We have had it so good; as a generation, society, country, or however you self-identify, we are so lucky. We have been to the mountain, we have scaled the floors to the penthouse where we touched the sky, we have parasailed and dived off cliffs, went swimming with dolphins, and filmed our children being born. It is a wondrous life we live. You gotta make every day count, and we have tried to do that, bucket list or not.

This has been a tough year, there have been too many friends and family and heroes to us all who have departed this mortal coil. I got to a point that I didn’t want to write about it anymore, preferring instead to look to the future. Ah, but then another comes along that pulls the rug from beneath you. We got word on August 9th that Audrey Auld has passed. Audrey was dynamic, tough, tender, and joyous, with an ever present twinkle in her eye. And she is gone, way too soon. 

There will be a Memorial Celebration for her on Sept. 6th, at Stinson Community Center, Stinson Beach, CA.   Audrey participated in one of Music Fog’s first shoots for an interview segment, and later filmed a performance with us at Folk Alliance. This first video is the interview from the Tortilla Factory in Herndon, VA. 2-15-09. And the second is from Folk Alliance 2009, the song “Clinch Mountain Prayer” along with Cole Bruce, when Music Fog was just doing one camera shoots and was decidedly lo-fi. We are happy that we have this footage; it is pure and true, and Audrey and Mez, we say prayers for you too!

In music that is timeless, as timeless as the hills as they say, The Ebony Hillbillies are steeped in the tradition. They bring the spiritualism of church with them wherever they go. There is always that touchstone of emotion, of grounding, in the Hillbillies music as a sense of awe wraps around the notes they play. “Shenandoah” resonates. Check out the Ebony Hillbillies in the new BBC Documentary- Blues America, featuring Keith Richards, Taj Mahal, Bonnie Raitt, and Chuck D. Their latest release is called Slappin’ A Rabbit, and Music Fog got to hook up with them back in January in NYC. Today’s video is “Shenandoah,” just beautiful, and we offer it up in prayer as well.

-- Jessie Scott