Patterson Barrett "Come Back to Me"

Patterson Barrett is a man about town, that town now being Austin, TX, but past that, he is a man about the country. He has made friends in lots of quarters, and can be spotted on stages all over the place. There is Threadgill's North, for the ongoing Sittin' Singin' and Supper series where he has been jamming with Stonehoney, or just this past week, where he had Gurf Morlix and Slaid Cleaves sit in with him, as he is taking over the stewardship of these shows while Stonehoney is on the road. Then there was the spectacular evening I attended a while back, Patterson had put together a tribute to Gram Parsons outdoors at Threadgill's South. It was a lyrical, 'wrap the music around you' kind of night. Patterson seems to specialize in community building and collaborative effort. It is the thing that makes musicians so attractive to me, that there is a need for union, and a willingness to communicate with one another on that wonderful exploratory level. It has brought him to work with a list that includes Jerry Jeff Walker, Nanci Griffith, Al Kooper and Lou Ann Barton, to name just a few luminaries.

He released his first solo CD in 2007, I Must Be Dreaming: "If you haven't heard of Patterson Barrett you'll wonder why. He's great at everything and he's got a lot of heart. That's what comes through." - Buddy Miller. Or "Hooray! The ever talented Patterson Barrett (longtime friend and mentor) has, at last, got these beautiful songs down for us to hear this "art & heart." - Julie Miller. By the way, Buddy and Julie are each to be found playing on the CD as well!

We invited Patterson on the Music Fog bus in Memphis this past February, and he brought some friends with him, Doc Simons and Julieann Banks. Of course he did!

- Jessie Scott

Patty Larkin "Tango"

We were beside ourselves when we got Patty Larkin to say yes to a Music Fog session. We were over the moon when she showed up and hung with us. Patty Larkin is celebrating her 25th year in the biz with her latest album, yep, 25, a collection of 25 love songs with 25 friends collaborating. That list is a who's who of singer/songwriter cred: Bruce Cockburn, Shawn Colvin, Mary Chapin Carpenter, John Gorka, Greg Brown...the list goes on. Wow, the company she keeps.

Patty comments on 25 from her website: "I recently joked that there is no longer a Music Business, just Music. “25” is a testament to that idea. Maybe it really is true that the more things change, the more they remain the same. Herein lies a career’s worth of love songs. Here are artists I’ve admired and been inspired by, some of whom I’ve known for more than a quarter of a century, who are continuing to create songs of worth and meaning, regardless of the state of the "music industry." Renegades and troubadors, humorists and historians, these are singers who have stopped me in my tracks and made me aware of beauty and passion and joy. I am grateful to each one of them for the grace they have bestowed upon this collection of songs. Each and every one of them is a flower in bloom for me, and together they have restored my spirit and given me hope. 25 years. It can be added, divided, multiplied and subtracted so easily. This music is a thank you to all who have accompanied me on my musical journey since the first record. Something new with which to remember all of the days."

Lucy Kaplansky contributes to the song "Tango" on the album 25, but here is Patty doing it solo on the Music Fog bus while it was parked in Memphis.

- Jessie Scott

Paul Thorn "Pimps and Preachers"

Paul Thorn is working it all. The charm, the sweet Southern drawl, the homespun philosophy about life. The goofy smile and the twinkle in his eyes when he is about to say something that his upbringing wouldn't have allowed in other times. I love the downright intensity of his purpose and path. It's interesting that for as old fashioned as Paul is, the fact is he is cutting-edge embracing the new music business landscape, trying to push through the minefield into becoming a household name. There is now a Paul Thorn iPhone App. He has ringtones. His blog is a hoot, and Paul has been working the fans network on Facebook, where his updates are a slice of his life and are highly recommended reading. If it were only 20 years ago, he would be known in more houses than just mine and yours, but it is so much harder today.

Also highly recommended is Paul's new album, Pimps and Preachers, due out on June 22nd. His songwriting work is articulate, having always had distinct threads running through as he casts an eye on what he sees around him. He loves to write portraits of that landscape, and he catalogs interior feelings with as much insight. On this new album, there is a heightened sense of what the Paul Thorn Band brings also; a hot, tight unit, speaking with one voice. Then there is the coffee table book, with Paul's folk-art drawings, and a demo CD of solo acoustic versions of every song on the album! In fact one can procure it all, as there is a pre-release special available through his website, for a limited time.

Here's one of our versions of the title track, recorded in Memphis while aboard the Music Fog bus.

- Jessie Scott