Tokyo Rosenthal "There Is No Perfect Love"

This past Friday, Music Fog hit the milestone of TEN MILLION views on our YouTube channel. It was just 8 weeks ago that we hit 9 million, which happened on 4/20 -  an apropos date for sure! We believe in bringing you performance videos that shine a light on Americana artists who can really sing and really play their instruments. Unfortunately that is something of a novelty in this age of auto tuning and studio manipulation. We believe that you should be able to search and find good quality versions of songs, not shaky phone videos from half way back in the audience, with audio where half the time you can’t hear the vocals. We thank you, Music Fog tribe, for continuing to visit our sites: on the web, on Facebook, on YouTube, by RSS feed, or by Twitter.

This experiment in music showcasing couldn’t have happened even five years ago. And especially in light of how uninspiring most radio is these days, it is great to be able to go on one’s own hunt for cool music and then share it with friends. We thank you for doing that with our videos, and for making the Americana Revolution a reality on the pages of Music Fog. Of course, nothing is perfect, and as we are at the 3 ½ year mark of the Music Fog era, it is still a mystery to us all that we haven’t found a sponsor to sustain this mission as a full time business for us Foggers. No matter, we continue to do it, and to grow the audience. Will still believe that one day things will change and allow us to give up our day jobs. Someday!

Tokyo Rosenthal has today’s tune, “There Is No Perfect Love,” originally found on his Ghosts album in 2010. He has found truth and beauty with a recent move to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, which has allowed him to team up with the famed producer and musician Chris Stamey from the dB’s. Prior to that, Toke kicked around in Rhode Island, New York, and Los Angeles, with his groups Harpo and Slapshot and Treo Gato, and recording under his own name as well. And let’s face it, we should all have a nickname as cool as Toke! For his Music Fog moment during the Spring Marathon at Threadgill’s WHQ in March, he brought Charlie Chamberlin to accompany him on mando. Here is the Music Fog version of “There Is No Perfect Love.”

-- Jessie Scott

JP Harris & The Tough Choices "Badly Bent"

Living in Austin, it is hard to stay home. The strains of music seeping out from the clubs beckons to you. The enticement of the Austin Chronicle’s list is such, that it is better not to look at all if you don’t want to wind up out somewhere. And I am trying really hard to not be out all the time. It is counterproductive to having day things to do, and there are plenty of those too! Austin is not the only city where the muses call one’s name. Nashville would be another city with too many choices every evening. One of the more recent musts is Music City Roots on Wednesday nights at the Loveless Barn. It is an outgrowth of the Loveless Café, which first started serving its famous fried chicken and biscuits in 1951 at picnic tables in the front yard. They converted the rooms of the early 1900′s home into a dining room for folks driving on US Highway 100, and the food is well worth the trip, not far from Nashville.

Music City Roots, Live From The Loveless Cafe is a weekly, two-hour event and radio show that brings together different roots styles, from country and Americana and beyond. Today’s video was filmed there, from JP Harris & The Tough Choices, a band on the move. They hit the Northeast in support of their just-released debut album, I'll Keep Calling. They were in Nashville, then headed down to Texas. There are June and July dates in Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Utah and on and on. They'll be back up in the Northeast at the end of July for the Lowell Folk Festival. Whew.

Loving the old school approach here. This is “Badly Bent,” one of the songs you will find on their new album, filmed at Music City Roots a couple of weeks ago.

- Jessie Scott

Henry Wagons "The Gambler"

It was another stellar week at Threadgill’s for my School Night Sessions series. On Sunday night, it was a double bill, with Wildflowers – Ashley Monical and HalleyAnna Finlay’s kickass band, then James McMurtry’s son Curtis McMurtry brought the whole band...and that included 4 horns! Monday night it was the folk family; Carrie Elkin, Danny Schmidt, Anthony da Costa, Raina Rose and Andrew Pressman. And then Tuesday night, Adam Carroll and Owen Temple brought great songs, and wonderfully left of center raps. I delight in the diversity, and the quirky stories and songs, so playful and inventive.

Henry Wagons is a quirk specialist. We never quite know what he will do on stage with our props. Last year, when he had the whole band in town for SXSW® 2011, he mounted and RODE our piñata Esteban. This year during our Spring Music Fog Marathon at Threadgill’s, he was solo on stage. All eyes were on him, but we Foggers were nervous. What would he do this time? Our mascot piñata this year, Miguel, was eventually drop kicked off the stage by Henry, though, thankfully, he was still in one piece afterwards. Drama! Acting! Rumble, Shake, And Tumble is the latest Wagons album, and they are on tour in Canada and the US this summer. Do yourself a favor and go see them for a fun evening out. Here is Henry Wagons solo, with the Music Fog recording of “The Gambler,” a tune from The Rise & Fall Of Goodtown.

- Jessie Scott