Logan Ledger "Starlight"

It’s coming up on AmericanaFest, and I gotta say, I am missing the Music Foggers and the zany adventures we always seem to find ourselves in when we are together. Alas, The Fog will not be in the house this year, but WMOT will be broadcasting some cool daytime sessions in cooperation with NPR Music and World Café from the War Memorial Auditorim in Nashville.

Wednesday, September 11th (Wired In series)

• 1pm: Keb Mo

• 2pm: Maggie Rose

• 3pm: Honey Island Swamp Band

• 4pm: Shinyribs

Then...

Off to today’s video, from Logan Ledger who is playing this year’s AmericanaFest. His debut album is coming out in early October. He is a native Californian, blessed with pipes for days and an easy way with a lyric. Don’t just take my word for it, T Bone Burnett has signed him to Rounder Records and has produced his forthcoming album. There are already a couple of songs from it kicking around on the interwebs, available as a preview, so I figured today was a good day to turn you on to the next great Old School Country voice. And if you are coming to AmericanaFest September 10- 15 in Nashville, make sure you catch him in performance! In the meantime, check out this Music Fog solo take of the song “Starlight,” filmed this past February in Nashville.

- Jessie Scott

Seth Walker "Underdog"

I love living in the South for so many reasons, and topping that list has to be that this is where so much of our American music comes from. The Mojo Triangle extends from Nashville to Memphis to New Orleans. It is the geographic region where the Big Bang of American Music 'happened.' It was the imprinting on each other of musical traditions from Native Americans, African Americans, and Europeans that caused its birth, and the many splendid musical traditions that have grown from it over the years. If you want to know more, there is a book and a travel guide. The area was recently renamed The Americana Triangle, and it provides a wonderful opportunity to feel the earth and ethos of where the music emerged. I highly recommend a road trip!

Seth Walker has today’s video, and his music embodies so much of that Triangle good stuff. He brings a bluesy, jazzy, swingy vibe, with plenty of space to improvise. As they say, "It ain’t what you play, it’s what you don’t play." Seth has lived in North Carolina, Austin, Nashville, and New Orleans, and you can feel all those places in his music. He keeps mighty busy on the road. His tenth album, Are You Open? came out early this year, and it is where you will find the original of “Underdog.” We bring you the Music Fog recording, captured this past February in Nashville, as the new record was coming out.

- Jessie Scott

Mike Farris "Tennessee Girl"

So many hot days this year! As I talk to folks all over the country, everyone seems to be steaming this summer. Hope you are getting to the beach or the lake or the pool, somewhere with sparking water dancing in the sun. Summertime is like taking a vacation; it takes time to unwind to meet it, and then you have to wind back up to the usual speed of life well before it ends. As we are in the middle, now’s the time to stretch out.

Today we have a languorous song that will do the trick. What is it about a guy with a guitar that mesmerizes me? Especially if that guy is Mike Farris! Music Fog has had the honor of filming Mike over these past 10 years, in lots of different places and configurations. You know he put out a new album, right? Silver & Stone is a powerful piece of work, where Mike soars and shines and the band simply cooks. Music Fog captured Mike solo in February (thus the hat). He charms on this self-penned tale of love, “Tennessee Girl,” one of the songs on the new album. Here ‘tis the Music Fog recording.

- Jessie Scott