Gondola Concert Series w/ Fred Andrews

Woot! Year Three of the Gondola Concert Series™! We are so stoked to have been able to do it again. It was the brainchild of Music Fog founding member Ben Krech, hatched when we were still at XM. That year, we were stopped from the trip by high winds, but Robert Earl Keen had kindly agreed to take the ride up the mountain with us. We held it in the Steamboat Conference room instead, with contest winners up close and personal.

The first year we did it under the auspices of Music Fog we had Paula Nelson and George Devore, and it was the trip that we met Sheila on. Last year, Brandon Jenkins was our magnificent artist. Saturday morning of this year's MusicFest we were at the outdoor stage, watching performances at the base of the mountain from Corb Lund and Jack Ingram, (Eds Note: You really need to think about coming to MusicFest at Steamboat next year, cause it rocks!) when we spotted Fred Andrews of Honeybrowne fame. He said yes! And so last Sunday morning we sent a tweet out and posted the request on Facebook for a fan to accompany Fred on the Gondola for a private concert. Johnny Van from Chicago was the lucky winner waiting for us, as we stopped by the office for our lift tickets. Again, thanks to the folks at Steamboat Resort for making all the strategics so effortless.

Sheila and I were on the first car, with camera two, while Aaron, Beans, and Denise were on the car with the action! The temperature was much warmer this year, but heavy snow proved to be a view stealer. One of the shining moments of this video, though, is where contest winner Johnny Van inserts an impromptu line into the stop down section of the tune...just classic! Here's Fred Andrews performing "I'm Not Saying Goodbye Today" from high atop the Steamboat gondola. Enjoy the ride!

- Jessie Scott

Uncle Lucius "Something They Ain't"

The bus pulled back into Austin from MusicFest at Steamboat Springs on Tuesday afternoon. We had driven all night out of Colorado. For me, the rest of the day was a flurry of laundry, errands, writing, packing, and getting ready for the next journey. Thank goodness there was food in the house, so I didn't have to go to the supermarket. I jumped a plane to Nashville Wednesday morning, and I have to say that life is a little weird when you do back to back trips like this. I am juiced by it, though! This is a test...! The guys had even further to drive, so it was 48 hours on the road, straight through, for them to get back to the DC area. Troopers!

We started off the new year with lots of laughs and loads of cool music. Oh, and some of us have acquired new nicknames. Aaron is now "Duke," having bought a truck stop topper, a black Stetson like chapeau. Denise is "Sassy," and Sheila, well, I can't actually tell you what her nickname is. Just imagine you are 22 and you have to be the grown-up to a bunch of overgrown adolescents. Yes, I am talking about the rest of the Music Fog crew! Sheila is becoming a mighty fine videographer, too. Suffice it to say, we know how blessed we are to be able to capture music in spectacular places.

We are talking about an embarrassment of riches...what we filmed at The MusicFest this year is simply too good, too cool, too happening. Too hard to even pick! I find myself scanning the list of what we captured in awe and wonder! I can't wait until we bring this latest round of sessions - all 27 artists - your way! "Collect them all," is what I say. Keep another thing in mind, we haven't even filmed everyone we want to yet!!! How totally amazing, that the genre of Americana is so rich and deep and multicolored and varied, that Music Fog has been at it for two years, and there is still WAY more to document. It is a living breathing entity, real music, delivered by people who love it, who continue to walk the path. And there is just something so primal when the music wraps its arms around you and takes you for the ride!

It is such a pleasure to get to work with artists that are new to us, as well as spend time with those that we have watched grow. Take the band Uncle Lucius, for instance. We recorded them the first time almost two years ago at SXSW. They played five songs for our cameras at Threadgill's South one evening. They segued one song into the next rapid-fire style, and we were totally taken with them. And they were being born, forming their DNA at the same time we were. It feels sort of like we have taken the ride with them, as we have documented their growth in the different stages. And make no mistake, they are full blown now. They rocked the house at the Steamboat Grand Ballroom. We overheard people talking about them all over the festival, and it was just their first year at MusicFest. We had them visit us the evening of Saturday night, January 8th. It reached a fever pitch in our studio with Sons of Bill, Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers, and then Uncle Lucius. Three bands in a row, Aaron laying cable, and somehow pulling the big configurations together in record time. There ought to be cameras on him, too! The band recorded a couple of new tunes with us, even naming one on the spot, but the energy was so amazing in this version of "Something They Ain't" that we just HAD to share this one first! Get ready for some Zen...Uncle Lucius!

- Jessie Scott

Update on 2011-11-05 02:43 by Music Fog

The Music Fog version of this song is now available to download at either of the stores below:

The MusicFest 2011 - Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

View from our studio at the Steamboat Grand HotelThe 2011 MusicFest at Steamboat is getting to be a rear view mirror memory, as we savor the sweetness of the snow, the serenity of Steamboat and the magic of the music, with everyone just having the best of all possible times. We are breaking down the set and packing up our equipment. We filmed 27 artists in all on this trip, and we offer huge hugs and kisses to the Steamboat Grand staff, the Steamboat Resort people, all the managers, crew and artists.

We can't tell you how much this means to us to share in the community that John and Robin and the rest of the Dickson Productions folks have created. We are eternally grateful for the opportunity to advance our mission. Music Fog was formed just before the MusicFest 2009, when Beans, Aaron, Ben, Chris, and I lost our jobs due the merger of XM and Sirius satellite radio. We took our severance money and invested in ourselves, and in the concept of being able to go direct to you on the web with no gatekeepers. The goal was twofold: to continue to showcase the kind of music I was programming on my channel, X Country on XM, as well as to showcase the production skills of Aaron and Beans. For two years we have criss crossed the country attending events where many musicians congregate. We set an impossibly packed schedule for ourselves on site. We are lucky if we sleep for four hours a night, but as archivists, we know we are capturing these once in a lifetime moments in the same way that John and Alan Lomax captured their era. Only we are including the pictures. We are a for hire production company, and we love getting out on the road and proving we can make it look good and sound good, with a little ingenuity, wherever we set up our studio. So we thank YOU for watching our videos, reading our articles, and sharing us with your friends that love this real deal music too. The faster we grow, the better we serve to be a megaphone for the music which deserves to find a larger audience. Because it is just that good.

Whenever we have a kitchen on premises, we feed the artists that come in to play for us. This year, I made Green Chile Stew, Beans did eight pounds of Mystery Brisket, Aaron cooked Pork Chile Verde, and Denise did a Beef Bourguignon. Sheila hit the slopes between takes, and we all ate and drank. As Paul Thorn said on his EPK, "How do we travel? We travel WELL!" Speaking of Paul Thorn, that is our next trip! We will be heading down to Muscle Shoals to produce his live webcast on Saturday January 29th!

So long from Steamboat...'till next year!

- Jessie Scott