Whitey Johnson "Memphis Women and Fried Chicken"

What a week it has been! I love the close in accessibility of Austin Bergstrom Airport! Flying out to Nashville, the airport was full of friends, all of whom were coming to the Americana Conference too. Sunny Sweeney, Hayes Carll, and John Evans were some of the folks I ran into who were departing Austin, and then I ran into Suzanna Choffel just landing from NY for a Texas run of dates. She’ll be at Threadgill’s later this week. The camaraderie started with the flight, and then tumbled into the week’s event, music, food, panels. It is so good to charge one’s batteries being with the music community. I will have another post about all the showcases and some highlights, but here was an early one.

I tried to keep it fairly low key for day one of Americana Fest, but managed to run into Sean McConnell who was recording at RCA Studio A, and then ran into Patterson Barrett, Tim Easton, Amy Speace, Anna Egge, Doug and Telisha Williams at the Five Spot. I capped the night off with Gary Nicholson doing his Whitey Johnson blues set at Bourbon Street in Printers Alley, with stellar players joining him on stage including Reese Wynans and Colin Linden, a great band totally in the moment. Here is a taste of the Whitey Johnson magic, with one of my favorite songs, “Memphis Women and Fried Chicken.”

-Jessie Scott

Will Kimbrough "Hill Country Girl"

Wednesday night I was honored to broadcast the Americana Honors & Awards Show from the booth at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Under the auspices of Linda Fahey at Folk Alley, Ann Powers and I teamed up once again to bear witness to an historic night of music. The winners list only tells the half of it. Jason Isbell won Song Of The Year for the fabulous "Alabama Pines," Artist of the year was Gillian Welch, and Instrumentalist Of The Year went to her partner Dave Rawlings. Alabama Shakes picked up the New & Emerging Artist Of The Year. Group or Duo Of The Year was awarded to The Civil Wars, and Album Of The Year went to Tamara Saviano and Shawn Camp and Guy Clark, for "This One's For Him," A Tribute to Guy Clark. The Lifetime Achievement Awards went to Bonnie Raitt, Richard Thompson, Booker T. Jones and Dennis Lord from SESAC, one of us folks who banded together to form the Americana Music Association thirteen years ago.

There were stellar moments and tears of joy, there were spectacular performances, and if you missed the show, you can hear the archive on folkalley.com or npr.org. It is always a blast when the tribe gets back together to celebrate the music we love at Americana Fest. It is random who you run into, and I haven't seen him yet, but I just checked Will Kimbrough's tour schedule and he might just be around Nashville this week. I am using this video as a spell to summon him. It is the haunting "Hill Country Girl," filmed during MusicFest At Steamboat Springs 2011. This one will dig down deep.

-Jessie Scott

Guy Forsyth "Old Time Man"

Well I am back in Nashville. It is Americana Fest time, and though I miss the Foggers being with me on the road, it is great to see everyone in this music community again. And don’t forget, tonight, I get to revisit hallowed ground, the mother church of country music, The Ryman Auditorium. Yes, tonight is the Americana Honors and Awards, and even if you are not attending the event, or even in Nashville for that matter, you can listen in. I will be in the booth along with NPR’s Ann Powers, and we will anchor the Folk Alley audio stream from tonight’s show. Join us at folkalley.com, or NPR.org  at 8pm ET, 7pm Ct…as they say, see you on the radio!

Yesterday was a momentous one for Guy Forsyth, as his album Freedom To Fail came out. This has been in the works for a while, as Guy conceptualized this as lessons about life to his young daughter Mary Mae. Guy has been mulling things over as only he can do. If you ever have the opportunity to chat to him, I so recommend it. Talk books, or music, or philosophy or religion or politics. It is all interesting, all informative, and all delivered passionately. As is his songwriting and playing. Music Fog takes you back to our Spring Marathon at Threadgill’s in 2011. He played one of the songs that would surface on this new record. Here’s Guy Forsyth solo with a positioning statement about himself, “Old Time Man.”

-Jessie Scott