Gary P. Nunn "Taking Texas to the Country"

I don’t know when it happened or how it happened, but I knew that one day I would live in Texas.  And so it has come to pass.  I have lived the ‘hippie gypsy’ life of a radio vagabond, and as such, I have spent time in some of the most beautiful places in the country.  From Florida's  Atlantic coast to Ojai, California, to a hilltop in Nashville, to the Connecticut waterfront, to New York City; they have all left their mark on me.  I remember playing Tanya Tucker’s “Texas When I Die” on the radio at WHN in New York, when it came out in 1978, and I think that is when I decided I had to live here one day.

Texan pride is an amazing thing, it permeates one’s soul.  We extoll the virtues of this state, even though it is hotter than the blazes in the summer.  But that is a small price to pay for the wide open spaces, the food, the music, the friendliness of the people, the cross pollination of cultures.  It just feels comfortable.  Now, I am not saying that other places don’t, nor that I haven’t enjoyed the charms of the other locales. But I am happy to be here.

I had lunch at Guero’s Taco Bar  a couple of days ago with Brian Smith and the folks from the Ghost Ranch Saloon.  We talked about how the spirit of Texas overtakes Steamboat Springs every year during MusicFest.  I can’t believe it was just January that we were there for our first event of 2011, as it seems like so long ago.

We had Gary P. Nunn in the house, what a joy that was! Check out his tour dates, and try to catch up with him soon for a magical night of music.  Meanwhile, enjoy this Music Fog recording of “Taking Texas To The Country,” the title track from GPN’s  fifteenth studio album, which came out about a year ago.

-- Jessie Scott 

Band of Heathens "Medicine Man"

It was four years ago that I first laid eyes on the Band Of Heathens, as they trooped into our makeshift studio during the last year X Country was broadcasting live from MusicFest at Steamboat. It was noon, everyone was hurting from the night before, but magic was laid down in the conversation nook of the condo. That was the beginning of a wonderful working relationship with this incredible group of musicians. 

The Band of Heathens are releasing their brand new CD today. Top Hat Crown & The Clapmaster’s Son is their best yet, in my humble opinion. It is steamy, sultry, and immerses you in the swamp fever of New Orleans. It wails and rocks and rolls. It shimmies and shakes and shows off the Heathens prodigious chops. Don’t say there isn’t good music coming out, ‘cause there sure is, you just have to look a little harder to find it. Or keep coming back here, for we do try to bring the tasty to your attention.

When we filmed a private session with the Band Of Heathens at this year’s MusicFest at Steamboat we promised that we would wait to put this tune up on release day. Do you have any idea how hard that was? It was driving us crazy to share it with you! So here it finally is, the Music Fog recording of “Medicine Man” from the brand new CD, out today!

- Jessie Scott

Uncle Lucius "No Time Flat"

It is one week out from our Music Fog Marathon, presented by Neustar. Yes, we welcome a brand new sponsor to this event and into the Music Fog family. We are so happy to be working with them. They’re the guys who make it possible for you to keep your own phone number when you change carriers, like from AT&T to Verizon, or from Sprint to T-Mobile. They also are the folks who are making digital downloads of movies work through something called UltraViolet (think one giant leap from Blu-ray). And they pretty much make our phones and the Internet work, but for the most part no-one’s ever heard of them because they keep a pretty low profile. We’re glad they chose to raise it a little bit by helping us out during SXSW® Music week.

It is so hard to believe another episode is just about upon us. I am not ready. What’s more, the MF crew in DC is scrambling to make the necessary prep to head to Texas again. Aaron, Beans and Chris are traveling in the BBC (Big Blue Crew), which we suspect knows the way all by itself by now. Ah, but it would be great to have a smart car that you could set to take you to your destination and just go. One that would just deliver you like a magic carpet. You could sleep, eat, have animated discussions, hell, you could even produce videos during the trip. I like that! Oh yeah, and can we make it a hover craft? A girl can dream after all. At the end of the day, it is all about using the time wisely. All I know is that everything seems to be speeding by, passing quickly as our music marathon will be here, and then we will be done and the guys gone in the blink of an eye. Uncle Lucius, who we will be catching up with again next week, comments in song. From our Music Fog Steamboat sessions in January at The MusicFest, we bring you another unreleased song, “No Time Flat.”

- Jessie Scott