It is cold! I am under the blankets with my boots on, swaddled in sweatshirts. Winter - it is an acquired taste. We were just in the Rocky Mountains a couple of weeks ago, but you EXPECT it to be cold there. It is chilly in Texas as I write this. I am having to drip the faucets tonight to keep the pipes from freezing. It is just wrong. As I am from the Northeast, I have no right to complain. But I do wonder if it is an old wives' tale that our blood thins out upon moving south?

I should ask Idahoans Cody and Willy Braun of Reckless Kelly for the definitive answer to that question. Not that they are old wives, but because Idaho is massively cold, and they never seem to complain about the weather in Austin. Last time I saw them, they were preparing to be 'roasted' (now that's an interesting way to stay warm) during MusicFest at Steamboat. We hear it was brutal, tongue firmly planted in cheek but with love, sort of, you know how those thing are. Earlier that evening, we wrested Cody and Willy away from serving a lasagna dinner to a roomful of guests to record a few songs for our cameras.

During MusicFest I was reminded of a really cool event that Reckless Kelly is headlining in early June, Fest Out West in Lajitas, TX with Cody Canada & The Departed, Wade Bowen & Randy Rogers, Micky & The Motorcars, Butch Hancock, The Trishas, John Evans, and Hayes Carll. What a great lineup! Get in on it early, because it will sell out! The other event I wanted to shine a light on is Reckless Kelly's 3rd Annual Celebrity Softball Jam, which happens on May 1st at Dell Diamond in Round Rock, TX. I went last year and it was a blast of a day, from the game, which left multiple people sore from playing, to the wonderful array of artists that played afterwards.

Back at Steamboat now, we were honored to once again have Cody and Willy stop by for a 2011 MusicFest appearance in the Music Fog studio at the Steamboat Grand. Since Valentine's Day is just a couple of weks away, we'll lead things off with an unreleased tune they recorded with us, written by Willy Braun and Todd Snider, "I Never Liked St. Valentine."

- Jessie Scott