Morgan O'kane "Hold Your Fire"

There are some folks you just want to succeed. You pray for them, wish them the best, hope they get there. I wanna see Morgan O'kane on the late night telly, on SNL, on Letterman, on Craig, on Kimmel. I want him to get the opening slot for a Bruce Springsteen tour. I want Bruce's audience to see him, heck - I want Bruce to see him, because Bruce would GET Morgan. In my head, I can hear them doing "O Mary Don't You Weep" together. I want O'kane to wow the crowd at Bonnaroo, Wakarusa, Gathering of The Vibes, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, ACL Fest, etc.

Morgan O'kane is the bluegrass/punk banjo player from Charlottesville, VA now living in NYC (wow, what is this, an epidemic???!!!! NEW YORK CITY!) who came to our bus at Folk Alliance in February with Ferd Moyse (Hackensaw Boys) on fiddle and Zeke Healy on dobro. He, at times, is also accompanied by singer/songwriters Domino Kirke, Zack Orion, cellist Ben Sollee, and by "ninja" Phillip Roebuck.

Morgan’s first full length release Nine Lives is coming upon an unsuspecting public at last, and some cool stuff is happening for him. He is presently #4 on the Reverb Nation Folk Chart. He will be touring, which will include an appearance on the Woodsongs Old-Time Radio Hour with Michael Jonathon at the historic Kentucky Theatre, 214 Main St, Lexington, KY being taped on May 17th. We will keep you posted as more cool stuff unfolds!

- Jessie Scott

Bill Jackson with Pete Fidler "Bring 'Em On Home"

Every day as I post articles here, I contemplate the reach of Americana music. It kind of blows me away when we talk states and regions, as day after day Music Fog brings you something from another place. Very gratifying, actually! All over the United States, to Mexico to Canada…but these are all North American locales, so calling it Americana doesn't seem like a misnomer. But when we talk about music off this continent, Australia...now that's the other side of the earth, isn't it? But in the relentless march of the British Empire there were many outposts, and the same seeds of culture were planted here and there, so really why not? I honestly don't know whether the term Americana is embraced down under, but since Bill Jackson uses it to define his music on MySpace, I'll take that as a yes. And Americana is a large tent for all the various roots music. Folk on Steroids, you might call it.

The enigmatic Mary Sack introduced us to Bill, who brought Pete Fidler to the bus with him. They play as Bill Jackson and The Acoustic Orchestra along with Ruth Hazelton, who didn't make the trip to Memphis. Bill has been called a storyteller/social commentator. He is an original member of the Melbourne collective, Urban Nomads. His most recent CD Steel + Bone won the Radio Presenters 2008 Album Of The Year from The Australian Folk Alliance.

I interviewed Billy Bragg a decade ago, and asked what the difference was between folk and pop music. He answered in essence that one is eternal while the other is disposable. It comes from the great troubadour tradition, exploring the commonality of life, lore handed down, community, mores, life conditions. War, unfortunately, is one of those. I suspect there have been protest songs from time immemorial. This song, "Bring 'Em On Home," is from the aforementioned CD.  Protest music is alive and well.

- Jessie Scott

Here's a Sandwich for the Road

Happy Mother's Day from all us MF-ers! Hope you get to share it with someone you love no matter what generation you are part of, either in person or by phone, Skype, text, Facebook, whatever.

So much to tell! Of course, the Music Fog guys were recently on the road with Paul Thorn and the band, and they had a blast together, shooting some video that will accompany the release of Paul's new CD Pimps and Preachers, coming out on June 22nd. What, you are not yet familiar with Paul? There are new people finding him every day. This is a descriptor from his bio: "At turns soulful, raw, melancholy, brazen, funky, circumspect, serene, brooding, and mutinous, the voice expresses the range of human emotions, from forlorn grimness to incandescent optimism." Eric Alterman of The Nation wrote a blog about Paul after seeing him for the first time this week in NYC. He writes, "I see from his website that Kris Kistofferson calls him 'the best kept secret in the music business.' Sounds overstated, but I don’t think I’m going to protest."

We can't wait to catch up with Paul again, and we will, as the Fog rolls again this coming weekend to the Cherokee Creek Music Festival in Texas, with The Paul Thorn Band headlining on Saturday, 5/15. Lots of other folks coming to play the two day event, too: Jimmy LaFave, Jude Johnstone, David Jacobs Strain, Griffin House, Robert Earl Keen, subdudes, Delbert McClinton, John Fullbright, Kevin Welch, Sam Baker, and Bob Schneider, though not in that order! Cool Cool Cool!

We filmed one of Paul's songs from the forthcoming CD in Memphis back in February, on the Music Fog bus. It is all things his Mom has said through the years, so we figured what better way to celebrate Mother's Day than by bringing you this video again. And I still can't watch it without tears of gratitude rolling down my cheek. Thanks, Mom. And thanks to Moms everywhere. "That's Life." Kisses.

- Jessie Scott