New Country Rehab "Back In Time"

A long time ago, I wanted to do a documentary on a road that runs from Delaware up to the Canadian border, US-9. I was taken with how the landscape changed along the way, from the interior farmland of Delaware, on a ferry across Delaware Bay from Lewes, DE to Cape May, NJ. Up through the New Jersey beaches into the full blown urban experience of New York. Suburban, then the exurbs and into deep and beautiful countryside, paralleling the Hudson River for a good portion of its 315 mile stretch, but US-9 keeps going. It’s path reaches past the Catskill Mountains, into the Adirondacks, to where the Hudson River officially begins at Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York. But 9 keeps going, ultimately ending in a cul-de-sac near the Canadian border. The story is of the architecture, of the commonality which is pushed at a different pace by the amount of people congregated along its points: New York City, Albany, Lake Placid, Saratoga Springs, to the hamlet of Champlain. In essence, you can take a road like that back in time, to how the land looked, and to how our communities started when we sparsely populated this land.

I think there are a lot of people lately who yearn to go back to more carefree days, to an easier time. I like my music harkening back to then, as the band New Country Rehab presents it. They are taking a trip down from Canada, heading to Old Settlers Music Festival making pit stops for gigs along the way. They start tonight at The Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, and make their way down to Texas and then head back up north. NCR have been gathering rave reviews wherever they go. We had the pleasure of filming them at the Music Fog Fall Marathon last October in Nashville, during Americana Fest. Here are John Showman, James Robertson, Ben Whiteley, and Roman Tome' with the Music Fog recording of an unreleased tune, “Back In Time.”

- Jessie Scott

ORBO & The Longshots "Highway Tears"

My houseguests left on Monday. When you live in Austin, Texas, you always have houseguests during SXSW®. It’s kind of like living in Orlando, where you always have guests that are heading to Disney World®. And I have to say, that there is a certain similarity in that Austin actually becomes a theme park of a sort this time of year. The theme is music. In retrospect, I am sifting through magazines and websites to read the raves on bands I missed, of which there are many. The Dunwells were terrific, Brown Bird wowed them, and JD McPherson was on everyone’s lips as well. Maybe we will see them all on the next Music Fog Marathon! But today we dig one event back, to October’s sessions held during Americana Fest in Nashville, at Marathon Recorders.

ORBO & The Longshots got its start in the year 2000, by singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer Ole Reinert Berg-Olsen aka ORBO. They have six albums under their belt, and won the Norwegian equivalent of the GRAMMY® Award, Spellemannsprisen, for their 2008 album High Roller. Ten years of endless touring means this band has learned their craft the hard way---on the road. In fact they will celebrate their one-thousandth live show this year. ORBO & The Longshots have recorded their albums all over the world, from the mountains of Norway, to the legendary Sun Studio in Memphis, TN. Their new album Prairie Sun was recorded at Prairie Sun Studios in Cotati, California, and features special guests Delbert McClinton, Fats Kaplin, and John Jorgenson. We bring you a tune today as yet unreleased in the States, which we recorded during our October Music Fog Marathon, “Highway Tears.”

- Jessie Scott

Will Hoge "Trying to Be a Man"

This music biz is such a mixed up ball of confusion. Most people think things are as they always have been. Those of us entrenched on the front lines are so aware of how hard it now is to MAKE it, especially in the way that you could a couple of decades ago. Truth is, it is like grass growing through the concrete, to get awareness from the masses these days. It is hard, but not totally impossible. And that brass ring, which used to be platinum or gold...today’s ring IS made of brass, or even aluminum foil!

So when an artist is lucky enough to get a cover of one of his songs by a band that has more notoriety, let it be. I find it so funny the debate that is raging on in the YouTube comments with Will Hoge’s “Even If It Breaks Your Heart” being covered by the Eli Young Band, which we filmed backstage at The 8x10 in Baltimore a couple of years ago. Everything helps. And in the case of Mr. Hoge, anything that gets his name out there sooner is just dandy in my book. We were once again blown away by his talent, his range, and his sincerity, when he came to play for us during our Fall Music Fog Marathon in Nashville this past October. Here's the Music Fog version of ”Trying To Be A Man,” a song from Will Hoge's latest album, Number Seven.

- Jessie Scott