Colin Gilmore "Goodnight Lane"

Do you remember how you felt when you got a new pair of sneakers as a kid. Like you could bounce all the way up to touch the net of the basket. Like you could trampoline to the sky, like you could run fast enough to fly. I used to have dreams that I could run so fast that it would launch me into the air. What precipitated this riff? I got some new Chuck’s, and boy do they feel good. I don’t recall that sensation sticking around long when I was a kid, but I have had my Converse's for a month now and they still delight. Just looking at them, they make me happy.

Photo Credit: Kim MaguireI feel the same way about Colin Gilmore’s music. I first met him leaning against a now long gone cigarette machine at Antone’s several years ago, during SXSW®. Wow, how long ago was it when there still were cigarette machines? He gave me a copy of the 4 of No Kind EP that day. I brought it into XM and put “The You That I Knew” and “Winds Of Heaven” on the air immediately. He came to visit in DC when I booked his dad, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, at XM for a performance segment, and Colin got to play with him and sing a song or two. His music has made me happy for years, even when he is singing about sorrow. I was delighted he was able to come play for us at Threadgill’s this past March during the Music Fog Marathon. His most recent album came out last year, his first after about five years, and here is the Music Fog version of the title track, “Goodnight Lane.” Dancing to this in my Chucks!

- Jessie Scott

Waco Brothers "Do What I Say"

I have been in a haze of tunes this weekend, as I cruise through an on-line music library that is in beta testing mode. It gives one that ‘glued in place on the couch’ posture. You log off, then you think of other stuff, and log back on to look for that too. This is a rabbit hole I have been lucky enough to fall down many times in my life. It has been decades, really; in the form of singles, vinyl, CDs and waveforms. I have been tracking a lot of Alt. Country on this go round, from Hank III, Buddy & Julie Miller, Doug Sahm, the Bottle Rockets, and Dave Alvin, just to name a few. And I have listened to plenty of Jon Langford, in all his incarnations. He is one talented and one driven cat.

Jon has made appearances with Old 97's, Kelly Hogan, Sadies, Sally Timms, Danbert Nobacon, Jon Rauhouse, Alejandro Escovedo, the Mekons, the Pine Valley Cosmonauts, The Sadies, and Wee Hairy Beasties. His latest release is Old Devils, as Jon Langford and Skull Orchard, and we brought you a track from them featured in our Americana Fest sessions. But when we heard the Waco Brothers were going to be at SXSW, we just HAD to have them stop by. They came to us in a somewhat stripped down configuration, and you know we always love to have something a bit different. So here goes, from back in March at the Music Fog Marathon from Threadgill’s, “Do What I Say,” with Jon being joined by Deano Waco, Tracey Dear, and Jean Cook.

- Jessie Scott

Heidi Spencer "Hibernation"

Austin is in high spirits this time of year. It feels like summer vacation is drawing people to the capital of Texas. They are in the clubs, spilling out into the streets from the restaurants, bars and cafes. It has been a good music week here with Robert Ellis and Jonny Corndawg, Steve Earle and the Dukes and Duchesses, which includes Chris Masterson, Eleanor Whitmore and Allison Moorer, and then last night Roger Clyne and The Peacemakers and Sons of Bill. It has been a display of lots of expertise, great writing, harmonies, amazing playing. I think about all these folks just starting out practicing in their rooms, spending hours by themselves to get good. Learning chords, learning how to marry the voice with the instrument, putting in the 10,000 hours.

We want to take you back to that beginning feeling. When I watch this video, I think about all the alone time, all the determination, all the discipline it takes to get to having a career in music. We taped Milwaukeean Heidi Spencer without her band The Rare Birds at the Music Fog Marathon in Austin in March. Her debut album Under Streetlight Glow had just come out. She came to see us very early in the morning, giving us a gentle peak behind the curtain to how she crafts her music. This is “Hibernation.”

-Jessie Scott