Doug Moreland "Windmill"

I am starting to get excited, because MusicFest at Steamboat Springs starts three weeks from today! Music Fog will be heading out to start 2011 in style, to which we have become accustomed. Friends, music, fun. We are making a list, checking it twice, and I don't think we care too much about the naughty or nice part. Life is equal measure. We can't wait to see the winter wonderland of the 'Champagne Powder' that is the Colorado snow at Steamboat. We can't wait to be back in the big MusicFest tent, and the other venues, The Steamboat Grand, The Bear River, Thunderhead up the Gondola, and promoter John Dickson added some new venues; The Dung Beetle Saloon, and the Ghost Ranch Saloon in downtown Steamboat Springs. More to come.

We recorded Doug Moreland last year at Steamboat in our condo/studio. He brought the spirit that is the hallmark of the event, such a joyous celebration of music and being together. For the uninitiated, Doug is a musician and a humorist, also a mighty fine chainsaw artist and party thrower extraordinaire. Music Fogger Sheila Francis attended his Cattlelacs Calfry, and had a blast. Doug is a recipient of the Will Rogers Cowboy Award for Western Music Male Performer of the Year from the Academy of Western Artists. He was also honored with an Entertainer of the Year award from the Texas Music Awards. Here he is doing "Windmill," with Randy Roberts, from MusicFest 2010 at Steamboat. Music Fog is counting the days!

- Jessie Scott

Doug Moreland "Hunting Bear"

Doug Moreland is a funny boy. No, not like that, really! He has done standup comedy, and has acted as Master of Ceremonies for various illustrious occasions. But we especially love it when he marries humor and song. I think he embodies almost a childlike wonder in the antcipation of the hunt, in this song we bring you today. Now I ain't getting into the whole rap about guns, or sport hunting, or the food chain or even the sustainability of life, for that matter. Suffice it to say that Doug twists a phrase on this one, and recalls an earlier time in America, when this was just the way it was.

The other thing that Doug does really well is chainsaw art. Wood does not stand a chance around him. Then there are the funky costumes he snow skis in. Afro wigs, Elvis suits. A mighty TALL man! Hmmmmm, it just occurred to me, the world needs a series of DOUG MORELAND ACTION FIGURES! Dougie, let's go partners on this venture. I can see the line now, and we can come up with an endless list of situations and costuming to put you in. Collect them all! Heck, I can see them as characters in YouTube videos. Have your peeps call my peeps and let's go viral! While we are doing that, here is a Music Fog video from MusicFest at Steamboat Springs back in January. The tune is "Hunting Bear," Doug Moreland with Randy Roberts on upright, originally released on the 2009 CD Barnstormer.

- Jessie Scott

Bonnie Bishop "Lucky Ones"

I know there is stuff going on with Bonnie Bishop, I can just feel it in my bones. I looked on MySpace, and Facebook, and Googled her and such, but I wasn't seeing what was really going on, so I picked up that old analog device, the telephone, and I called her. I caught her on the way to hosting the Red Carpet at the City of Hope/CMA Celebrity Softball Tournament. Posts about Celebrity Softball games twice in one week...who'da thunk it? Bonnie said she hoped she'd do OK, as she didn't know anything about baseball. But then she said she is going to channel her inner Chelsea Handler. I told her just ask lots of weird questions, and that she would be just fine. Doing a Red Carpet is one of the stranger things on the planet. The "journalists" on the red velvet rope approximate newborn birds in the nest, caw-ing really loudly to get the attention of "mom," played by the artists and their handlers that are walking the path, stopping here or there to give quotes to tape decks being waved in the air. Exhausting, really. Of course, this game is part of the CMA Music Fest, which is going on this week in Nashville. So if you like your country in the mainstream, that's certainly where you should be.

Bonnie is heading out on the road this week, after doing the Andy Griggs Celebrity Poker Tournament and Jam. Bonnie is becoming quite the celebrity sports woman! She'll be heading back home to Texas on this run, and I can't wait to see her! Meantime, let's revisit her from MusicFest at Steamboat! "Lucky Ones" with the master, Michael Webb.

- Jessie Scott