I think this song got maybe 4 or 5 hits when I searched for it on Google, which is a shame. Listen to the end for the outtakes version where John Davis and Mic figure out the harmonies.

Also pretty sure that my friends Charlie Seaton and Stephen Hinton played this one and “A Quick One While He’s Away” at Chi Beta Chi’s Goat Roast. I wish I had the end of their version of A Quick One on video, because it was horrible, and all falsetto, and spastic, and great. Great because they were performing it at FHU, amongst mostly strangers, not minding being oddballs in front of people who were really just there to see “The Gentry Morris Band” (the band I played in b/c I was desperate to be in a band). 

Song Premiere: Mic Harrison and the High Scores, “Don’t Change Your Plans”

If you’re the kind of person who believes good music can and should be simple, Mic Harrison and the High Score will be right up your alley. Harrison’s a Knoxville-based music vet who used to play guitar in Superdrag and The V-Roys. He’s also opened for Steve Earle and Scott Miller. Listen to the track “Don’t Change Your Plans,” from his band’s new album, Still Wanna Fight, below.

“This is the first record we recorded live in the same room,” Harrison tells American Songwriter. “All our previous records were individually tracked, which is great but there’s something about being able to watch each other and feel those tiny ebbs and flows that gives this record a different energy. I originally  wrote ”Don’t Change Your Plans” back in the mid 90′s when I thought my future wife was moving to Arizona. I came back to the song last year, trust me this one is so much better then the first one.”

Did you know that Americana isn’t just a school of music-making and an association and a club that we belong to? As of this year, it’s an actual word. Last August, after much internal debate, Merriam-Webster officially added a third definition to its entry under Americana, calling it “a genre of American music having roots in early folk and country music.” First a Grammy category, and now this? It’s exciting to reflect on as the Americana Music Association kicks off its 12th annual conference and music festival, the very one that we at Music City Roots got to be part of last night as we opened AMA and our ninth season on the air. And we couldn’t have assembled a cooler or more robust cross-section of the music, with sounds from all over America and all over the sonic spectrum.

Gritty Southern country rock with New Orleans overtones? Check. Grayson Capps covered that base with a five piece band and a commanding voice. He told us on stage that being uprooted by Hurricane Katrina tipped him into hitting the road as a full-time artist, and whether out of a long time base in Franklin TN or his current home near Mobile AL, this was a good development for music. “Coconut Moonshine” was especially delicious sounding, with its jungle-ish groove and a searing, hot-wired guitar solo from Corky Hughes. I hope Ole Smoky was taking notes, because I think they should add this flavor.

How about a spare, moving folk duo? Merriam-Webster could define that as the Milk Carton Kids, who brought a Simon & Garfunkel-meets-Gillian Welch & David Rawlings harmonic convergence to the stage. With spidery guitar and cooing, locked voices, Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan brought a hush to the crowd and stirred the mood with songs of places, like “New York” and “Michigan.” I can see why these guys have the buzz factor going. Four songs was not enough.

Groovy, earthy neo-acoustic music? Yep, we had that too, and it was Elephant Revival who brought it from Nederland, CO. Bonnie Paine strikes a dramatic figure, with the pointy black leather gloves that she uses to stir up syncopated rhythms on her washboard, and the fiddling from Bridget Law was superb. “Down To The Sea” created a cosmic pulse with Dango Rose’s bowed acoustic bass and loopy guitar figures. “Ring Around The Moon” featured Bonnie singing like a mountain girl take on Natalie Merchant and earned the band a standing ovation AND an a cappella encore.

A tour around Americana wouldn’t be really complete without some edgy deep country and bluegrass, and that came from The Wilders, out of Kansas City, MO. They opened up with “She Says (I Say),” a driving, bouncing tune that featured some rocking, low-slung dobro from Phil Wade. “Get Up Kid” was magnificently dark and drear, while “Hey Little Darlin’” (a phrase that can turn any sentence into a bluegrass sentence) let Ike Shelton and Betse Ellis really dig into some high lonesome harmonies. Congrats to this quartet for celebrating 15 years of making intense, unique country music. They really get it right.

And I know what you’re thinking – that no Americana slate would be complete without a blues kazoo solo. And thank heaven I was on hand to take care of this. The great Scott Miller and Mic Harrison asked if I could handle this high-tech and very subtle instrument on the V-Roys barroom classic “Cold Beer Hello.” Not only could I handle the song, I believed in the song! So after the guys offered up other faves (“Mary” and “No Regrets” among them), I strode boldly on stage to blow my Charlie Parker meets Little Walter approach to the kazoo, and it seems to have gone well. I didn’t get paid, but I did get to keep the kazoo. And it will be more than a mere souvenir I assure you. I’m working on new techniques already.