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

Phantom Blues Band "Boogah Man"

Ack! There is a new syndrome that I just heard about a couple of days ago - phantom buzzing, feeling cellphone vibrations that aren’t there. I know you have felt your pocket, only to realize that your phone isn’t even there, or it is, but it’s not ringing! Now in my unofficial and quite random survey over the last few days, every single person I have talked to said they have experienced this feeling. And everyone was surprised that it was an actual “thing.” You can read all about it here.

All this put me in mind of the Phantom Blues Band, who I saw some five years back in the XM Performance Theater with Taj Mahal. It became an amazing exchange, as the band was playing one of my favorite R&B tunes, The Olympics’ “Big Boy Pete.” I commented to Taj in the green room that I had never heard anyone cover that song, and he started singing it to me and I started doing the “Yeah –Yeah” back, as part of the call and response. It was a moment, for sure. I couldn’t find a PBB video for that tune, but I did find something from them that is quite tasty. This is the first music video from 2012’s Inside Out, the most recent album from the Phantom Blues Band; Tony Braunagel, Mike Finnegan, Larry Fulcher, Darrell Leonard, Johnny Lee Schell, and Joe Sublett with “Boogah Man.”

-Jessie Scott

Grace Askew "Jupe"

A week ago I was in the delta. The flatness stretches for miles, incomprehensibly large. You know I have talked about the book The Mojo Triangle before, but part of the premise for the music coming out of this region, it posits, was because of the unpredictability of the land, the weather, and the trials they faced. That cruelty, whether man’s inhumanity to man, or weather akin to what Isaac brought this week. The music was spurred on by the unpredictability of life. While touring up Highway 61, of course we had music with us, the trusty iPod delivering surprisingly fitting choices: Tim Buckley “Hallucinations,” Robbie Robertson “Somewhere Down The Crazy River,” A3 “Woke Up This Morning, just to name a few.”

A couple of weeks ago, I got an email from Che Johnston, owner of the High Country Rest and Saloon in Chama, NM, (the land of enchantment) suggesting we take a listen to Grace Askew from Memphis, TN. Her family has been there for six generations, but Grace has lots of cross currents running through her music, absorbing vibe from stints in New York and New Orleans. The song "Jupe" is a track off her self-titled Grace Askew & The Black Market Goods album, which was released in May 2011. This video was filmed by LaDonna Marie, shot in, where else...Mississippi.

-Jessie Scott