Midnight River Choir "Soul Food"

Bands are getting their gear ripped off, and it has been happening with too much regularity these days. What it is about vans and trailers that screams expensive stuff to thieves? And how incredible that it is musicians getting taken advantage of, who can’t afford to lose their gear because they can’t afford to replace what was stolen. At least, now we have a network of like-minded folks on Twitter and Facebook that can get the word out. Not that solves anything per se. You have to wonder what kind of desperation would yield this behavior, but I sure can attest the desperation it causes among musicians. It’s their livelihood, after all, and the bond between musician and axe is the stuff of legend.

The Midnight River Choir are suffering the loss of their equipment. A week ago Sunday they held an “Up Shit Creek Without A Paddle,” to raise money to replace it all. If you can, please donate here. The song we bring you today is from our Spring Music Fog Marathon, in March at Threadgill’s WHQ. It is one of the songs you’ll find on MRC’s Welcome To Delirium? CD. Here are Mitchell Pyeatt on drums, Bobby Drivel III on bass, Justin Nelson on lead guitar, and Eric Middleton on lead vocals with the Music Fog recording of “Soul Food.” 

- Jessie Scott

Shel "The Battle of Evermore"

Finally the lights are coming back on in Louisiana. The floods waters in Plaquemines Parish are starting to wane in the aftermath of Hurricane Isaac. Questions will undoubtedly be raised as to whether the flooding was due to the improvements made to New Orleans infrastructure. People are in need of help, and as we have posted in the past, the American Red Cross is accepting donations, so help if you can. Some folks experienced huge disruptions; houses are gone and lives will never be the same.

It is hard to reconcile the effects of weather patterns on the world, from heat waves leading to barren fields to massive storms with untold destruction. SHEL sings to the eternal forces of good and evil on their cover of the Zep tune "The Battle of Evermore." It is the only song the four sisters didn't write on the newly released self-titled debut album. BTW, the band's name is an acronym for their first names, Sarah, Hannah, Eva and Liza. SHEL was recorded in their home studio in Ft. Collins, CO and at The Blue Room in Nashville with Grammy-winner Brent Maher. No guitars were used in the recording this album. Amazing, huh.

- Jessie Scott

The Waco Brothers "Plenty Tough Union Made"

Today is Labor Day, a day for us to salute the huge contributions that workers, and yes, labor unions, have made in the United States. We are at our best when we band together, with all hands on deck to create things great and small. Collaborative effort makes for peaceful relations. It channels energy to build a future that everyone can benefit from. I love Woody Guthrie’s take on it, “Talking union is the best kind of talking you can do, union in your house, union in your street, union in your town, and union around the world.” Of course, Woody had witnessed exploitation by bosses, and promoted workers organizing to get their fair share. It is unfortunate that the concept of ‘union’ has gotten so twisted. We are in it together to make a better world.

Jon Langford is a rather outspoken proponent of the working class, in that long tradition of musicians that have opined on such things. There is a cool slide show of political operative musicians here. Jon came out of the politically rife British punk era, and now resides in Chicago, where he is a multi-media sensation. Art, theater, radio, music. One of his on-going projects, of course is The Waco Brothers. BTW, they have a new album out with Paul Burch called Great Chicago Fire. From last year’s Spring Music Fog Marathon at Threadgill’s WHQ, here is the Music Fog recording of “Plenty Tough Union Made,” from the Waco Brothers, with one of the tunes found on the To The Last Dead Cowboy from 1995.

- Jessie Scott