Ponderosa "Heather"

Every year 'round about this time, I wonder where the summer went. Well, except for this year. Today and tomorrow it will be upwards of 110 degrees in Austin! However, I am forlorn as I contemplate the coming hallmarks of fall, the kids back in school, summer vacations are winding down. And once again this year, I didn’t make it out to Steamboat Springs, Colorado for the biking and hiking and boating in the glorious mountain air. Soon enough the snow will fly and the ground will be covered in a blanket of white. Not long thereafter, the holidays will come, and the new year of 2012 will start with The MusicFest at Steamboat. Here is a head’s up, Tickets Go On Sale Today! Reservations open up at 9am Central Daylight Time.

But now that I have given short shrift to the rest of 2011, allow me to dial it back. Several years ago, I attended an industry music convention in Lake Tahoe. One day, a gaggle of us girls took off to the Ponderosa Ranch, yes the home of the Bonanza TV dynasty. We toured the set, and then we went for a horseback ride though the trails in the mountains. It was a delicious afternoon. And having that memory, every time I see this band’s name, I think back on that moment. Ponderosa. The band’s music takes me other places, too. Through the south, Memphis, Muscle Shoals, down the Mississippi and through the red dirt to Georgia. They bring the Southern Rock back to a new generation. And I like it.

We have an as yet unreleased track for you today called “Heather,” that we recorded during our Music Fog Marathon at Threadgill’s this past spring, a suitable tune for these sultry days. And here are the tour dates to catch Ponderosa live in the American South.

- Jessie Scott

The Trishas "Why"

I want to take a look back at The Trishas, who were founded at the same time as Music Fog was. It was a shiny new year, in 2009, and we were all in the snow at Steamboat, happy to be toasting to a new beginning. There was a flurry of excitement when the girls stepped out to perform that first time. Since then, they have graced stages everywhere and have been the opening act for some heavy hitters. During Ray Wylie Hubbard’s Grit N’ Groove in April, they sang back up for Joe Walsh. The Trishas are headlining tonight in Dallas, and they play with Joe Ely at Floore’s Country Store on Friday. They take to the road, heading West a bit, and then east to destinations in the South.

One thing is for sure, they wow audiences wherever they go. Paul Thorn watched them from the soundboard at Antone’s several months back, and said, “I’m going to be opening for them one day.” The Trishas bring power and grace in their harmonies. It is a wonder to watch how they weave their four distinct personalities and voices into such a cohesive force. It is so effortless that they seem to float. They make you float while watching, which might be the best part. This is cathartic, emotional, transcendent. We Music Foggers feel honored to continue to be their unofficial videographers. We captured this performance at MusicFest in Steamboat Springs, in the Grand Hotel in January. It is another unreleased tune called “Why.”

-Jessie Scott