Nakia "Slow It Down And Stay Awhile"

The 2012 Lone Star Music Awards took place on Sunday night at The Texas Music Theater in San Marcos, we wanted to congratulate all of the artists on their wins. While we are at it, congrats to all the nominees, too!

For Best Album - Stoney LaRue, Velvet
Songwriter - Hayes Carll
Country Album - Jason Boland & The Stragglers, Rancho Alto
Americana/Roots Album - Reckless Kelly, Good Luck and True Love
Singer-Songwriter Album - Adam Hood, The Shape of Things
Emerging Artist - Whiskey Myers
Vocal (Female) - Miranda Lambert
Vocal (Male) - Stoney LaRue
Song - Reckless Kelly "Good Luck and True Love"
Musician - Cody Braun (Reckless Kelly)
Album Artwork - Reckless Kelly, Good Luck and True Love (Art by Shauna and Sarah Dodds)
Venue - Gruene Hall

Nominations have been called for this year’s Americana Honors and Awards, and we would like to remind you of our fine album, Who’s First? – Music Fog Sessions Volume 1. If you are a member of the Americana Music Association, we would love to be one of your ten for Best Album of the Year. The deadline for nominations is this Friday. We would be humbled to be on your list!

And while we are on the subject of musical contests, allow us to introduce you to Nakia, who ran it up the flagpole for The Voice on NBC in its debut year, being picked by Cee Lo Green to be on his team in the quarter finals. He is a Virginia Beach, VA native, who migrated to Austin, TX around ten years ago, and initially was taken under the wing of Miles Zuniga of the band Fastball. On April 14, 2009, Nakia release his first full-length album, Water To Wine. He is working on the follow up, and when he came to play for the Music Fog cameras, he brought the new stuff with him. Here is an as yet unreleased tune, ”Slow It Down And Stay A While,” with Chris Johnson on bass, Kevin Lance on drums, Ulrich Ellison on guitar, and Derek Morris on keys. Nakia is on a roll. This here is powerful stuff!

-Jessie Scott

The Damn Quails "California Open Invitation"

So here it is Monday, and I haven’t heard yet who won the Mega Millions Lottery, although one winning ticket was sold in Baltimore Country Maryland. Could Beans be heading for a cushy future? He hasn’t told us yet if it was him. Hmmm... I like that we all collectively allowed ourselves to dream last week as Lotto Fever took hold. Taking time out from the daily treadmill to think about the future and what you would love to have happen is a pretty powerful exercise, whether you have a ticket in hand or not. Frankly, it is the only way to move the ball down the field, when you listen to your heart. You know what they say, “If you can dream it, you can do it.

The Damn Quails did just that a while ago in Norman, Oklahoma. I had heard their music long before I set eyes on them. I was kind of amazed upon first meeting, that those sweet sounds were embodied in these gruff looking guys. The sounds they make are matched with fine songwriting from Gabriel Marshall and Bryon White, who are drinking from a deep well of indigenous Red Dirt songwriters like Tom Skinner, Gene Collier, and Mike McClure. In fact, Mike signed on to produce their debut album Down The Hatch on his new record label, 598 Recordings, with Joe Hardy co-producing. I love that I got to see them again on Saturday night at Floore’s Country Store in Helotes, Texas, where there are signs painted in red on the wall which say there is a $100 fine for fighting. Yes there are also T-shirts. There was none of that going on, just the DQs fine music. We bring you a taste today from our Music Fog Spring Marathon last month in Austin at Threadgill’s WHQ. Forthwith, the Music Fog recording of “California Open Invitation,” here’s Bryon and Gabe along with John Knudson, Luke Mullenix, and Tom Young.

-Jessie Scott

Ray Wylie Hubbard "Coricidin Bottle"

Driving around Texas this past weekend, I was once again elated by the beauty of Lady Bird Johnson’s Wildflower initiative. There are carpets of flowers of yellow, orange, blue, and purple. There is that yummy spring green color, which is at once tender and electric at the same time. The bees are buzzing; I even saw a monarch butterfly this week. Now you know with all this blooming comes the allergens, and then comes the antihistamines. I have lived in many places that have laid claim to being the worst for allergies, but Texas might just be number one for me. In an effort to breathe free, I started thinking back on what medicines were really effective along the way, since nothing seems to work anymore to quell the symptoms.

In my travels in the internets, I came upon another usage altogether, using the Coricidin Bottle as a guitar slide. Actually, Duane Allman is credited with doing that first, back in the 60s. Derek Trucks, Rory Gallagher, and Gary Rossington followed suit, but the bottles went out of production in the early 1980s. Since the mid-80s, replicas have been on the market. Ray Wylie Hubbard releases his new album today. It is called The Grifter’s Hymnal, and it is filled with the crunchy, gritty sounds we have come to love from Ray Wylie Hubbard. This album provides peaks behind the curtain, confessional moments. That includes the first cut on the album, “Coricidin Bottle.” It is a stomper of a tune, providing an insight into the objects and an homage to the spirits that have paved the way. And the glass slide, yeah it’s there to make some down and dirty yet glorious sounds. Here is the Music Fog Marathon recording of “Coricidin Bottle,” from a couple of weeks ago at Threadgill’s WHQ in Austin, TX.

-Jessie Scott