Kevin Welch "The Great Emancipation"

Happy New Year to you. We hope you got through the weekend with a minimum of travails, and especially, no hangover. I always find the awareness of the passage of time to be great for reflection and planning. There are so many things I want to do this year, I just don’t know what to do first. Well that is not entirely true, because my January is booked pretty crazy. This week I head to my tenth MusicFest at Steamboat, as I'll be coordinating the live video streaming from the MusicFest tent on January 6, 7, 8, and 9. Here is the link to watch live, though it won’t be active until Friday from 3:45pm MT as Ragweed former members Cody, Jeremy and Randy take the stage. Sorry, Music Fog isn't making the trip this time, but I will report back for the pages of the Fog!

Actually, I checked the lineup and it looks like Kevin Welch isn’t going to be there this year either. You just can’t be everywhere all the time! Kevin is doing a series of supercool songwriting workshops in the beautiful Hill Country. If you attend one, maybe some of his magic will rub off! We have a tune today from him, a preeminent Americana songwriter. It is as much a statement about the hardships of life, as well as it offers the glimmer of release. Let the light shine in this year. This is “The Great Emancipation,” the original of which is on his 2010 album, A Patch Of Blue Sky. We filmed this aboard the Music Fog bus, at Folk Alliance in Memphis, February 2010.

- Jessie Scott

Bob Livingston "Original Spirit"

It is getting so that weather events are accompanied by an uneasy feeling. There was a dust storm on Tuesday afternoon here in Austin, TX. It kicked up grit, and hung in the air with a weird sandy coloration. Eerie eddies of swirling papers and leaves were chasing around parking lots and lawns. I hear there was rain in some spots, but couldn’t attest to it myself. The last time we felt an ill wind blowing here in Texas, it was the outer bands of Tropical Storm Lee on Labor Day weekend. That was what brought the fire storms to central Texas. So many homes were lost, so many lives were changed forever. And so many people need our help. Fire Relief Benefit concerts are springing up everywhere. Willie and friends are doing one on October 17. Others are being planned, as so many folks lost everything. And you can always count on musicians when there is a need. That’s how they are wired.

Bob Livingston is one of them, caring, giving, sharing, innovating. His is an illustrious history, as a member of the Lost Gonzo Band, he was in on the beginning of the Austin Music ethos. BTW, they are this year’s tribute artists at MusicFest at Steamboat Springs. And congrats are in order, as Bob has just won the 2011 Texas Music Album of the Year Award for his latest album, Gypsy Alibi. Bob came to visit us on the Music Fog bus in Memphis, February 2010 during Folk Alliance. He brought Bradley Kopp, and he brought this song, the title track from “Original Spirit,” which came out in 2008. It is a reminder to obey the ancient, to honor the holiness, to live in harmony.

-Jessie Scott

Nudie and The Turks "I'm Tired of Living With No Fun"

So I have been holed up for three weeks now, and I am a whole lot better, though not totally healed.  It just takes time, but I am starting to get antsy. I'm ready to hit some music events, and the season is starting in earnest. 

For instance, today is day three of the Old Settler’s Music Festival out in Driftwood, on the southern edge of Austin. Coachella is rolling into Indian Wells, California, and the Wannee Music Festival  is happening in Live Oak, Florida.  Up in Canada this weekend,  the East Coast Music Association is celebrating in Charlottetown, Canada.  Their awards show is tonight, and looking at the nominees is like stepping through the looking glass, into a world of names that are mostly new to me!  Seriously, we can’t keep up, although Lord knows we try! 

Not far from there, Nudie and The Turks are performing tonight at the Cavendish Beach Music Festival on Prince Edward Island. We had the pleasure of recording them on the Music Fog bus in Memphis of 2010 at Folk Alliance. “I’m Tired Of Living With No Fun” is a previously unreleased tune, and very appropriate for all of us watching from the sidelines, but not able to attend all this music. And it is just going to get crazier from here. The season has started. Yay!

- Jessie Scott