Gurf Morlix "She's A River"

Gurf Morlix is a total enigma. He is one of the people in Austin that lights up a room, that is on the random occasions that he is around. Mostly, I think he is holed up in his studio, creating magic and lending his prodigious skills to folks like Ray Bonneville, Robyn Ludwick, Grant Peeples, Marvin Etzioni, Lucinda Williams, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Slaid Cleaves, Buddy and Julie Miller, and Mary Gauthier. His discography is nothing short of astonishing. Gurf’s most recent album is an homage to his late buddy, Blaze Foley’s 113th Wet Dream. Gurf can rock or he can lay back, but it all has a credibility, an authenticity, and that is unmistakable.

Gurf is a reverse snowbird, as he heads north from Texas in the hot season. I don’t know if he has escaped for that yet this year, but he just did some dates in New York City a couple of weeks ago. Gurf is magnificent whether solo or if you are fortunate enough to see him with full band. He simply smokes the room. I can’t believe we are just a few months away from this year’s Americana Music Association Festival. We hooked up with Gurf solo in Nashville during last year’s Americana Fest in Nashville, our Fall Music Fog Marathon at Marathon Recorders. He played a song originally from his 2009 release Last Exit To Happytown, the beautiful “She’s A River.”

-Jessie Scott

The Bottle Rockets "Kit Kat Clock"

On Wednesday night, I found myself at legendary venue, the Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos, TX where owner and guiding light Kent Finlay presides over Songwriter's Night. He runs a tight ship, reminding the audience before the music gets started for the evening, that this is not the place to socialize as it is a listening night. It reminded me of auditions for Broadway or TV shows in New York. There was a hush amongst the audience members, many of them awaiting their turn to walk on stage and play their two songs. It has to be nerve wracking to bring one’s music to the public for the first time, for many the stage fright never leaves as they marshall on through long careers. I think some of the best continue to question their performance, and do not take it for granted, not ever. Songwriting is such a divine gift. When done well, it sets the mind to reeling. It can be pure communication.

One of the best songwriters, for my money, is Brian Henneman of The Bottle Rockets. The eye for detail, the way the lyrics scan; not to mention this is totally relatable stuff. You see yourself in their songs, as you have experienced moment like this, too. The Bottle Rockets are a seamless outfit; a great band, both hard rocking and truth telling. We had the honor of filming them during Americana Fest in October at Marathon Recorders in Nashville for our Fall Music Fog Marathon. They were touring behind their new stripped down release Not So Loud, doing acoustic versions of previously released songs. If you want to catch The Bottle Rockets live, they are on a run up the east coast now. Today’s tune is a classic – here are Brian Henneman, Mark Ortmann, John Horton, and Keith Voegele with the Music Fog recording of “Kit Kat Clock.”

-Jessie Scott

Ange Boxall "Fool For Now"

You may think this is crazy talk. I am not sure I quite believe it, but I have spent most of my adult life in radio stations, and I evidently have been absorbing the negative ions that abound there. I was complaining recently that my touch screen phone was ignoring my touch, when someone told me it was because I had spent so much time near radio waves. I have no earthly idea whether any of that is true, but doing some research I guess that is not a bad thing. It appears that negative ions are good for one’s health. And of course being under a waterfall is one of the most energizing experiences ever, and that is smack dab in the cradle of the negative ionization epicenter. But then so is the shower in your house (ahhh!!) Here is WebMD’s take on it. I really don’t know whether radio stations emit these molecules, but it would explain why I have been so happy to sit in a room for 40 years, basically talking into a microphone with no one in sight on the receiving end of that monologue. Sitting in a room talking to yourself…hmm that sounds a little odd. It IS a little odd for that matter.

I am always baffled by the songs that tie the concepts of love and foolishness together. This makes as much sense to me as negative ionization does. If it doesn’t feel good why do it? If you are heading for the rocks, why prolong the agony? My inability to process all this stuff may just be the reason why I am not dating, and honestly, I don’t mind that at all either. Don’t get me wrong, it is great to listen to songs about being love struck. I remember, vaguely, all that love stuff. Tasmanian songstress Ange Boxall played a song for us during our Americana Fest on October in Nashville called “Fool For Now.” I guess you put up with it for a little while, if the sex is good…right? Anyway, here is Ange with Tom Mason on guitar and Bones Hillman on bass, with a song found on her 2011 album, Writing Letters. Here is the Music Fog version, filmed at Marathon Recorders.

-Jessie Scott