The Hobart Brothers & Lil' Sis Hobart "Ballad of Sis (Didn't I Love You)"

Hell yeah, I love it when women rock. It seems to me most people don’t know that side of Susan Cowsill. The early stuff with The Cowsills takes precedence, in all its pop glory. Susan rocked hard with the amazing Continental Drifters. I was among the lucky that got to see them bring it on one night at the Austin Music Hall in Austin, TX during SXSW years ago. It was like watching Fleetwood Mac, only hip. We loved the beautiful, poignant Susan Cowsill stuff that we got to film almost two years ago at Americana Fest. But now comes a new incarnation.

Susan is well met in the latest chapter of her very varied career. The Hobart Brothers & Lil’ Sis Hobart bring her together with Jon Dee Graham and Freedy Johnston. Glory day, this is fun stuff. OMG, I Googled, and came up with a different Hobart Brothers with the slogan ‘Performance Welding Products. That is about perfect.

The three powerhouse singer-songwriters got together in an Austin backyard back in 2010. They started to reminisce and write songs about their early days working in restaurants, and thus, they named themselves Hobart after the commercial dishwasher found in restaurant kitchens. They wrote ten songs with a span of subjects for what was to become this album. Here is one of the tunes, “Ballad of Sis (Didn't I Love You)," from the album, At Least We Have Each Other, done up Music Fog style, from the Spring Marathon at Threadgill’s during SXSW. Let’s rock out for a Friday!

-Jessie Scott

Phoebe Hunt "Sugar"

Did you see the Transit of Venus on Tuesday? It is the last one for a hundred+ years - the last time it happened was in 1882. Ya gotta wonder how the ancients even knew about this stuff when you can’t look directly at the sun. How wonderful those inquisitive minds were that looked at the world and ask why…didn’t just ask, but sought answers, and that got handed down sometimes over centuries. This seems so arcane to me now, that spirit of cooperation feels quaint and old fashioned. Not that there aren’t scientists who still operate with the awe and the discipline, but since there are so many people who seemingly don’t believe in science anymore, I wonder what the world will be like when the next transit occurs in 2117.

Culture matters. Our lives are so busy, so demanding, it is important to take time for awe wherever it comes from. For me, the renewal comes from music. Phoebe Hunt came to visit us during our Music Fog Marathon in March at Threadgill’s WHQ in Austin. Phoebe went to school at University of Texas. She spent her college years touring with folk trio the Hudsons. I first met her through the eclectic Belleville Outfit, who burst onto the scene with energy and mad skills. I was standing in the wings at The Ryman Auditorium during an Americana Honors and Awards show, watching them delight the Lifetime Achievement Award winners with their joyful performance. Phoebe carries that with her in her solo career. She has a new EP just out, which was recorded in LA. The song “Sugar” can be found on it. Here is the Music Fog recording, with sister Stephanie Hunt and Ali Holder helping out.

-Jessie Scott

Suzanna Choffel "Animal"

Upon a recent trip to New York, I stopped by ZirZamin, Paul Oveisi’s new club in SOHO. Funny thing, it was a just block away from my Dad’s business, which was at the corner of Prince and West Broadway. Back in the day, it was an industrial section of the city which started getting gentrified in the 70s. There is now a Coach Leather store in the building I spent so much time in while growing up. Watching it change over the decades is nothing short of miraculous. It seems that all the once less desirable neighborhoods of Manhattan are being reclaimed. The new club ZirZamin on Houston Street ( that’s HOUSE ton, not HUE ston, as in Texas.) You walk down the stairs to twinkling candlelight into one of those underground grottos of instant enveloping magic. Music and food, what can I say…I had the most amazing salad there which topped with curlicues of shaved fennel. I bought some today to try it at home!

Paul moved up to New York from Austin several months ago with his girlfriend, chanteuse Suzanna Choffel. He was the proprietor of Austin’s legendary club, Momo’s, which is closed now, I am sorry to say. Momo’s was a constant source of happening music in Austin. Suzanna held court there, among many others, including Band Of Heathens and Warren Hood. Suzanna was on the bill the night I stopped by ZirZamin. She is such a unique combination of elements: sultry voice, electric guitar, powerful as a solo figure on stage. There are hints woven through to all the elements that have informed her music: Motown, Folk, and World Music from Reggae to Brazilian to African. Though she is Austin born and bred, I predict she will thrive in New York City, the perfect melting pot for her to percolate in. Music Fog filmed Suzanna Choffel during our Spring Music Fog Marathon in March at Threadgill’s in Austin. Here is the MF version of one of the songs you will find on her 2011 album, Steady Eye Shaky Bow, “Animal.”

-Jessie Scott