Low Cut Connie "Rio"

I usually don’t make New Year resolutions, but since I have spent the last few nights dancing to the music of Willie Nelson, Mingo Fishtrap, Walt Wilkins and Garrett LeBeau, I think that sets the tempo for the year.  Dancing is feel good fun, and I think the best exercise is seamlessly woven into your life. There is already plenty of music to dance to in mine, but I hope to find a bar or two that has an 80s night!

Photo: Emad Hasan

‘Tis the first day of music discovery here and yeah you can dance to it. Long Tall Sally and Short Fat Fanny ain’t got nothing on Low Cut Connie, I’ll bet she’s built for speed too. There are no women in this band, so I am not casting aspersions.  Uh-oh, the name of the album is Get Out The Lotion, so you might as well assume the position while you are at it. There are five tunes from the album for you to sample on their website, and their two songwriters bridge the pond; New Jersey's Adam Weiner and Birmingham, England's Dan Finnemore. It makes for boozy, swampy, hip shaking stuff. That’s Adam on the piano ala Jerry Lee,  and Dan on the drums, along with guitarist Neil Duncan on his Les Paul and bass player Russell Salib. Here is a somewhat lo-fi video of the song “Rio.” Hope we can give them the magic Music Fog treatment one of these days! 

- Jessie Scott

Kevin Welch "The Great Emancipation"

Happy New Year to you. We hope you got through the weekend with a minimum of travails, and especially, no hangover. I always find the awareness of the passage of time to be great for reflection and planning. There are so many things I want to do this year, I just don’t know what to do first. Well that is not entirely true, because my January is booked pretty crazy. This week I head to my tenth MusicFest at Steamboat, as I'll be coordinating the live video streaming from the MusicFest tent on January 6, 7, 8, and 9. Here is the link to watch live, though it won’t be active until Friday from 3:45pm MT as Ragweed former members Cody, Jeremy and Randy take the stage. Sorry, Music Fog isn't making the trip this time, but I will report back for the pages of the Fog!

Actually, I checked the lineup and it looks like Kevin Welch isn’t going to be there this year either. You just can’t be everywhere all the time! Kevin is doing a series of supercool songwriting workshops in the beautiful Hill Country. If you attend one, maybe some of his magic will rub off! We have a tune today from him, a preeminent Americana songwriter. It is as much a statement about the hardships of life, as well as it offers the glimmer of release. Let the light shine in this year. This is “The Great Emancipation,” the original of which is on his 2010 album, A Patch Of Blue Sky. We filmed this aboard the Music Fog bus, at Folk Alliance in Memphis, February 2010.

- Jessie Scott

Jack Grace Band "It Was a Really Bad Year"

Not to be negative, but it was a very challenging year. I, for one, will be glad when it is over. I am ready for the times to get better. May your life become more stable if things are up in the air. May you find a job, money, and security. May your house continue to be your house. May your dreams come true, or at least, begin to root and grow strong. May you see a future in what you do. May the economy continue to recover. May it rain where it hasn't, and may it not rain where it has flooded. May we have peace in the world, in our homes, in our lives.

For the last song of the year, Jack Grace sums it up from our 2010 Music Fog Marathon at Threadgill's in Austin, during SXSW® music week. BTW, Jack is readying a cool new album for the new year, but in the meantime, here is "It Was A Really Bad Year." Jack is joined by an all-star band; with Earl Poole Ball on piano, Tom Lewis on drums, playing bass is Daria Grace, and the Mariachi Horns are J Walter Hawkes on trombone, along with Steve Butts on trumpet. You can find the original version of this tune on the Drinking Songs For Lovers CD, out in 2010.

Let's count it down tonight, then onward to 2012...and upward!

- Jessie Scott