Dale Watson "Jonesin' For Jones"

It has been all over Facebook and the Internets for the last couple of weeks, the #tomatogate controversy at Country Radio. Back in the old days of Top 40 radio in the 60s and 70s, the house rule was you never played two women singers in a row. It was partially because there were so many more male voices, that you were supposed to sprinkle the females in like tomatoes in the lettuce. Unfortunately, the concept is still alive today at country radio. It has been particularly hard for female artists to get radio airplay in these BroCountry days, where indeed ‘the party never ends.” Grab a six pack, your girl in her cut-off jeans, and drive your pickup truck down to the lake. Pretty one dimensional stuff. Country music used to present all the emotions, not just the celebratory. And it is not just women being left out of the mix, any honest to goodness country is absent as well from the rap infused party style that is today’s “country” music.

The pendulum always swings back, though. I wonder if the next wave will be Neo Traditional, with artists like Sam Outlaw, Chris Stapleton, Whitey Morgan & the 78s; Kacey Musgraves, Ashley Monroe, Angaleena Presley, and of course including Sturgill Simpson, Blackberry Smoke, Robert Ellis, and Jason Eady. Wouldn’t it be great if Country Radio played COUNTRY MUSIC again? I don’t even dare mention the roots of this new wave of traditional country, but Dale Watson does. His new album, Call Me Insane, came out on Tuesday, and it is anchored smack dab in the spirit of this long legacy of true country music. Here’s to Johnny, Willie, Waylon, Conway, Loretta, Dolly, Tammy - and let’s raise a glass to George Jones! Music Fog filmed Dale and His Lone Stars at Midtown Live in NYC back in January. Here is “Jonesin’ For Jones.” Yeah we are! Get ‘em Dale!

-Jessie Scott

Kristin Andreassen "Crayola Doesn't Make a Color for Your Eyes"

A couple of weeks ago, I headed out to Stagecoach Music Festival in Indio, California, which might just be the largest country music gathering in the States. Since its inception in 2007, it has welcomed an eclectic line up of bands: this year including great elder statesmen The Oak Ridge Boys, Merle Haggard, ZZ Top, and Eric Burdon. There was a seriously cool lineup of Americana artists there this year too. I was honored to be hosting the Stagecoach Radio broadcast on TuneIn (super cool fun!). You know every time I get to go somewhere, I always get to hear some new music. Summer season is festival season, and it is the time to get to a music event near you, to make some new friends and make some memories.

The Americana Music Association has just announced the first round of artists playing AmericanaFest in Nashville this September, including Los Lobos, Patty Griffin, Whitey Morgan and the 78s, honeyhoney, John Moreland, Andrew Combs, Nikki Lane, Pokey LaFarge, James McMurtry, Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn, Nora Jane Struthers, and Jackie Greene. The nominees for this year’s Americana Honors & Awards are going to be announced this Thursday, May 14th, from 1pm to 2pm CT, and you can watch it on Music City Roots. Music Fog is proud to have attended past AmericanaFests, and we have our fingers crossed that the team will be able to go this year.

Today’s video comes from Kristin Andreassen, who is playing AmericanaFest this year, too. We got to film her back in January at Midtown Live in New York upon the release of her second album, Gondolier. She spent time with bands Uncle Earl and Sometymes Why, before going solo. Her debut CD Kiss Me Hello included the John Lennon Songwriting Contest winner "Crayola Doesn't Make a Color for Your Eyes." Here is the Music Fog recording of that song, featuring Kristin accompanied by Alec Spiegelman on bass clarinet and backing vocals.

- Jessie Scott

The Ebony Hillbillies "I'd Rather Be"

Recently on the Music Fog pages, we have been talking about the melting pot that is American Music. Today we shine a light on another historical era, and I suspect many people don’t realize that this particular seminal contribution was brought to our shores from Africa. Yes of course there’s The Blues, and Jazz, but I am talking roots here. It was the Black String Bands that gave birth to Country and Bluegrass.

I’m sure you know that the banjo was exported from Africa, and along with it came a tradition of front porch picking that seeded what has become Americana Music. It was Fiddle, Banjo, and more stringed instruments were added. It is the blending of Black and White, of Native American and African and European sonic traditions. It is what ultimately caused the Big Bang that the world has come to identify as pure American music.

Today we bring you a 'for real' string band from NYC, and one of the last Black String Bands in America. I first saw the Ebony Hillbillies play a couple of years ago at Christmastime in the NYC subway. I was consumed with unbridled joy as their music hit my ears. I have been wanting to film them since then. There aren't many bands around still delivering this easy and authentic of a musical experience.

The Ebony Hillbillies are led by Henrique Prince (fiddle, vocals) and Norris Bennett (banjo, mountain dulcimer, guitar, vocals) and feature Gloria Thomas Gassaway on vocals and bones, William “Salty Bill” Salter on acoustic bass with A.R. and Newman Taylor Baker on washboard and percussion. They have a new live album about to arrive called Slappin’ A Rabbit - Live! Bassist Tony Garnier sat in with them for the Music Fog cameras. Pure joy. Here is an instrumental version of “I’d Rather Be.”

- Jessie Scott