Patrick Sweany "More and More"

Nashville has been a busy place lately. Yes, for sure, over the course of the last fifteen years, it has become one of the hottest destination towns in the country. But these last couple of weeks were dizzying. Between last week’s CMA Fest, or being able to launch one’s trip down 1-24 from Nashville to Bonnaroo, and then this week, The Rolling Stones coming to play LP Field, it has been especially center of the universe stuff. I am tickled by how many friends went to see the Stones (wish I could have been there, but the Facebook posting were priceless!) I am beyond thrilled by the fact that my favorite rock and roll band keeps on after all these years. Also that Mick, Keith, Charlie, and Ronnie flew in a day early to attend a tribute evening to Bobby Keys at The Mercy Lounge. Bobby’s band The Suffering Bastards kicked some serious butt.

The night of the Stones show, in another close-in Nashville location, Acme Feed & Seed, Patrick Sweany joined Guthrie Trapp & The Mulekickers on stage. Patrick carries all of the DNA that I love about the early Stones, with homage to R&B, Blues and Rock - the simple stuff; the emotional, the evocative. Patrick is a consummate bluesman who plays with swagger and abandon, and who was just spotlighted in American Songwriter Magazine’s Blues Issue. He is just wrapping up details for his new album, Daytime Turned To Nighttime to be released in September, and has launched an extensive tour of the states from sea to shining sea through the end of this year. Do catch him if he is coming close, and immerse yourself in an evening of live music, just for the fun of it.

Today’s song can be found on Patrick’s 2011 album That Old Southern Drag. We bring you the Music Fog recording of “More and More” filmed during AmericanaFest in Nashville in 2011.

- Jessie Scott

Dale Watson "Jonesin' For Jones"

It has been all over Facebook and the Internets for the last couple of weeks, the #tomatogate controversy at Country Radio. Back in the old days of Top 40 radio in the 60s and 70s, the house rule was you never played two women singers in a row. It was partially because there were so many more male voices, that you were supposed to sprinkle the females in like tomatoes in the lettuce. Unfortunately, the concept is still alive today at country radio. It has been particularly hard for female artists to get radio airplay in these BroCountry days, where indeed ‘the party never ends.” Grab a six pack, your girl in her cut-off jeans, and drive your pickup truck down to the lake. Pretty one dimensional stuff. Country music used to present all the emotions, not just the celebratory. And it is not just women being left out of the mix, any honest to goodness country is absent as well from the rap infused party style that is today’s “country” music.

The pendulum always swings back, though. I wonder if the next wave will be Neo Traditional, with artists like Sam Outlaw, Chris Stapleton, Whitey Morgan & the 78s; Kacey Musgraves, Ashley Monroe, Angaleena Presley, and of course including Sturgill Simpson, Blackberry Smoke, Robert Ellis, and Jason Eady. Wouldn’t it be great if Country Radio played COUNTRY MUSIC again? I don’t even dare mention the roots of this new wave of traditional country, but Dale Watson does. His new album, Call Me Insane, came out on Tuesday, and it is anchored smack dab in the spirit of this long legacy of true country music. Here’s to Johnny, Willie, Waylon, Conway, Loretta, Dolly, Tammy - and let’s raise a glass to George Jones! Music Fog filmed Dale and His Lone Stars at Midtown Live in NYC back in January. Here is “Jonesin’ For Jones.” Yeah we are! Get ‘em Dale!

-Jessie Scott

Billy Burnette "My Love Will Not Change"

I don't know if is it my age or the province of the times we live in, but I find myself saying "I love you" more often to more folks lately. Of course that is influenced by the frequency of people passing who made a huge impact on the culture. And so we said goodbye to BB King last week. His impact on American Music; The Blues, and Rock & Roll is incalculable.

The first time I saw BB King was at The Fillmore East in New York eons ago, and I cherish that I was later able to spend time in the Delta, and to visit his hometown of Indianola. The Mississippi Delta flattens you with its insistent sunshine and relentless expanse. Driving Highway 61 even today makes you understand just how good and just how determined you had to be to rise above it. BB did just that, and then sustained his success with grace for decades.

During our tenure at XM Radio, Music Fogger Jim McBean got to spend hours at BB's house to record him for the Bluesville Channel. Here is BB talking about an experience that informed his behavior for life.

Of course BB made his way from Mississippi to Memphis in 1947. I want to remind you about the book The Mojo Triangle, which frames American music through the geography of the area from Nashville to Memphis to New Orleans.

The seeds were being sown for Rock and Roll. Memphis’ Johnny and Dorsey Burnette would emerge with Paul Burlison as the Rock & Roll Trio, and Dorsey’s son Billy Burnette would carry on the tradition. Music Fog caught up with Billy, accompanied by Kenny Vaughan, Dave Roe, and Jimmy Lester at AmericanaFest 2011 from the studios of Marathon Recorders. I love this song. It is a co-write with Shawn Camp, and appears on two of Billy’s albums, Rock & Roll With It, and Memphis in Manhattan. Here is the Music Fog version of “My Love Will Not Change.”

- Jessie Scott