John Fullbright with Jimmy LaFave "Moving"

We were so blessed in Memphis this past February. In my mind, there is always a hit list...not in a bad way, but a list of people I want to bring to you. Since I got to Austin, I kept hearing these words, with everyone running around saying, "John Fullbright...how does he write beyond his years, how does he sing so artfully and easily?" He is on so many people's lips. And it is all true. He is light years ahead of himself. He played in Mike McClure's band for a year in his home state Oklahoma. He has the ringing endorsement of many great musicians including fellow Oklahomans Jimmy Webb, Tom Skinner, Jimmy Lafave and Kevin Welch, who takes him into the studio this summer to produce his first studio album.

John plays guitar, harmonica, piano and accordion, sings in a cool, calm, seductively simple manner. He does have one CD out already, Live At The Blue Door, recorded just prior to the 2009 Folk Alliance conference in Memphis, produced by Oklahoma singer/songwriter and producer Travis Linville. It features Fullbright's handiwork, having written all the songs but one, a stellar version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah." He came up on the bus with Jimmy Lafave, and he left too soon, as he had a gig to go to, so I think a rematch might be in order soon! In the meantime, see what I mean...

-Jessie Scott

Pieta Brown "Faller"

There is a hush that descends around Pieta Brown, kind of like she is walking in a cloud, untouchable. Now that may be the way this visit to the Music Fog bus was set up, with a warning not to delve into her life. For the record, she is Greg Brown's daughter, and she is married to Bo Ramsey. There I said it, not that you wouldn't have known it anyway. Then, I didn't hang around for the session with her as I had somewhere to be that I no longer remember, so I left with no questions being asked. I am sure it must be tough, to have everyone constantly asking you about the same things. For us, it is always about the music in any case.

Pieta Brown calls her music Prairie Stomp. I like that. She came in, got ensconced into the bus vibe, and we went from there. Her new CD came out last Tuesday, and it's being hailed for its blending of sophistication and earthiness. It is called One and All, and it is on Red House Records. She actually grew up in the red house for which the label is named, before going on an odyssey from the west coast to the east. We're happy to have had her stop in Memphis! Here's one from the new album.

-Jessie Scott

Ronny Cox "Sanctuary"

There is such a history with this music. From the British Isles troubadour tradition, to the spirited string band stuff, to the Petri dish that was the Appalachian Mountains, to the pressure cooker of the Mississippi Delta. America echoes with the haunting refrain of tunes gone by. And every once in a while you can hear it in the wind, or the hills, or the tides of the ocean. I had that kind of moment when Ronny Cox boarded the bus in Memphis and brought his friends Radoslav Lorkovic and Jack Williams. You could see them in the moonlight around the campfire after driving the cattle, a hard day's night. Earnest faces illuminated by the flicker of flames, finding the notes and the tones, working out the harmonies and the arrangement. And then bliss. Alas, there was no campfire on the Music Fog bus, but I felt the ghosts of Cowboys Past in this song. "Sanctuary." Amen.

-Jessie Scott