Bearfoot "Midnight In Montana"

The Big Sky Songwriter’s Festival is underway this week at Big Sky Resort, and I am sure it has been a great and very productive time. It wraps this evening with a performance at Whiskey Jack’s starting at 5pm featuring Dustin Welch, Walt Wilkins, Kevin Welch, and Jon Pousette-Dart. The good news is there are tickets available if you happen to be in the neighborhood. As this is the inaugural year for the Songwriter’s Festival, put it on your calendar for next year, same time, same place.

Bearfoot is our band today, with a video called “Midnight In Montana.” They are on their way to the Americana Festival in Nashville next month. Now of course, if Music Fog was in attendance, you KNOW we would be asking them to appear in front of our cameras. We don’t charge the artists for our Music Fog Marathon’s, and we don’t charge you to watch our videos either. We are here to aid in music discovery. Which is the reason why we are doing another Kickstarter campaign to raise the necessary funds to get ourselves to Nashville to set up. We would love your help, both by pledging, and by sharing the link with your roots music loving friends. We sure would appreciate the opportunity to film another huge gaggle of artists. Time is running out, though, as the deadline for hitting our goal is Friday night.

Back to Bearfoot, the post-bluegrass outfit headquartered in Nashville. This song is from their American Story album which came out last year. They play Fairbanks, Alaska tonight, and are back in the South in September. Here comes “Midnight in Montana,” watch out, this is a fun video!

-Jessie Scott

Joy Kills Sorrow "Reservations"

It is a wonderful thing indeed, this communication that we humans do. Sometimes there are unspoken signals that you can pick up on, maybe not totally clear in your mind, but come away with that feeling that there is an underlying message that was indeed received. Without saying anything. Love that! Ah but sometimes it goes awry, sometimes the signals aren’t received or they are, and they are unwelcome. And just sometimes, there is just something that doesn’t feel right…reservations.

That’s today’s song “Reservations,” from the virtuoso Boston outfit Joy Kills Sorrow, who came to play for us during SXSW this past March. Music Fog was able to do a successful Kickstarter campaign to raise money to attend and webcast live from Threadgill’s WHQ for that event. Unfortunately, so far, this new Kickstarter campaign just isn’t working to raise the necessary funds to get us to Nashville for Americana Fest in September. We are sorry to come back to you, Dear Audience, for your support, by yourself, or for your company. The days are waning to contribute, and if we don’t make goal by our deadline, August 24, we won’t be attending to capture more amazing videos. Your pledge can be as little as $5. What is that, a McMeal? If you love our videos, we would sure appreciate your pledge.

So here you go, from Joy Kills Sorrow with the Music Fog version of “Reservations.” Emma Beaton – vocals, Bridget Kearney – bass,  Jacob Jolliff – mandolin, Wesley Corbett – banjo, and Matthew Arcara – guitar. The song is originally found on their This Unknown Science album. The band is doing a California run this week, so catch them if you can.

-Jessie Scott

Gary Nicholson "Listen To Willie"

The first time I got to hang with Willie Nelson was when the Teatro album came out. I traveled to Boulder, CO to accompany Emmylou Harris, Willie’s designated hitter for back-up vocals on that album. It was for a performance at a music industry event, The AAA Summit, held in August ever year. We stopped at legendary radio station KBCO for an in-studio. I chatted with Willie for a few minutes afterwards, and his eyes told me the story. There is such quiet strength and peace in them. The constant demands through the decades must be really hard to reconcile though, folks tugging on him - that just keep coming all the time. Somehow, Willie is his own vortex of calm. I have had many visits with him in the years since then, and I am always in awe of the aura that surrounds him. It is a gentle magnetic force that Carlos Castaneda might have crafted. Powerful stuff.

Willie just keeps on, a Texas gift, and a national treasure. Today we bring you a video homage from another Texas treasure, Gary Nicholson. You know his songs, even if you don’t know his name. We brought you his version of “Fallin’ & Flyin” a while ago on the Music Fog pages. That was one of the featured songs on the Crazy Heart soundtrack, a co-write with the late Stephen Bruton, delivered in the film by Jeff Bridges. Gary has written for too many folks to mention, plays guitar for even more, and has produced albums you know and love. His credits are here.

Clever devil that he is, there is a song on his most recent album Texas Songbook, saluting the words of Willie Nelson, "Listen To Willie." It starts by citing "Bloody Mary Morning," then references "The Party's Over," "Hello Walls," "Night Life," "Crazy," "On The Road Again" and "Me And Paul." Here is Gary Nicholson from last year’s Fall Music Fog Marathon from Marathon Recorders in Nashville during Americana Fest.

-Jessie Scott