Guy Forsyth "She's Crazy Now"

Ah, what to do with just a little bit of free time, but a large desire to get healthier? Well, if you are in Austin on a Tuesday afternoon, it might just be Tai Chi with Guy Forsyth, which happens weekly at Ruta Maya, coffee purveyors of the first order. Their Cubita coffee beans are to die for! Guy’s Tai Chi sessions are sponsored by the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians which helps musicians get the care they need if they don’t have insurance. For the uninitiated, Tai Chi is a martial art therapy to foster health and longevity. It teaches balance, and makes it easier to roll with the highs and lows of life, and to remain in the middle somewhere, both mentally and physically. Oh yeah, everyone is welcome to attend.

Guy Forsyth is a man of many colors, Tai Chi notwithstanding. He is a talented guitarist, singer and songwriter, and has spanned the genres through the years from the theatrical, to the blues, folk, rock, and beyond, all the way to playing the saw. You should hear him deliver “Silent Night” on that thing. It makes you melt. There is news to tell you about, if you have been wanting to get your hands on some of his earlier music. Three albums, Steak, Can You Live Without, and Needlegun, are all available for digital download, thanks to our friends at New West Records. Some mighty fine stuff to tuck into there. There is also a new album on the horizon, which will be out in early September. Music Fog welcomed Guy Forsyth back in front of our cameras during the Spring Marathon in 2010 at Threadgill’s. Here is an unreleased tune from that session "She's Crazy Now."

-Jessie Scott

Dala "Best Day"

What is it in the water and the soil in Canada that is growing such beauties? We have been treated to some incredibly talented folks from north of the border, who ain’t hard to look at either. Dala, the duo of Amanda Walther and Sheila Carabine, just released their fifth studio record, Best Day. They have been building their audience the old fashioned way, person by person, winning them over through albums, performances, and opportunities.

Along the way, they have picked up five Canadian Folk Music Awards. The girls have played all over North America, including some mighty fine festivals: the New Orleans Jazz Fest, Philadelphia Folk Festival, Denver’s Swallow Hill, the Lowell Summer Concert Series, Strawberry Music Fest, Sisters Folk Festival, and the 50th Anniversary of the Newport Folk Festival in 2009. Last summer Dala hosted a PBS special primetime concert which you might have seen, titled Girls From The North Country. Then again, they might be totally new to you, but if they come close this summer, you might think about catching them live.

Sheila Carabine and Amanda Walther have established themselves an rising stars on the popfolk circuit. The new album Best Day, brings forth their lush intertwining harmonies, with accompaniment from piano, guitar, ukulele and minimal drums. Today’s song, the title track, is wistful, beautiful; the kind of thing you could sing to your child every day. Let the sunshine on your face, make it be a “Best Day.”

-Jessie Scott

JP Harris & The Tough Choices "Badly Bent"

Living in Austin, it is hard to stay home. The strains of music seeping out from the clubs beckons to you. The enticement of the Austin Chronicle’s list is such, that it is better not to look at all if you don’t want to wind up out somewhere. And I am trying really hard to not be out all the time. It is counterproductive to having day things to do, and there are plenty of those too! Austin is not the only city where the muses call one’s name. Nashville would be another city with too many choices every evening. One of the more recent musts is Music City Roots on Wednesday nights at the Loveless Barn. It is an outgrowth of the Loveless Café, which first started serving its famous fried chicken and biscuits in 1951 at picnic tables in the front yard. They converted the rooms of the early 1900′s home into a dining room for folks driving on US Highway 100, and the food is well worth the trip, not far from Nashville.

Music City Roots, Live From The Loveless Cafe is a weekly, two-hour event and radio show that brings together different roots styles, from country and Americana and beyond. Today’s video was filmed there, from JP Harris & The Tough Choices, a band on the move. They hit the Northeast in support of their just-released debut album, I'll Keep Calling. They were in Nashville, then headed down to Texas. There are June and July dates in Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Utah and on and on. They'll be back up in the Northeast at the end of July for the Lowell Folk Festival. Whew.

Loving the old school approach here. This is “Badly Bent,” one of the songs you will find on their new album, filmed at Music City Roots a couple of weeks ago.

- Jessie Scott