Bottle Rockets "Gravity Fails"

A friend of mine turned 30 yesterday. I hope it wasn’t traumatic for him. It is, after all, just a number. I figure so long as you are living and learning you are doing just fine, through the hills and valleys, with the highs and lows, for the good times and the bad. It ain’t easy, never let it lull you into thinking it is. But there are little successes along the way that spur you along. We are anxiously awaiting next week. I call us Music Foggers "adrenaline junkies," because we thrive on the over the top requirements of doing our Marathons. Little sleep, hurried food, and yet, we live in the grace of the ‘Music Fog’ – that pure place where you are in present time, letting the sounds wash over you.

Thinking back on last year’s Fall Music Fog Marathon at Marathon Recorders in Nashville during Americana Fest in October, we were honored to have The Bottle Rockets perform for our cameras. I have loved this band for a decade and a half. They simply nail the human condition. They get the guy next door, that’s who they are. From their early albums, The Brooklyn Side and 24 Hours a Day, which were produced by Eric “Roscoe” Ambel; to the most recent, Lean Forward, which saw them reuniting with Roscoe, the themes have been constant, probative, even poetic. How ‘bout one about lost love today from Brian Henneman, Mark Ortmann, John Horton, and Keith Voegele. “Gravity Fails,” acoustic style. PS: The BRox will be at Old Settler’s Music Festival next month outside Austin. 

- Jessie Scott

The Trishas "Dusty Shoes"

A week ago, on March 1st in Austin, Texas, it felt like someone cued Spring to arrive. There was a quickening of excitement, an whiff of ‘anything is possible’ on the breeze, the tantalizing realization that spring is coming. It feels like more people are out on the streets and in the clubs and restaurants. Music season is in! And next week is SXSW! The Music Fog Marathon is almost upon us! Tuesday night wound up inadvertently having a family kind of theme. Bukka Allen, son of Terry Allen, and Bukka's amazing wife, Sally Allen, came to play the School Night Sessions at Threadgill's. Wow what a show; deep, rich, and earthy, with orchestral overlays of violin from Richard Bowden, Brian Standefer on cello and Will Sexton on guitar, and Bukka on keyboards. I shot over to the Saxon Pub after that for an in-the-round set from Gary Nicholson and his son Luke, and Kevin Welch and his son Dustin. Gorgeous, heartfelt, savor the moment special.

Today we are bringing you a video from The Trishas; Savannah Welch, Kevin’s daughter, Kelley Mickwee, Liz Foster, and Jamie Wilson. Winter was a momentous season, as Savannah became a mom, and Kelley got married. The Trishas are ready to hit it the road again with tour dates just being announced. They will play KHYI Texas Music Revolution on Saturday. We bring you a tune we recorded last year during our Spring Music Fog Marathon at Threadgill’s. “Dusty Shoes,” with Trisha Keefer on fiddle (she got married too!) and John Ross Silva.

- Jessie Scott

Robert Ellis "Comin' Home"

You know that old saying about seeing the same people on the way up as you do on the way down? I am not implying any particular movement in a northerly or southerly direction, though, I look at the winding road more like the Donovan song “… Happiness runs in a circular motion.” I love life’s coincidences, especially when you start talking to someone, and you realize that your paths have crossed. Sometimes it is hard to put your finger on where and when. You scour the corners of your brain for the answers. I got to talk to Andrew Colvin about a week ago, and so it was with him. When last I made contact with him, he was at a label called Rubric Records and I was at XM. I would be hard pressed to be able to tell you what artist we discussed way back then. But it was my pleasure to catch up with him on the phone. They say the business is not what it used to be, and I’d have to say that is true. But even if it was, you would still want Andrew on your team if you were seeking the brass ring in the music business. He is an agent at Ground Control, and they do a GREAT job of booking their artists.

Take Robert Ellis, for example. Robert has it all, the looks, the voice, the talent, the band. And boy, has he been on the road doing some awesome tours: with George Jones, Jamey Johnson, the Old 97s, Dawes, and now with the Drive By Truckers.  It is a staggeringly awesome list, and the really cool thing about it, is that for as different as those artists are, I can see each of those audiences “getting” Robert Ellis. That is quite a feather in Robert’s hat. One of these days, we will do a session with the whole band, I promise you that. We have a solo performance today filmed during Americana Fest in October in Nashville, “Comin’ Home.”

- Jessie Scott