Griffin House "River City Lights"

Grifffin House is blessed with movie star good looks, not as a pretty boy though, but rugged, stoic. He would be believable playing a scene against Sean Penn. In the April issue of Esquire, there was that totally cool layout in which he was featured with four other artists: Dierks Bentley, Bob Schneider, Ben Kweller, and Charlie Mars. Good company, and they all were asked to pen a song with the line "Somewhere In Mississippi." The tunes they wrote couldn't have been more different from one another. The exercise was in preparation for the shoot, which took place at the Crossroads - you know, where Robert Johnson was said to have made his deal with the devil. When Denise and I were staying at the Shack Up Inn in Clarksdale this past February, we were told that there was no way to know at which crossroads that actually happened, that the railroad tracks cross Highway 61 in four or five places. Not to quibble, though. The Delta is rich with ghosts and their hushed voices.

We met up with Griffin at the Cherokee Creek Music Festival last month, and I was struck by his serenity and his voice, which to my ear is reminiscent of Tim Hardin, as his high notes hang gently in the air. His new one, The Learner comes out today. You can stream it by clicking here. And if you are in Nashville this Friday, you can see Griffin House up close and personal at the West End Borders Books & Music.

Here's one of the songs from the new CD, filmed aboard the Music Fog bus, it's "River City Lights." If you like this one, be sure to circle back and watch our version of "Rule the World," too!

- Jessie Scott

Dustin Welch "St. Lucy's Eyes"

Dustin Welch is cooking, conjuring and conceptualizing again. In addition to always moving the ball down the field, too. You just can't pin him down. His music is meant to be configured differently all the time, he is always changing it up in mercurial fashion, interested by different flavors, taking his cue from what the particular song is telling him. There is new music on the horizon from him, packaged imaginatively, beautifully, simply, in a brown paper bag. He is also involved in a new project playing around Austin, the group SAMHILL that you will be hearing about and from. And on June 10th, Dustin is heading up to the Steel Bridge Song Fest in Sturgeon Bay, WI. Ack! I just remembered I promised to be his wheelman for that! ROAD TRIP!

We Music Foggers got to hang out with Dustin again at the Cherokee Creek Music Festival, as he was accompanying his dad, Kevin Welch, on stage. We grabbed him for a solo session on the bus and he ended with this song, written with Micky Braun, about Saint Lucy, the patron saint of those who are blind. "St. Lucy's Eyes."

- Jessie Scott

John Fullbright "All the Time In the World"

It was Saturday night, the last night of Cherokee Creek Music Festival , and we were sitting in the back lounge of the bus. We had been working on the videos we were about to put up on the Music Fog site, getting ahead for the guys to take the long drive back to DC. Earlier, Denise and I had gone to the after party, where Paul Thorn was singing Sam Cook's "Bring It On Home To Me" with Stonehoney and friends backing him. It was about 4am and we were about to call it a night when we heard a rustling sound outside the window of the bus. Then a plastic Jesus appeared against the darkness on the window sill. Beans asked in his gruffest voice "Who's there?" and a tiny one came back, "Jesus. Can I come up?" And John Fullbright, with his pocket Jesus, came aboard. He asked for a guitar, and wanted to sing for us, there in the quietude of the wee hours, in the still of the Cherokee, TX night. Can you imagine? But we had no guitar, and so an impromptu jam session was not to be. (Dang!) But the good news is that we had already recorded him earlier! So we used the time to engage in deep conversation and song writing stylings.

A word about John Fullbright. His music is a calling, rooted deep in his soul. He walks the path tentatively, scarcely believing that he is on it. I can't wait to see him get discovered by the world. His is a voice of the common man. Asking questions his town mate, Woody Guthrie, might have also asked. John is from Okemah, OK, too. Looking at him, well, if truth be told, he doesn't even look like he is old enough to know about any of this stuff. But don't let that fool you...he knows it well. His voice is a revelation. His playing is eye opening on every instrument that he touches; guitar, harmonica, piano and accordion. I can't wait for his album to come out, produced by Kevin Welch!

John slept on our bus the last night of Cherokee Creek Music Festival. In the morning he woke up and came to me with concern that he had lost Jesus. I told him Jesus was still in his bed, which He was. So John found Jesus again. And John, you are welcome anytime---we'll save you a bunk.

- Jessie Scott