Wagons "I Blew It"

(Explicit Lyrics)

I had this ersatz corned beef sandwich at some fast food chain restaurant I had never heard of. It had a big sign in the window that said it was a "New York style deli." I am from New York, and lately I had been craving a taste of home, so I walked inside. No bagels, or rye bread…that’s not a good sign. Hmmmm, I was thinking, maybe I shouldn’t do this, but the corned beef and pastrami looked like it was “the kind.” So I bit the bullet and I ordered. It took forever for my sandwich to come. It had cheese on it (I didn’t ask for cheese!). It bore no resemblance to what you would get at the world famous Carnegie Deli, a sandwich piled high with slices of bright pink corned beef, warm from the steam table. This place only offered it on white or wheat bread, rye wasn’t even a choice. Bah Humbug.

Thank goodness when it comes to the music, authenticity is not specific to a region! Wagons are from Down Under, led by frontman Henry Wagons. So there is no “the” at the front of their name. They deliver as they call it, ‘Melodramatic Popular Song.” The 5th album from the men from Melbourne is Rumble, Shake and Tumble and it is coming out in a couple of days on May 6th in Australia and New Zealand, but hey, I guess you can just pay the extra postage! It takes a global village. We couldn’t help but book them when we had the chance during SXSW. It was joy! “I Blew It” is insinuating, jangly, infectious. Dig the Music Fog Marathon version from back in March at Threadgill’s.

-Jessie Scott

Zoe Muth & the Lost High Rollers "Before the Night Is Gone"

On Tuesday night, Denise and I made our way 10 blocks from my house in East Austin to a festival in a dirt yard beside the railroad tracks on 4th and Waller. Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, and Old Crow Medicine Show teamed up to bring the magical Railroad Revival Tour on a train across the Southwest, wrapping last night in New Orleans. They are traveling on vintage rail cars, appropriately bringing the sounds of yesterday to today, special D. There was an easy feel to this evening; the crowd was chill, the heat of the Texas day started to break, and the breezes kicked up as the sun set. Old Crow delivered an inspired and energetic take on old timey---fresh and fun. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros brought an earthy vibe with lots of sonic layers and whistling for coloration, joyous as it washes over you. Mumford & Sons brew high lonesome, British Isles, folky meets energy and authority, to make it feel like you are at the center of the universe. The whole evening was a total treat. We hear they have videotaped on stage and off. It will make for a splendid documentary. And while everyone wrings their hands that the music business is dead, ROOTS lives. And it is morphing with the embrace of young artists and young audiences, like grass growing through the concrete.

Revival is such a potent concept. I see the baton being passed. We had so many new young artists come to play for us during the Music Fog Marathon in Austin last month, it made our heads spin. One of them was Zoe Muth, out of Seattle, Washington. By the way, her names rhymes with ‘truth.’ There is quite the buzz about her and her band, the Lost High Rollers. Having absorbed the scene that Seattle spawned, you would think she would sound like what she ingested, but there is a pure country flavor that flows out of her that is thirst quenching. Her brand new CD Starlight Hotel just came out last week. It is equal parts earthy, easy, and authentic.

We bring you the Music Fog recording of one of the tunes on the album, “Before The Night Is Gone.” If we weren’t showing you a video, I would tell you close your eyes. Or maybe instead get someone to dance cheek to cheek with you. Ladies choice.

- Jessie Scott

Foster & Lloyd "If It Hadn't Been For You"

One night not too long ago, I was on a road trip in the middle of the night in Tennessee. I am a radio scan button addict, especially on the AM side of the band in the wee small hours. It is usually really interesting pulling in snippets of stations, some from faraway places, banging off the ionosphere as it provides a shield for amplitude modulation when the sun goes down. But on this particular night, I left the scan button alone, in favor of listening to WSM out of Nashville. There is a great book about the history of this most incredible radio station, and the contribution it made to the city and the music business, Air Castle of the South: WSM and the Making of Music City, written by Craig Havighurst. But on this particular night, a song I haven’t heard in a couple of decades came on, and I found myself singing along to Mel Tillis’ “Southern Rain.”

Then the DJ played some Foster & Lloyd. Everything was right in the world, if only for the duration of those two songs. Now mind you, I used to do Country radio, back when it sounded like this; great harmonies, tunefulness, hooks and meaningful lyrics.

During our visit to MusicFest at Steamboat this past January, we connected with Radney Foster. After his session, he went down the hall to bring us the as yet unmastered songs for the forthcoming Foster & Lloyd project. It was as if two decades hadn’t passed between releases. And today is the day for the digital debut of It’s Already Tomorrow. You can find it in their website's store, and other online retailers. The physical CD will be coming out on May 17th, and WSM has invited Radney Foster and Bill Lloyd on the air that morning with Bill Cody. You will be able to listen to that live online, just click here.

From our Music Fog Marathon last month at Threadgill’s here is "If It Hadn't Been For You."

- Jessie Scott