The Damn Quails "Fool's Gold"

People ask me for music lists all the time, and I am always hesitant to comply because I am probably forgetting something major that I love. But thinking about the past year or so, I do have five favorite songs for you to seek out if you so choose.  

• Jason Isbell – Alabama Pines

• Turnpike Troubadours – Gin, Smoke, Lies

• Stoney LaRue – Wiregrass

• JD McPherson – North Side Gal

• John Fullbright – Satan & St. Paul

That's five, here is a sixth…The Damn Quails – Fool’s Gold.

It is our song today. The lyrics are poignant. The harmonies stellar, the music haunting. Yes indeed this is what is it all about. My son recently announced that a needle in a haystack hunt we were undertaking was a “Fool’s Errand.” I offer that up to you songwriters reading this, because that’s a great title too. You have your assignment. The Damn Quails are the first band signed to BooHatch Records, Mike McClure’s label. He was so excited to send me tracks in advance of the album, an honor indeed. I trust Mike’s ears. The DQs came to see us during the Spring Marathon at Threadgill’s in March. Here is the Music Fog recording of “Fool’s Gold,” the original of which you can find on the Down The Hatch album.

-Jessie Scott

The Sweetback Sisters "Looking For A Fight"

I watched the Independence Day fireworks from my friends back yard. They live up on a hill (yes, there are hills in Texas!) We had a panoramic view of the sky, and in every direction, there were bombs bursting in air, all over the place. We take the fireworks thing really seriously here in Texas, and don’t just leave it to the town to do the entertaining. As several people told me they were stopping at roadside stands to get their rockets, this is the great American tradition: drink a bunch and blow things up. I am not trying to make light of it, this is just the prevailing mindset. I do hope that you had a safe and happy 4th, celebrating the birth of our nation with no ill effects. For all the beauty, and the oohing and aahing, I do think it a bit odd that we replicate war when we have giant fireworks displays. I am happy we ain’t fighting, that this is just symbolic, even if the smoke hangs heavy in the air afterwards.

The Sweetback Sisters are here today to celebrate fighting. Well sort of, anyway. What do they say, all’s fair in love and war?” The Sweetback Sisters are not related, except by their common love of music. Whether Honky Tonk, Country, Rockabilly with a touch of Swing thrown in for good measure, this band smokes it in that retro comes alive kind of way. And let’s face it, there are never enough songs about heartbreak, revenge, and remorse. We had a ball when the Sweetbacks’ came to visit us during the Spring Music Fog Marathon at Threadgill’s WHQ in March in Austin. They woke the entire room up with their explosive energy. Here is their tour schedule, cause ya really gotta see them live yourself. Today’s tune is “Looking For A Fight,” from Zara Bode, Emily Miller, Jesse Milnes, Ross Bellenoit, Peter Bitenc, and Stefan Amidon. It is the title track from their most recent album, done Music Fog style.

-Jessie Scott

Lincoln Durham "Mud Puddles"

Just stuff. Yeah, but when you have harbored it for decades it poses a mythical quality, telling the tale of one’s life through objects. I still have a storage space filled with boxes, too much to digest at once, and too much for the square footage in my house. So Trevor, my son, came up with a brilliant solution when he said, “Mom, why don’t you just take one box a week out of there and go through it an deal with it?” Huzzah! So that is my new plan. It might still take a while, but it will get done, I swear it will. I am still shocked at really how little one NEEDS! I am still bound and determined to pare it down to the bare minimum. Someone shared the sentiment that at some point with too much stuff, it owns you rather than the other way around.

Of course, the lack of stuff is the lot of the rambler, too. Lincoln Durham captures the sentiment in the song ‘Mud Puddles.” Lincoln is really coming into his own as this year marked the release of his amazing album, The Shovel VS. The Howling Bones. The album was produced by Ray Wylie Hubbard and George Reiff, a stunning work for a powerful performer who can recreate the mood all by his lonesome on stage. There are Texas dates this summer, before Lincoln heads to the UK in September. Go see him, I promise he will entrance you. Music Fog captured Lincoln Durham at Threadgill’s WHQ in March of 2011. “Mud Puddles” can be found on the new album; today we bring you the Music Fog recording of it.

-Jessie Scott