First off, an impassioned plea for you to quit smoking if you still smoke cigarettes.  There ain’t no upside to it, it will make you sick.  It is poison, ya know?  Remember the first drag you ever took; how it made you gag, how the blood rushed to your head, how you might have felt like throwing up? I quit four years ago.  I chewed Nicorette gum until my jaw hurt, but I was over the addiction by the end of one week.  And I didn’t much feel like chewing anymore after that.  And then the trick is, don’t even take a drag, don’t bum, not even one. You can’t waver, or you will be smoking again.

This rant was prompted by “Smokin' 100's Alone,” a masterful portrait from the Bottle Rockets.  Yay! We were finally in the same city, at the same time, and they came in for the Music Fog Fall Marathon.  The band will celebrate their 20th anniversary next year,  and they recently released a new, deconstructed album, Not So Loud: An Acoustic Evening with the Bottle Rockets.  It was recorded in an acoustic setting at a 19th century schoolhouse, and reimagines their songs through the keen eye of American folk music.  Brian Henneman’s voice is a remarkable instrument, as he beseeches us to look at a woman who is questioning her choices. The song was originally on the 1997 album 24 Hours A Day, and can be found on their new album, too.  Today we bring you the Music Fog version, with Mark Ortman on drums and Keith Voegele playing bass, filmed in Nashville last month during Americana Fest.  And what to do with all that money that you’ll be saving by not buying cigs?  Pick up a couple of Brox albums! Hell yeah.

- Jessie Scott