Gretchen Peters "Five Minutes"

Today, this right here, is exactly what is wrong with today’s country music. The emotional resonance is just up and gone, you know? Everything is too squeaky clean, too packaged and predictable. Not like this song. This covers ground! This takes you from the insignificant to what is really happening with a fine eye for detail, one that makes it possible for all of us to see ourselves.

I was going to write about how fast everything is, then remind you to get your doctor for a check-up, and then I was just swept away by the human drama; regret, sadness and resignation to it all. What a song. And what a performance. Gretchen Peters is an impassioned purveyor of the truth. She is also on tour, glory be! You should go see her if she is in your neck of the woods! This is “Five Minutes,” from Gretchen’s latest album Hello Cruel World, with Barry Walsh on keys.

-Jessie Scott

Mike Farris with John Fullbright "Mercy Now"

What is it they say, that moving is one of the most stressful activities on the earth. And I am still knee deep in the experience of my trek back to New York. Last night, my truck came and as the men were doing the heavy lifting, one thing and one thing only fell out of a box. It was the receipt for the wedding ceremony to my late husband Robert in Los Angeles in 1987. He just might have been welcoming me home!

Everybody could use a little mercy now…the immortal words of Mary Gauthier here, from a session we did with Mike Farris at the Spring Music Fog Marathon at Threadgill’s in March, oh yeah, with John Fullbright sitting in. Can you say lightning in a bottle? Here is “Mercy Now.”

-Jessie Scott

Ray Wylie Hubbard "Red Badge Of Courage

I miss Ray Wylie Hubbard now that I am not in Texas anymore. The opportunities to grab some face time are fewer and further between. Ray always has a way of cutting through the white noise of life, to targeting what is important. And then that is conveyed quietly, gently. Or loudly with some pretty intense growling going on. It’s all good. I saw on Facebook that he will be coming up to NYC to do the Letterman show on January 9th . That will be a treat for all of us. A few years ago after the Texas Independence Day concert at Terminal 5, Ray, Rick Richards, Lucas Hubbard and I went down to Chinatown to my favorite restaurant, Wo Hop at 17 Mott Street. Ya gotta go downstairs to get the good stuff. Ray, consider this an open invitation to head down there again if you have time.

The album The Grifter’s Hymnal was released earlier this year, and we asked Ray to come on by during the Spring Music Fog Marathon at Threadgill’s in March. I love how packed out the room gets when Ray comes to play. You have the chance to see him on Sunday if you can get to the Somervell County 1st Annual Fall Festival at the Texas Amphitheatre in Glen Rose, Texas. Ray and band hit the stage at 9:30pm. Here is the Music Fog recording of one of the songs from the latest album, “Red Badge Of Courage.”

-Jessie Scott