If you follow me on Twitter you may have seen a moving Thread I shared yesterday. Nashville journalist and all round country music enthusiast, Brian Mansfield told a story about a life changing moment for his family. He explained how, twenty years ago, when the death of Waylon Jennings had just been announced he was forced to stay in the house and miss out on the church service he normally attended on a Wednesday evening. Brian explained that had that announcement not been made on that sad evening his normal schedule would have meant they would have been elsewhere in the house and not listening out for their daughter whose breathing, due to whooping cough, had ceased.

After an emergency phone call, an admission to hospital and a week in hospital, including three days in ICU his daughter pulled through. Happily she is now a healthy young adult. What moved Brian was the irony of reflecting on the ‘what if’ nature of Waylon Jennings early life. It was Waylon, of course, who gave his seat up on that ill-fated flight by Buddy Holly in 1959. The recipient of Waylon’s kind gesture was JP ‘The Big Bopper’ Richardson, who along with Holly and the other travellers lost his life in the subsequent air-crash. Waylon Jennings carried the guilt of that decision for the rest of his life.

It was this part of Brian’s thread which really struck home for me: ‘Waylon never knew his death allowed my daughter to live. Knowing that he suffered from survivor’s guilt for most of his adult life, I wish there was a way I could have told him. I think he would have appreciated hearing that.’

Twenty years on from the death of a country music giant, we’ll pay our own tribute to Waylon Jennings. We’ll also have some new music from his old Outlaw buddy, Willie Nelson.

Elsewhere on the show we’ll also hear a big song from Mickey Guyton. Mickey’s profile exploded last weekend when she was asked to sing the US National Anthem before The Superbowl. The reaction to her performance was phenomenal and for many people who don’t know the current direction of country music her performance reminded us of the value of young female country artists and the increasing profile of  American American voices.

We have new music from C2C artists we’ve not played until now as well as some great new things from old friends including Jenny Lewis, Punch Brothers and Jason Isbell. There will be more from John Mellencamp and Bruce Springsteen, Sierra Ferrell and The War On Drugs. We’ll do all of this in two hours which starts at five past eight on BBC Radio Scotland. Do join me if you can.

If you’ve followed my ramblings over the last few weeks you’ll not be surprised to hear I’ve been more excited about one particular album release than many of the (relatively good) other offerings that have come out this year. The eponymously titled new album by Anaïs Mitchell promised so much and, in all truth, has not disappointed.

Anaïs has always been a fascinating character for me. Carving out a career that is quite unique within Americana and/or Folk Music, she has followed her heart on a quite delightful path which has been as attractive for its many deviations as it has for its general direction. What that direction is may be open to some debate too. What has dominated her creative thinking is the off/off Broadway Musical , Hadestown she tentatively put together fifteen or more years ago up in her home state of Vermont. Since those early days Anaïs’s musical (which is entirely her work) has moved to off-Broadway, London’s West End then finally to a triumphant run (which still continues) on the Great White Way itself. In that time it has garnered Tony and Olivier Awards and, in the way all great art does, has changed the nature of the genre itself.

Over the course of that journey Anaïs has brought out some beautiful solo records, collaborated once again with some interesting side projects and even joined a band who will bring out their second album later this year. I should add that all this has happened while she brought two children into the world. With her young family, Anaïs has now returned to Vermont where she lives on the farm she grew up on with her extended family close by. It was there I spoke to her a couple of weeks ago when she told me about the process of writing and recording the new album. The record is produced by her fellow Bonny Light Horseman, Josh Kaufman, and it’s impossible to find anything to dislike about the songs, the performance or the sound. Everything comes together simply but with glorious imagination and, as we discuss in the conversation for this week’s Another Country, there are appropriate nods to great artists. What is never in doubt too is Anaïs’s way with a lyric, which in the case of this album, tell the listener much more about a subject she may have skirted round until now: Anaïs Mitchell.

On this week’s AC we’ll give over Hour Two to that conversation and a good deal of Anaïs’s new album as well as some choice cuts from her extensive back catalogue. I promise you that a few minutes in her conversational company will be the only warmth you need on, what will inevitably be, a cold Scottish winter evening.

There’s more…always more…but for all of that you’ll need to join me on BBC Radio Scotland  this Tuesday evening from five past eight or on BBC Sounds at a time that suits you. Whichever way, do join me if you can.

There was a favourite song amongst Elvis Costello’s B Sides I came across in an excellent compilation called Taking Liberties that came out in the early 80s. ‘Hoover Factory’ was a short tribute to the Art Deco magnificence of the building that catches your eye as you drive into London from the west. Elvis’s song never really had a chorus as such but landed on the line ‘It’s not a matter of life and death, but what is?’

This sprang to mind as I approached The Blog on an afternoon of high political drama at home and abroad. Art has a way of tucking itself into unusual historical moments. The recent discussions of the Birth of Modernism throw up some interesting anomalies. I particularly enjoyed a wander round the park listening to ‘The Rest Is History’ by Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook where they throw in these great titbits like the opening dinner to celebrate the new age in 1922. Picasso, Stravinsky, Proust and Joyce all attended…except that Joyce was late and drunk and he and Proust spoke only of truffles. Sometimes everything does not quite fit in where one imagines it should be.

Lola Kirk

Will this week, for example, be remembered for the end of a Prime Minister or the beginning of the end of an era defining music streaming service? I suspect it may prove to be neither. I’m also praying it doesn’t become the week a European War commenced.

There’s another story brewing which has interested our Nashville correspondent. It concerns the streaming service that dare not speak its name and it’s not the story you think it is. Bill DeMain, our man in Music City, will be joining me on this week’s Another Country to explain how the age of streaming may have led to the age of Crowd Funding. Bill will also bring us some Nashville News and his usual country tip which, I can almost guarantee, will become a regularly played artist on the show.

I’ll also bring you some great new things. Listen out for Ali Sperry, Anna Ash and Cody Johnson. I’m also very excited to be playing the great new single by Lola Kirke which may become a 2022 favourite. You’ll hear some new cuts from the Brothers Osborne and Old Crow Medicine Show. We have Hayes Carll doing Bob Dylan and something great from Charlie Rich. It all starts at five past eight on BBC Radio Scotland and it’s an FM night as there’s football on the Digital Feed. Join me if you can.

That’s nearly it for this week except to say that you may have seen, this is going to be a busy old year for me. I look forward to seeing you on the road somewhere in the UK or Ireland in September and October. If you’ve not seen my news you can find it on my social media pages or on this link.

Finally, I’m really pleased to be sitting in for Mark Radcliffe on BBC Radio 2’s Folk Show this Wednesday. Join me if you can to hear some great music from this year’s Celtic Connections.

Watching TV entertainment news people trying to get a handle on complex subject matter to create that light segment before the weather forecast can be painful viewing. The item on the news I caught earlier today made me want to hide behind the sofa. It was trailing the new Brian Wilson documentary, ‘Long Promised Road.’

Interviewer: ‘What is the real Brian Wilson then? What do people need to know?’

Brian Wilson: ‘Songs’

Ask a stupid question eh.  It’s not the only daft question that was asked, but it’s enough to be getting on with. However, because he is a very smart human being, Brian’s answer redirected the interview and drew the viewer’s attention back to what mattered, the songs.

It’s such a fundamental point that gets overlooked in most media interviews I have to endure. The most important factor is the songs. It’s all we really care about on a Tuesday night and it’s the only thing I really want to talk to artists about when I get a chance to record interviews. How did the song arrive, what were the background factors and how did it end up sounding the way we heard it first?: The only questions that really matter.

On this week’s show we will ask some of those questions retrospectively as we pay tribute and draw attention to the songwriting craft of Dallas Frazier who died on the 14th of this month at the age of 82. I arrived too late at my love of country music to know much about Dallas Frazier’s life but again, I know his songs. And what a song catalogue he has.

A prodigy of Ferlin Husky who picked him to win at a singing contest in Bakersfield, California when Frazier was only twelve, he had recorded and published his first song by the age of fourteen. In the fifties his career consisted of appearing on the Hometown Jamboree TV show as a regular contributor until he scored a No1 Hit with Alley Oop. It started a phenomenal songwriting career which took off seriously when he moved from LA to Nashville in 1963.

On this week’s AC we’ll spin you some tracks which you will know and a few you don’t. Safe to say that Elvis, George Jones, Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris and Tammy Wynette have all enjoyed success with Dallas Frazier songs and only last year, Connie Smith, recorded, “I Just Don’t Believe Me Anymore.” We feel certain you’re going to enjoy going down this particular rabbit hole.

We also have some great new things to play you. Listen out for two Scottish troubadours, Dean Owens and Roseanne Reid who both debut new songs for 2022. We will also look forward to Country to Country 22 with songs from Callista Clark, Luke Combs and Tenille Townes.

It’s two hours of country music our way all starting at five past eight this Tuesday evening on BBC Radio Scotland (all frequencies) and on BBC Sounds at a time and place of your own choosing. Join me if you can.

One of the reasons people connect with the music we play on Another Country is because of the stories. We play songs telling tales which often reflect the harsher truths of life. If the song is a ballad, there is inevitably an ache, a longing for things to be different and there is probably less romance and fantasy when it comes to the love songs.

Off the top of my head I can think of a few of these troubled love songs….By The Time I Get To Phoenix, On The Other Hand, He Stopped Loving Her Today and that song that every songwriter I know would love to have written, I Can’t Make You Love Me. All of them scratching beneath the surface at all ages of love, whether we are in our teens or have reached a grand old age, they speak the truths of the human heart.

In the same way there are songs we’ve played which have shaken core beliefs and perhaps anyone who has heard them has had to rethink their social attitudes on some key issues.  In the last year I’m recalling Persephone by Allison Russell, Joy of Jesus by Stephanie Lambring  and Willie Jones’ American Dream. It takes a special kind of songwriter to create these kind of songs and it also requires the right kind of slant and delivery. This week’s special guest, Hayes Carll, has all of that and more.

Texas born and raised and now Nashville based, we’ve been fans of Hayes Carll’s music over the many years of being on air. His was one of the earliest interviews we broadcast in the early days of the show when we celebrated with him the recognition he received for his song KMAG YOYO which was Americana Song of The Year back in 2011. Since then we’ve followed the interesting twists and turns in the Hayes story and even caught up with him on his honeymoon a few years back. On this record Hayes has drafted in his wife, Allison Moorer on production duties too. I managed to record a conversation with him about his new album, You Get It All, a few months back and on this week’s Another Country you can hear Hayes’ thoughts on these songs as well as a little insight into the Carll/ Moorer sessions over lockdown which included them playing some killer covers to their on line worldwide audience.

In other news I’ve been enjoying Neil Young’s ‘Waging Heavy Peace’ and towards the end of the book he pays a glowing tribute to Linda Ronstadt. I thought we might play something significant by the two of them as the album the song comes from approaches its 50th birthday.

It’s all on a packed AC commencing at five past eight this Tuesday evening on BBC Radio Scotland (FM only this week) or, as ever, live or any time after on BBC Sounds. Join me if you can.

PS…a friend is looking for a banjo tutor in Glasgow. He thought there might be someone in the wider country music community who could help. Any suggestions please reply to the Blog and I’ll pass on the info.

I hope you had a good Christmas and have, so far, had a happy new year. Despite a family Covid outbreak I’m pleased to say that (as I write) I’m still defying the odds and looking forward to returning to our regular studio to present Another Country this Tuesday.

Spending time in a slight remove from country music has, if anything, increased my appetite to get back into listening mode. If there is one thing I have gleaned over the last fourteen years of the AC it is that a good song is, still, a good song. Listening to a wider range of music over the last few months has only confirmed what I have suspected over a long time: country music is still vital, creative and most importantly, constantly evolving.

Like so many of you, the musical experience which has dominated the festive season was The Beatles, Get Back movie by Peter Jackson. Spending a few hours with the Fab Four is never going to be a waste of time and it occurred to me again how many conversations I’d had in Nashville with songwriters and singers who told me how much their lives had been turned around by The Beatles. Listening too to the Sodajerker podcast with Miami Steve Van Zandt the other day I was reminded too of the long apprenticeship the boys served before these eight, fab years. From 1957 until 1962 The Beatles listened, copied, played and then finally triumphed by putting everything they’d absorbed into some brilliant recordings and performances which, literally, changed the world.

The other great Christmas gift, for me, was the No Nukes Springsteen gig which has been restored and is now available to watch in all its glory. The thirty year old Springsteen is a joy to behold, as are that late seventies E Street players. After a great, slightly time restricted hour’s set, the band come back to celebrate the songs they got to know growing up. Devil In the Blue Dress, Good Golly Miss Molly/ CC Rider/ Jenny Take A Ride then a pause to catch some breath before Quarter to Three and finally Buddy Holly’s Rave On.

So, on our first show back we’re going to take a little of the inspiration from these two seminal rock ‘n’ roll films to show, as ever, that the roots of so much of the music are based in and around Music City Tennessee.

As well as all of that we’ll pay tribute to Peter Bogdanovich who died last week. As well as more famous films and cameo acting performances he was the man who made one of the great country music movies of all time. If you haven’t seen ‘The Last Picture Show‘ or it’s a while since you last watched, I recommend it to you. We’ll play one of the many great cuts on this week’s show.

And finally…some things don’t change. Black lives still matter even though The Grand Ole Opry hosted Morgan Wallen this weekend. You can read more about it by following Jason Isbell’s twitter feed or see the back story here. If you join us this Tuesday evening on BBC Radio Scotland you’ll find out once more how much we believe African Americans should be front and centre to all discussions about country music. Find us on FM, Digital or BBC Sounds any time after the show is finished. It all starts on BBC Radio Scotland this Tuesday evening at 8 p.m.

It was sad to read of the death of Paddy Moloney last week. There has been some great tributes paid from across the Irish sea and it’s little wonder. Paddy was as close to a front man as The Chieftains ever got. He was the one who told the stories and through him we got to know more about the music. The music of Paddy and of The Chieftains was great. On Another Country we love collaborations; singers singing songs of other writers, duetting, guest playing or producing and generally creating musical harmony. The Chieftains made all of that a lifetime’s work.

I’m delighted to note the good Iain Anderson paid his own tribute earlier this week, but in general there hasn’t been enough mention of a man who opened up traditional music to millions of people and highlighted other musical forms to the trad audience. I knew of Paddy and The Chieftains because the late John Peel would regularly record sessions as well as play album tracks from the band. They were mixed in there with the reggae, punk and eventually techno tracks that became the Peel soundscape. On this week’s show we’ll play you some wonderful collaborations from The Chieftains who, more than a few times, made music with country and Americana voices. We’ll also remind you about the brilliant collaboration they made with Van the man which, I can testify, even had Van dancing in front of the audience some thirty odd years back in Govan Town Hall.

This will be my final blog for this year. I have left some fine things in the store for you on the wireless over the next few weeks. There’s a show I’ve wanted to curate for a while now which plays some of my favourite songs and obscurities from thirteen years of Another Country. We also have a two-hour Natalie Hemby special which includes a long conversation with her about her new album, Pins and Needles as well as retrospective chat about the great songs she has written for others. You may not know Natalie, but you will certainly know the songs.

From mid November until Christmas BBC Radio Scotland are bringing you a new show for a few weeks while I go off around the country with my fellow Deacon Blue chums to complete a tour which is a year over due. I’m excited to be getting the chance to do this and I hope (from a distance) I might be closer than usual to a few folks who read the blog.

So, this final live show on Tuesday will feature Natalie Hemby on vinyl, that Paddy Moloney tribute and music from Anais Mitchell, Noah Gundersen and Phoebe Bridgers and Hayes Carll. It will be as eclectic as ever and I hope you can join me on BBC Radio Scotland or BBC Sounds. Either way it all starts this Tuesday evening from five past eight. See you on the road or back on the wireless in 2022.

In actual fact, I would like to thank my agent. The good Paul Fenn, my own live agent, sent me a stream of the Americana Awards night from The Ryman Theatre. As you well know, the Ryman is the mother church of country music, and you could not imagine a more hallowed hall in which to host The Americana’s big night of the year. It’s the original home of the Opry, they had a galaxy of stars ready to perform and a wheen of ‘suits’ who seemed to have something to do and say about with the genre.

I’ll be honest here. I didn’t make my way through the whole two and a bit hours…but there were some lovely moments. I really enjoyed The Highwomen with added Yola and a very spirited performance by The Fisk Jubilee Singers. However…and here there is a deep however, I really had to sigh when I heard the outcome of the winners. In truth none of the nominations for album of the year could be described as great records. There are some good moments in all of them and I have a few tracks I could happily enjoy on each. But the winner: ‘Cuttin’ Grass – Vol. 1 (Butcher Shoppe Sessions),’ Sturgill Simpson, isn’t even a new record. Sturgill’s album is a remake of his back catalogue and, as much as it is a pleasant surprise after ‘Sound and Fury’ there are other fresher records out there. So my hopes were pinned on people having the good sense to reward Allison Russell (Emerging artist) or Amythyst Kiah (song of the year for Black Myself) but.. no. Instead we got Charley Crockett who is twelve years into a career and on his tenth (count em’ people) album. Emerging eh? Worse than that is an award which John Prine himself would probably, happily forfeit. ‘I Remember Everything’ was favoured over ‘Black Myself’ which, apart from being brilliant and cut twice is surely a song that’s asking the right questions. I love John Prine, but he was rightly and royally lauded in last year’s awards and this was a lost opportunity to honour new artists who have ensured African American voices and stories are being brought to a wider audience.

Having said all of that I’m pretty sure no one takes these things too seriously (least of all the winners) and the Americana Festival is a great showcase for music. We’ll have our Nashville Correspondent on the line during this week’s show to give us his take on all the events of the festival. Bill DeMain will also bring us news and musical tips which, in case you need reminded, have often resulted in us first hearing acts which have become the household names on the AC.

As well as Bill we will hear new music from Hayes Carll, Brandy Carlile, Diana Jones and Nathan Bell. If that’s not enough we’ll have the most surprising version of Jolene from the least likely artist to have tackled the Dolly Parton classic so far. We do all this in two hours, starting at 8 pm this Tuesday evening on BBC Radio Scotland FM or any time then or after on BBC Sounds. Join me if you can.

It’s feeling a little autumnal. As I write this the skies are darkening a little overhead and the possibility of lighting the fire tonight and staying in gets more and more attractive. The soundtrack is Dorothy Love Coates and assorted Gospel gems and I’m inclined not to move too far from this sofa for a few hours.

I’m never sure what my father would have made of great African American or Country Gospel music, but I have a feeling he would have enjoyed it for bringing together his love of music and his desire to spread the word whenever he could. Fathers and sons eh? Even years of separation don’t seem to break the bonds of growing up. I got a call from my own son this afternoon and immediately we fell back into familiar themes of conversation that have marked our life together. Though we are hundreds of miles apart it felt as if we were still riding in the car together, going up to the game or up to the hills above the city for a long walk.

We have a bit of a father/son theme going on in this week’s Another Country. Our very special guest is The Wallflowers’ very own Jakob Dylan, whose the son of Bob. I really enjoyed talking to Jakob a few weeks back, but felt acutely aware that there was an elephant in the virtual room and I wasn’t going to be the one who’d mention it first. It’s hard enough making a name for yourself in this musical world without worrying that every time you release a song it gets compared to the ultimate pop/rock catalogue. I’m therefore delighted to tell you that with or without the knowledge of Jakob’s lineage The Wallflowers new record, Exit Wounds is a fine piece of work. There’s much to enjoy in the interplay of the current lineup whose album is the first under that name for eight years. It’s interesting too to understand Jakob’s rules of what defines a band project against the records he’s brought out in his own name.

While we’re on this theme we will remind you of the talent that was Justin Townes Earle who, sadly, died far too young last year with a reminder of the potency of his father’s songwriting thrown in for good measure. There’s a new record too from the third generation of Williams as we introduce you to new Nashville star, Sam Williams, grandson of Hank. Will you hear a Hank classic? I suspect you know the answer to that one.

Elsewhere in two hours of country we will bring you some great new collaborations from Adia Victoria and Matt Berninger, David Ferguson and Margo Price as well as Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde. It will be a packed two hours which all kicks off at five past eight on BBC Radio Scotland FM this Tuesday evening, or BBC Sounds wherever, whenever you fancy. Join me if you can.

I was chatting to my cousin on Friday night. We were doing some texting and as an afterthought she added she had been mesmerised by the BBC4 documentary on The Everly Brothers.  She made the very valid point that when she was a teenager in the 60’s she paid so little attention to them as they were deemed a little ‘uncool.’ I have to say I concurred with her. So many people were passed over by kids of my generation because they didn’t fit into our idea of what a pop star should look like. Inversely too, there were those who deserved far less attention but stayed on our radar as we expected them to be as good as they looked. It wasn’t until we reached a respectable age that we all realised the complete folly of our teenage prejudices.

Mrs R and I watched The Every Brothers doc on the iPlayer on Sunday night and I can only implore you to do the same if you haven’t yet seen it. It’s beautifully produced and includes some very telling interviews with some people who really know what they’re on about. Particular praise should go to British trio Teddy Thompson, Dave Edmunds and Albert Lee.  I loved seeing the enigmatic Will Oldham who, of course, made a very good Everly Bros tribute album a few years back with Dawn McCarthy.

As you now know, Don Everly died towards the end of last month and this week we are finally get a chance to pay a proper tribute. The Everlys’ legacy will live on as will another great country artist and songwriter who died around the same time. Tom T Hall’s songs were often better known than he was, and it was only many years later that I realised how many of his songs I knew. We’ll give you a taste of the catalogue and the man himself on this week’s show.

Listen out for some fine new records from Sturgill Simpson, Kacey Musgraves and Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. We also have new names to share with you and we think you’ll really like Emily Scott Robinson, Watchhouse and Elijah Ocean. 

This week’s show is all records. We have recent releases and country classics that, (if you don’t already own them) may send you scrambling for your bank card. As ever we will be live from five past eight on BBC Radio Scotland and on the BBCSounds from the same time and for the next while after. If you’re in the Sounds app you may want to check out my Ricky Ross Meets series which now contains interviews with fourteen different artists including Del Bryant whose parents, Boudleaux and Felice wrote the biggest hits for The Everly Brothers. Do join me in any of these radio adventures live or any time you’d like to listen.