Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit "Alabama Pines"

The Americana Music Association's nominations for this year's Honors & Awards will be announced this Thursday at the GRAMMY® Museum's Clive Davis Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. Jim Lauderdale will host, and actor John C. Reilly will unveil the list, and then Buddy Miller and The Americana Allstars; Don Was, Greg Leisz, and Don Heffington, will be the backup band for performances by Robert Ellis, Shelby Lynne, and Lucinda Williams. You can watch the nomination ceremony online at The Americana Music Association's Facebook page. Of course, don't forget this year's Americana Fest will take place from September 12-15, 2012 in Nashville, TN, and the Americana Honors & Awards Show returns to the historic Ryman Auditorium on September 12th. Americana Music Festival and Conference Registrations are now available at Early Bird rates through their online store.

Of course, we wish everyone who is eligible 'Bon Chance!' The nominees are unknowable for the moment, but we wonder if Jason Isbell will be on that list. His Here We Rest album solidifies his footprint as a major talent, and his shows with the 400 Unit at places like MusicFest at Steamboat, Cherokee Creek and Luckenbach have made legions of new fans. Jason is playing an intimate solo show tomorrow night at The Mansion On O Street in Washington, DC, and tickets are available in advance only, not at the door. Today, we bring you one of the fine tunes from that album, here's “Alabama Pines.”

- Jessie Scott

Ange Boxall "Fool For Now"

You may think this is crazy talk. I am not sure I quite believe it, but I have spent most of my adult life in radio stations, and I evidently have been absorbing the negative ions that abound there. I was complaining recently that my touch screen phone was ignoring my touch, when someone told me it was because I had spent so much time near radio waves. I have no earthly idea whether any of that is true, but doing some research I guess that is not a bad thing. It appears that negative ions are good for one’s health. And of course being under a waterfall is one of the most energizing experiences ever, and that is smack dab in the cradle of the negative ionization epicenter. But then so is the shower in your house (ahhh!!) Here is WebMD’s take on it. I really don’t know whether radio stations emit these molecules, but it would explain why I have been so happy to sit in a room for 40 years, basically talking into a microphone with no one in sight on the receiving end of that monologue. Sitting in a room talking to yourself…hmm that sounds a little odd. It IS a little odd for that matter.

I am always baffled by the songs that tie the concepts of love and foolishness together. This makes as much sense to me as negative ionization does. If it doesn’t feel good why do it? If you are heading for the rocks, why prolong the agony? My inability to process all this stuff may just be the reason why I am not dating, and honestly, I don’t mind that at all either. Don’t get me wrong, it is great to listen to songs about being love struck. I remember, vaguely, all that love stuff. Tasmanian songstress Ange Boxall played a song for us during our Americana Fest on October in Nashville called “Fool For Now.” I guess you put up with it for a little while, if the sex is good…right? Anyway, here is Ange with Tom Mason on guitar and Bones Hillman on bass, with a song found on her 2011 album, Writing Letters. Here is the Music Fog version, filmed at Marathon Recorders.

-Jessie Scott

Frontier Ruckus "Nerves Of The Nightmind"

I know that I have written this before, but it bears repeating; there is a whole new crop of twenty-something’s who are emerging. They might just have cut their teeth in an environment that included the stripped down sonics of the landmark album Oh Brother Where Art Thou? It set T Bone Burnett on an amazing path for this last decade exploring roots sounds. And I attribute this new wave to these flavors, these instruments, percolating through their formative years. I think that album marked a watershed event, and that things changed after that.

There is an explosion of young bands with great taste and unique personalities. We got introduced to Frontier Ruckus originally in Baltimore when Music Fog was new, at Andy Rubin’s eclectic book and objets d’art shop, Cyclops Baltimore. They hail from Michigan. There is yearning in the wind of their music, there is a stoicism, a questioning. Yet Frontier Ruckus’ website is poetic and quirky. They are hard at work on a new album, which is slated for release next month called Eternity of Dimming. There is a tour forthcoming as well that starts in mid-March. They weave a spell, that is for sure. We filmed them during last year’s Music Fog marathon during Americana Fest in Nashville. The track we bring you today can be found on Deadmalls & Nightfalls. This is the Music Fog version of “Nerves Of The Nightmind.”

-Jessie Scott