Sweet. I am in New Jersey, the Garden State, so named for its one-time ability to feed the city of New York, not to mention itself. No, it is not all highways and exits, as billed. There are little towns, and everything from the shire, to dense industrial areas, to farmland contained within. Whatever your expectations of the place, there are other defining vistas as well. And the state is a whole lot bigger than you think it is, too. Locally grown tomatoes, corn, and blueberries are found in road side stands, the bounty of summer. I can't believe I am talking food again today, but Jersey takes her cuisine seriously! There is this way cool restaurant called the Reservoir Tavern that we ate at - a "neighborhood" Italian roadhouse that has been serving up awesome food since the 1936 "Happy Motoring" days.

Catherine MacLellan has recently posted a blog about her garden, up north from here, in Canada. She's growing garlic, and songs of course. A quote from it, "This note is to say, there is food growing in the garden, songs getting ready for recording, ideas running about my head, and summer flying away as I write this." She and Chris Gauthier came to the Music Fog stage during our SXSW 2010 stay at Threadgill's in the back room. The song "Old Tin Can" is from that session, and is slated for her forthcoming album, which we think will be released in 2011. I am thinking the Old Tin Can reference might be about the clunky headphones we used to wear in the studio, as we called them "cans." The songwriter's story contained within chronicles their journey over the border from Canada to New York, and then on to Nashville, which happens to be the next stop for Music Fog, in early September, too.

- Jessie Scott