overeating of it all. I am appalled, because New Orleans is not a city that you want to be ‘too full’ in. There are $2 pancakes at City Diner- bigger than your face, there are hamburgers reminiscent of your youth at Bud’s Broiler for $3.65, there are beignets at any hour of the day or night. Po’ Boys and muffalettas, and gumbos and it goes on and on. But I am full, and I don’t want any more food! But I am in New Orleans, so maybe the music is the subtext. Last time I was here we posted a song that referenced NOLA, and so it is again today.

Eric Brace and Peter Cooper - I could fill the page with good things to say about them. I am so impressed with the projects they have taken on, they are following their hearts and making some music that will last, like the thing they did with Lloyd Green and Mike Auldridge called the Master Sessions, and the tribute album I Love: Tom T. Hall's Songs Of Fox Hollow. Today’s tune speaks to another kind of permanence, the tattoo. And Grandma, incongruous as that might be to ponder. Today’s grandmothers may have had a wild night on the gulf coast back in the day, and wound up with the Batman tattoo in question, somewhere where it doesn’t show. Oh hell, I’ll let them tell it. Eric Brace and Peter Cooper from the Music Fog Fall Marathon in Nashville with the opus, “Grandma’s Batman Tattoo.”

- Jessie Scott

Darrell Scott "The Day Before Thanksgiving"

Thanksgiving.  The year is in the wind down as of today, though it doesn’t seem possible that 2011 is almost over. Today is a day of introspection and overeating, for counting blessings and consuming calories.  This year, I want to take a moment to give thanks while I question what comes next, personally and for this society and the world. There is so much discord, so much strife. So many hungry, homeless, war torn, out of work, out of money and out of luck. So while I am thankful for what I have, I can’t take for granted the rest. I don’t want to get used to the discord as the new normal. No one says it better than Darrell Scott, Poet Laureate of Americana.  Our condolences go out to Darrell and his family, for the loss of his father, Wayne Scott, a musician and guiding light. Among other projects, Darrell produced Wayne's 2005 album, This Weary Way, and you can read more about it on his site.

Darrell Scott's seventh studio album, Long Ride Home, will be released this coming January.  The new CD pays tribute to the country music of his youth, and many of its songs were written a long time ago; two are from when he was just 16. He is renowned for more than just his prodigious songwriting chops, to wit, for being a member of Robert Plant’s Band of Joy, which solidifies his stature as one of the finest all-around musicians in the world. Not to mention the three Grammy nominations and an Americana Music Association Honor. Today’s offering is the Music Fog recording of “The Day Before Thanksgiving,” originally found on the album A Crooked Road.  For a limited time, you can download a copy of the song on Darrell's site.   And of course, you can see the Music Fog version right here.

- Jessie Scott