Jon Dee Graham "Best"

If you are coming to Austin this week for SXSW, be prepared. Cell phone calls are already dropping midstream from the amount of people on line and traffic is already a snarled mess. It took me 45 minutes to go cross town today. (If you leave in a big city that is known for gridlock and traffic jams, please forgive me. Austin is a hamlet, and it usually takes 15 minutes or less from the west side to the east!) The restaurants are hopping, the taxis are busy, the hotels are booked solid, and the people watching is simply sensational. There are road closures to be aware of over the next week, but being at Threadgill’s means you can skirt much of that, and you can PARK!

I am so excited to be pondering the great avalanche of music that will be coming upon us for the Music Fog Marathon starting on Wednesday. We will be bringing you 44 artists, and streaming it all live here. One of them, by another name this time, is Jon Dee Graham. We will welcome him on Friday with his brother from another mother, Freedy Johnston, along with their other ’sibling’ Lil’ Sis Hobart, Susan Cowsill. Wow, is THAT gonna be cool. Jon Dee Graham is solo here, from our Spring Music Fog Marathon last year at Threadgill’s. It is a rare and beautiful love song, from a man who will tell you how happy he is today. So good to hear that, and so good to see Jon Dee at his “Best.”

- Jessie Scott

Citizens Band Radio "Whistlin' Dixie"

Things are certainly squirrelly about music labels lately---the term you use to describe a style. The GRAMMYs® didn’t help matters much by redefining the Folk Category to be almost the same thing as the Americana Category, but then there are blurred lines between Folk, and Singer Songwriter, and Texas and Red Dirt, and it just goes on and on. So much of this is about perception, anyway, with each person filtering things through what they know, or how they got introduced to something. I reference the term ‘Rock and Roll’ for the definitive; that became understood by the songs and sounds that lived under its name until everyone KNEW what it was. And then Rock came along, and that was sonically different than the earlier era. And so it goes.

Time was that the term Country was something of a dirty word. It was thought to be low brow, nasal, and unsophisticated. Kind of amazes me now to think back, but when I was on the radio in the 70s at the Country station in New York City, WHN, we NEVER actually said we were country on the air. We just played the music and let the audience decide whether they liked it or not. And they did. The station was a huge success, with an audience of 2 million people, in NEW YORK CITY?!!!?

We might have played today’s song on the air, if only it had been out back then. It does plant a couple of references to tunes from old. And whatever you call it, it is fun to revisit the set we did last year during the Music Fog Marathon at Threadgill’s. Here is Citizen’s Band Radio with “Whistling Dixie.” They are playing New Jersey next weekend, March 11th, at the Garden State FOLK Festival. See what I mean?

- Jessie Scott

2012 Music Fog Marathon in Austin

It is just less than two weeks away, as Music Fog makes its annual pilgrimage to Threadgills WHQ in Austin, TX. On our recent Kickstarter campaign, which is making this event possible thanks to you, we pledged 45 bands for this year’s schedule. We are holding steady at 44 (45 if you count Jason Eady and Cody Canada separately, though they are playing together!) Not to worry if you won’t be in Austin during the SXSW® Music Festival, because we will be streaming our four day Marathon right here on the pages of Music Fog, and it will be originating on Livestream, so you can watch from anywhere, including our Facebook page, other select Americana websites, and on mobile devices with the Livestream app! And if you are in Austin, we welcome you to join us in the back room at Threadgill’s WHQ, 301 W Riverside Drive, Austin, TX. This is an unofficial event, which means you don’t need a badge or wristband. Do bring the hungry, though, as the food at Threadgill’s rocks; chicken fried steak, lots of veggies, and cobbler with ice cream for dessert! Dang! Are you ready? Here we go! We can’t wait to see you for the Spring Music Fog Marathon!

- Jessie Scott

All artists will play a set that is almost 20 minutes, then the remaining time will be used to clear the stage and prepare for the next artist. While our every intention is to keep these on time, things happen so you should expect delays. Artist participation subject to change. All times below are Central Daylight Time.

Wednesday March 14, 2012

• 11:30 AM  Lera Lynn
• 12:10 PM  Steve Poltz
• 12:40 PM  Ray Wylie Hubbard
• 1:30 PM  Reckless Kelly
• 2:30 PM  Wheeler Brothers
• 3:30 PM  Emory Quinn
• 4:30 PM  K. Phillips & The Concho Pearls
• 5:10 PM  James McMurtry
• 5:40 PM  Phoebe Hunt
• 6:30 PM  The SteelDrivers
• 7:30 PM  Jason Eady & Cody Canada

Thursday March 15, 2012

• 11:10 AM  Chris Smither
• 11:40 AM  Marvin Etzioni
• 12:10 PM  Kalen Nash
• 12:40 PM  Max Gomez
• 1:30 PM  The Mastersons
• 2:30 PM  Buxton
• 3:30 PM  Ponderosa
• 4:30 PM  Wild Moccasins
• 5:30 PM  White Violet
• 6:30 PM  Sweetback Sisters
• 7:30 PM  The Damn Quails

Friday March 16, 2012

• 11:30 AM  Ruthie Foster
• 12:30 PM  Joy Kills Sorrow
• 1:30 PM  Hobart Brothers & Lil' Sis Hobart
• 2:30 PM  Nakia
• 3:30 PM  Shurman
• 4:30 PM  Bruce Robison & Kelly Willis
• 5:30 PM  Sons of Fathers
• 6:30 PM  Defibulators
• 7:30 PM  Tokyo Rosenthal

Saturday March 17, 2012

• 11:30 AM  the dB's
• 12:10 PM  John Fullbright
• 12:40 PM  Mike Farris
• 1:10 PM  Cory Branan
• 1:40 PM  Henry Wagons
• 2:30 PM  Lydia Loveless
• 3:30 PM  Sugar & The Hi-Los
• 4:10 PM  Shooter Jennings
• 4:40 PM  Mike Stinson
• 5:30 PM  Elliott, Rose, Da Costa
• 6:10 PM  Connor Christian
• 6:40 PM  Suzanna Choffel
• 7:30 PM  Midnight River Choir