Early in my musical career I did my first ever solo gig. From memory it was in a church hall or similar set up and I was the support act to a talk by a local minister. Afterwards he gave me advice which I’ve never forgotten. He said to me ‘You’re good, so never apologise for anything.’ I think he’d picked up on the fact I was assuming my songs were imposing on people’s goodwill.

He was right of course. If you feel you have to apologise or explain any given thing you are already at a disadvantage. I know people sometimes get this way over particular genres of music. It ends up with that tribal thing going on where people feel their music is more important than anyone else’s. When it comes to country music this usually ends up in something ghastly like line-dancing or ‘shoot-outs’ at the Kinning Park Grand Old Opry.

You don’t have to wear western gear to appreciate country music, you don’t have to love fiddles and banjos and you certainly don’t have to be in America because ultimately it’s really about none of these things. I believe, and I think I’m on fairly safe ground here, it’s about songs and singers.

If there’s a part of you that imagines you are immune to the charms of country I challenge you to put yourself to the test of tonight’s All Star Country Juke Box. You don’t need to be anywhere other than by a radio and you can dress any way you like. You can love rock, soul, R’n’B, folk and pop music and even classical too but you can also enjoy two hours of some of the best songs and singers country has to offer.

I defy you not be moved by the music of Hank Williams, Lee Ann Rimes, George Strait, Linda Ronstadt, Gillian Welch and The Louvin Brothers all chosen by The Mavericks, Suzy Boguss, Kacey Musgraves, Brandy Clark and many, many more. Join us tonight from five past nine to listen in.

In other news, I’m back on Twitter and Facebook and through both of these media we’ll be trailing news of our adventures in Nashville last week when we went looking for the stories behind the great songs and singers. On next week’s show we will take you into the places the Tennessee tourist board will never offer and talk to the people you may not find on your average tourist trip round America’s Music City.

All of this can be found on BBC Radio Scotland every Tuesday from five past nine. Join me if you can.

It’s Monday morning and, well, I’ve been C2C’d. 3 days of Country Music by the Clyde and a quite a few conversations later I feel a little reflection is probably appropriate. Firstly I have to say that the festival itself was populated by a lovely group of people who genuinely came to enjoy themselves. Polite but passionate and – to my pleasant surprise – remarkably young they made the festival a lovely experience for me. Thanks to all the people who came up to me and told me they listened to the AC and to the staff and stewards at the event who all made the weekend very easy to be around.

I’m afraid I never managed to find my way to the King Tuts stage but I hear there were good things to be enjoyed there and, talking to the folk from DF who promoted the whole weekend, I know there are thoughts on how to expand the alternative stages at next year’s event. I have been to one or two ‘country’ shows in Scotland and there can be a sense that the audience are slightly more interested in the past than the future and that country music is part of a general nostalgic rush. Not so at this event. The young line up and the young audience ensured that we were witnessing a music that has changed and is changing. Not everyone will like the direction it seems to be taking but no one can deny that they are witnessing a high point of country’s pop music side and that within that there are some artists and writers able to cross it over to the mainstream.

Sam Hunt set the tone for all of that on Friday. It was a set which highlighted what we have always known; there is a circle of music which unites black and white roots music. Both stem from the same root and they often steal liberally from each other. Little Big Town show much of that too though their glorious use of harmony also highlights another great Country tradition. Starting a show with an acapella rendition of Dolly Parton’s Jolene is never going to get you off on a bad foot. Later that evening Carrie Underwood would bring the house down and confirm all I have just said about the roots of music with her own tribute to Dolly and Whitney Houston with her inch perfect cover of ‘I Will Always Love You.’

If Friday had emphasised the pop then Saturday seemed to bring a slightly less pre programmed emphasis to the proceedings. There were no tapes running in the background for a wonderful set by Andrew Combs and Chris Stapleton did his best to make the Armadillo feel like a smoky New Orleans blues club. Kacey Musgraves‘ band were the first to scatter a little bit of Nashvegas but the night and perhaps the weekend seemed to me to belong to Eric Church. When someone has had the kind of success enjoyed by Eric one has to imagine there is something to their live show. There is. It’s great playing and singing and utter charisma. Eric Church knows who he is – ‘how ’bout you?’

Over the course of the weekend we caught up with Eric, Andrew Combs, Little Big Town and Carrie Underwood in the foyer at BBC Scotland. We broadcast these conversations in two special shows over the weekend and we are repeating them over the next two Tuesday nights so you can catch up.

The last night brought some traditional bar room country from Dwight Yoakam, a delightful set from Ashley Monroe, everything but the kitchen sink from Thomas Rhett and a great closing show from Miranda Lambert.

Thanks to our team in the music department in BBC Scotland for the huge effort they put in to make this event happen and especially to my great friend Richard Murdoch who was assembling the radio shows very close to broadcast time…which was both exhilarating and slightly scary. Do join us over the next two Tuesday nights to catch up with he best of the festival. See you on the other side…

There was no truer aphorism in Rock n Roll than when Charlie Watts described a significant this life with the Rolling Stones as ‘”Twenty years of hanging around.’ Sometimes all we seem to do is wait. I can’t believe the worst months of the winter have come and gone since we first announced Country To Country coming to Scotland. Looking back it seems it was most of Autumn too.

Just to get things straight this is a very exciting weekend for Country Music. As you know we’re not always over excited about everything emanating from Music Row – on the grounds that it doesn’t really fit what we would understand as Country Music. But I’ve gone on record as saying that if I’d been asked to pick a line up of contemporary Country artists it would look very like the line up we have over this coming weekend.

On Friday you can hear Sam Hunt, Little Big Town and then witness the first ever Scottish appearance for Carrie Underwood. Earlier that day we will be hosting an up close and personal conversation with Little Big Town and Carrie, the highlights of which we will broadcast on Saturday evening as an extra special AC. (I know…we’re breaking all the rules here and we’re loving it)….On Saturday we welcome Andrew Combs, Chris Stapleton, Kacey Musgraves and Eric Church. In the afternoon we will  be joined by Eric in the BBC foyer for another close encounter which will become the main part of our second C2C show to be broadcast this Sunday evening. Both these weekend specials go out at the normal AC time of 9 p.m. You getting the picture? It’s a big weekend…..

If you are lucky enough to be at the gigs in the Armadillo itself you’ll see and hear me as I’m introducing all the artists appearing at the festival. The final night is going to be very special too. On stage Thomas Rhett, Ashley Monroe, Dwight Yoakam and Miranda Lambert. In that one night you have some of the finest country voices gathered together. We hope to catch up with one or two of the acts backstage in the course of the weekend too.

Is that all, I hear you say? Well, not quite. As part of C2C, BBC Radio 2 have again commissioned a pop-up country station which starts broadcasting this Thursday. If you don’t get all of it tune in for my Country Jukebox from 11pm. You can find it on your DAB, online or on the BBC Radio App.

But don’t let all this detail put you off just enjoy the music and celebrate the fact that the music we Scots folks took over to Tennessee all these years ago is coming home…..in style.

Join me this Tuesday for the our preview show from 9 pm on BBC Radio Scotland if you can.

I’ve probably told this story before, but indulge me. I first visited Nashville in 2007 when, in all honesty I knew very little about Americana, Country, Bluegrass…you name it. I arrived to write songs with whoever my publisher was kind enough to hook me up with. It was a brilliant trip where one thing led to another and the net result was I fell in love with country music and the city itself.

But what about my big problem? What about all these songs on the radio I didn’t like? What about the awful guys in hats and the cliches and the spangly singers who I could never imagine listening to, least of all making room on my shelves for their records? Who was good and who was bad? I was working with a young artist called Sean McConnell early on and I decided to ask him the question. Where to start, who should I be listening to? Well, said Sean, ‘I love a singer called Patty Griffin.’ I’d heard the name so that was a help and then he said, ‘She’s playing at the Ryman this week so you might get a chance to see her.’

The Ryman – the Mother Church of Country Music – and Patty Griffin. It was sold out. I asked around and another writer knew the manager…it was fixed. A few days ahead of the show I was able to find a couple of record stores where I bought the new album and a few from Patty’s back catalogue. I was prepared. At the Ryman I sat on a wooden pew on a rainy night when there was a leak dripping down from the Confederate Balcony above but nothing put me off. Patty Griffin performed a perfect show and on that night I became a fan. One lovely detail I still remember and it made me realise I was far from home in a special music city: Outside the Ryman on my way back to the car two young female Patty fans were walking home too. Dressed up in Patty clothes, hair and heels they’d paid a fitting tribute to their troubadour hero.

It isn’t difficult to see how Patty can attract that kind of adulation. She refuses to conform to any country stereotypes. Born in the North East of the US she honed her songwriting chops in Boston coffee shops. Even though she’s been admired and covered by the country community she’s not a resident of Nashville – she prefers Austin – and she’s not guilty of bad taste in any of her collaborations, arrangements or clothes. She’s one of the best white Gospel singers I’ve heard yet she professes no religious faith, she claims never to write love songs and yet her ballads will break your heart. In short that question I posed on that first Nashville visit about who I should be listening to was succinctly answered by my cowriter. It was and is Patty Griffin.

Tonight we welcome Patty back for the third time on a very rare visit to Scotland she made back in January. We’ll talk about her current album, ‘Servant of Love’ and we’ll talk through her great back catalogue of songs as she remembers where she was when she wrote the songs.

We’ll have time for some other things to. We’re getting very close to Country 2 Country which happens in two weekends time. We’re hosting some very intimate conversations with some of the biggest names on the festival. If you’d like to be in the audience for these conversations you need to be listening during the first hour of the show tonight.

We’re on air at five past nine on BBC Radio Scotland FM. Join me if you can.

I went off  for a little holiday to the Alps last week. It was just me and my son bringing our slightly haphazard skiing skills to the mountains. The good news is that we survived and we didn’t take out any innocent bystanders on our way down the various slopes we encountered.

I remembered an earlier time I’d been skiing when I didn’t imagine I could go anywhere other than Glenshee or Cairngorm. I’d been given my first Walkman for that Christmas and I decided that the combination of the tape player, Michael Jackson and a downhill run was a good idea. As ‘Human Nature’ came alive for the first time to me ( it was a long time ago) I was smitten. One on one with Jacko in Aviemore…it was too much. I was off! Trouble was the experience, while enhancing the sensual, also made me desperately immune to all the sign posts on the hill. Within a minute or two I was way off course slipping my way down an unplanned black run.

These days the great outdoors is a welcome escape from music for me. Wall to wall music delivery everywhere is beginning to wear thin. There are some songs that shouldn’t ever be background music to anything. Our hotel however had annoyingly good playlists..I caught great things by The Low Anthem, J Mascis and oh yeah, that great new Justin Beiber single!

The ubiquity of music is a modern problem. A few years ago BBC Radio Scotland was persuaded by KLF’s Bill Drummond to take part in no-music day. You could see his point; maybe denying the thing we love most might make us value it more.

Sometimes though, we just need some concentrated listening and after a week of aural bombardment by every kind of pop I was ready for a shiny pile of new records waiting for me on my return. This week I’m very excited about introducing new things by Miranda Lambert, John Moreland, Angela Perley and The Howling Moons, Shearwater and Keston Cobblers Club.

We’ll also have some bluegrass from these men…….

There is always room for some bluegrass folks.

And….we’ll celebrate the news of Bruce coming back to Scotland and squeeze in more good things within two hours than you could ever believe.

We’re on Tuesday evening from 9 pm on BBC Radio Scotland. Join me if you can.

Initially….around the late 90’s… I quite liked the term Americana. It summed up a lot of the things I quite liked and put them together in the same section in a great local record shop. Going in for one thing I, invariably, came away with another one or two.

No term is perfect; I remember looking at a John Lennon solo album bought back in the 70’s and laughed (even then) at the advice – file under male/vocal. Yeah…alongside Johnny Mathis and Jim Reeves.

However it’s worth recognising that Americana has allowed people to claim back many of the things they loved about Country Music without feeling the need to adopt its more otherly and usually unnecessary paraphernalia. Americana still values the song, the voice and the simplicity of the music as well as honouring its roots but tends not over worry about 4 x 4 transport and ten gallon hats. It’s also nice to see the Chart Company finally acknowledging the demand for the music by initiating an Americana chart in the UK. I’m not entirely sure about all the people caught up in their category but was pleased to see that First Aid Kit were recognised for the biggest selling album of last year and C Duncan made the chart!

Last week’s initial Americana Awards was a pretty good night. There was a lot of love in the room for the AC from many an artist, record company and fellow broadcaster which was great to experience. There was some really fine live performances from Emily Barker, Gretchen Peters,Lewis and Leigh, Billy Bragg and big winners, Danny and The Champions of The World and there were some well deserved winners. I’m not over certain that I would have picked the same ones or even the nominees but then again I’m pretty sure most people in the room would have different lists in their heads. What was nice for me was that music which often goes under the music business radar was celebrated in fine style and all of us got to hear new things we’d not heard before.

I, inevitably, came away with a pile of records in my hand that I still can’t match to all the faces I met but have found some worthy additions for our playlist.

Interestingly over the last few years one part of Americana which has pleased me is the inclusion within the genre for old school R n B. We’ve seem Solomon Burke, Southside Johnny, Mavis Staples, Candy Staton and recently Frazey Ford all make records which have been warmly accepted in the Americana  world but which in essence draw more from Memphis than they do from Nashville. Our guest artist on this week’s show draws not only from these city but his own Alabama roots in Muscle Shoals. Anderson East grew up in Alabama and moved early on in his career to Music City. It was only more recently that he became aware of the great music that was made at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals. So it was there he went to record a great ‘lost’ soul song by George Jackson called ‘Find Em, Fool Em Forget Em.’ Anderson is the real deal. He made a big splash recently at Celtic Connections and you can hear his story and his own songs in session this Tuesday night on Another Country from five past eight on BBC Radio Scotland.

On Sunday…

It’s my last show till early summer and my special guest will be Iranian/Dutch writer Kader Abdolah. Lots of music to start your Valentine’s Day off in fine style too.

p.s.    …………

I’m coming off Twitter and Facebook for the 40 days of Lent. It will be an overdue break and, as I’m sure you know, life will go on. See you on the other side!

What do these songs have in common? Rod McEuan’s Love’s Been Good To Me, Jimmy Webb’s Do What You Gotta Do, Say You Don’t Mind by Colin Blunstone, Home Thoughts From Abroad by Clifford T Ward or Gretchen Peters‘ When You Are Old? They are all songs played out by Sir Terry Wogan at precisely the right moment when he presented his Breakfast Radio Two show. These were moments of radio I aspire to; in each case I went home and thought, ‘I need to own that record now!’

Of course it wasn’t just the record, it was what had gone on before or after it. Often it had been a “Pause For Thought” or a simple pithy aside. Often he was the pin required by the pomp of a given recording. I well remember chortling all the way back from the school run as Alison Moyet’s ‘I Go Weak’ was met with Terry’s, ‘I haven’t been so well m’self….” When our Sunday morning programme moved from being an hour in length to two hours and started at seven o’clock I often asked myself the question, ‘What music would Terry pick to make this work?’ I often borrowed but more often stole a song or two. Over and above all that he was the background to my own school journey as we often (quietly ) acknowledged my Dad’s wisdom in ignoring Noel Edmunds Radio One show  in favour of tuning into Tel. Then he read letters out from people complaining they’d gone to see Slim Whitman and the man behind them had sung along too loud or he hosted the late great David Kossoff with his Old Testament Tales. I loved all the Terry bits…the music in those days was a pretty odd mix…..and as Terry handed over to Pete Murray I tumbled out of the car wishing I could just stay listening to the radio all day.

I met Terry a good few times. We performed more than anyone else on his TV show and reunited with him on Weekend Wogan. On these programmes he was as affable as ever –  I still remember him trying to force chocolate crispy cakes on us just before we sang – and he had a lovely way of putting us at our ease despite having to sing a couple of feet in front of him. Though these were special mornings I, like so many of you,simply miss the the radio company of the man. So, from me, a distant radio fan – thank you and goodbye.

On tonight’s show we’ll play some country music discovered via Sir Terry and we’ll host a programme which will update you on many of the exciting releases of 2016. I’m delighted to introduce you to some new name. Listen out for new names: Dori Freeman, Leland Sundries, XIXA and Lucy Angel. We have new things too from some familiar names: Loretta Lynn, Ashley Monroe and Richmond Fontaine and we go to church with  Maren Morris, Johnny Cash and Langhorn Slim. What’s not to love? We’re on air at five past nine this Tuesday evening on BBC Radio Scotland.

On Sunday…

My special guest will be Liverpool’s very own TV Mogul Phil Redmond and we’ll have music from Marvin Gaye, Pieta Brown, Trembling Bells and Ben Howard.

I can’t promise you anything but as I write looking from my window into a bleak Wiltshire morning I suspect that the weather back up in the homeland is not going to be any better. I can’t also promise you that I will necessarily make your day any better but I suspect if you get yourself somewhere inside tonight the AC’s very special gathering of guests may well make you glad of this day.

Tonight we have two very special acts in each hour. From 9 we will be hosting Teddy Thompson and kelly Jones who will be playing songs from their excellent new duet album, Little Windows. We heard a rumour of this album last year – and I’ve even had the odd taster – but am delighted to say it will be coming out in the spring and the first chance any of you will have of hearing is tonight. Fans of The Everleys, Buddy Holly, Dolly and Porter…the list could go on….will love this record. Simple, melodic and beautifully realised it is a celebration of a voice we already love and a new one we’re going to get to know very well indeed. The songs all belong to Teddy, Kelly and our old pal Bill DeMain but the record is by Teddy and Kelly and it really will put a very wide smile on your face. They will be with us for the first side of tonight’s AC live from Studio 1.

At 10 we’ll flip the record over and welcome our dear old friend Gretchen Peters. Gretchen has just brought out an extensive double album cataloguing the last twenty years of her life as an artist. before that happened she was the go to person in Nashville for great songs: Independence Day for Martina McBride, The Chill of An Early Fall for George Strait and her own radio favourite, When You Are Old are all songs you will know. She’s been busy these last few years recording, writing and taking part in some fairly extensive touring. In all of this she’s accompanied by pianist and husband Barry Walsh and tonight she’ll be with us reflecting on all of that plus playing us some favourites from her back catalogue. Don’t worry, the night will not pass without us talking about the greatest country mystery song of all time, “On A Bus To St Cloud.” We start at five past nine on BBC Radio Scotland this Tuesday evening. Join me if you can.

On Sunday…

My special guest will be TV and restaurant critic AA Gill whose book, ‘Pour Me’ has proved difficult for me to put down. I’ll be talking to Dominic Johnson about his excellent book, ‘God is Watching Us’ too. Music from PJ Harvey, Townes Van Zandt, George Jackson and Hem. All from five past ten on BBC radio Scotland.

If I remember correctly it was the early 80s and we’d borrowed a car from a colleague so we could go and pick up a bouncy castle to put up in our school playground for a fun day for the pupils. In the Renault 5 we borrowed we immediately rejoiced at the cassette left in the machine. It was the debut album by Rickie Lee Jones. I recall, having never owned the album, how much I loved all of it for the brief journey through the north side of Glasgow. Cut to 2009 and I am in a small studio called Red Star Recording in Silverlake, Los Angeles. We’re there to work on our (so far only) McIntosh Ross album, ‘The Great Lakes’ with producer Mark Howard. The studio is owned by David Kalish some time producer and guitar player with Ms Jones. On the studio website a beautiful video of one of the recent projects where Rickie Lee Jones had re recorded one of her songs from that debut album. It was a a lovely retake of On Saturday Afternoons in 1963, undoubtedly one of the stand out tracks from that 1979 debut. To say we were honoured to be there on the basis of that re recording is to understate it hugely. But hearing those Satie intervals again felt like being reacquainted with of an great old friend and re-listening after so many years  was a beautiful reminder of Rickie’s unique art. Many years later we’re delighted she’s at Celtic Connections and has extended her stay to appear at a very special song writing round on tonight’s Another Country.

At the CCA in Sauchiehall Street she’ll share the stage with Angaleena Presley and Noah Gundersen. Every year I seem to lapse into hyperbole at this event but I think I’m on fairly safe ground when I say we can’t quite believe the quality of our line up for this year’s round. Angaleena’s album ‘American Middle Class’ was one of the stand-out country records of last year. Her songs have echoes of Randy Newman, Bruce Springsteen, Loretta Lynn and her own back story has more than an echo of the latter’s Kentucky roots. Born not many miles from Butcher Holler, Angaleena’s family’s story too is intertwined with the coal mining tradition of that part of the world; after all she is also ‘Holler Annie’ from The Pistol Annies along with Ashley Munroe and Miranda Lambert. Tonight she will be armed only with her songs and we suggest to you you will rejoice in being in the company of her voice and her unique songs. On her visit to us last year she described her songs as her ‘diary spilled out into the radio,’

Finally we are very excited to meet up with Noah Gundersen. We first played Noah a couple of years back when his debut record, Ledges reached us. At that time we discovered an intimate story teller whose songs reminded us a little of the halcyon days of Laurel Canyon and  fans of Jackson Browne will surely find familiar echoes in his new album, Carry The Ghost…listen to the gorgeous Jealous Love.

So that’s our CCA line up and I’m writing this aware that many of you might be in the audience but equally, we realise that many have been disappointed not to receive tickets. Fear not. It’s all live from five past nine on BBC Radio Scotland this Tuesday evening.

On Sunday Morning I my very special guest will be International Health Expert, Diplomat and academic Mukesh Kapila. I’ll be talking to Dominic Johnson about his book, God Is Watching You and playing music from First Aid Kit, Otis Clay, School of Seven Bells and our own Robert Burns. Join me from five past ten this Sunday Morning if you can.

When news broke about David Bowie’s death this week I realised it had left me feeling shocked but also fairly numb. I didn’t really know how to respond alone over my breakfast radio. Then within a short time the news played a montage of songs which broke my heart and then the tears came fairly quickly. What devastating facts could not induce, music succeeded in touching and gently nudging.

Like most, if not all of you, I didn’t know Bowie. Cold facts about loss can be just that until you hear the detail. The detail with any artist has to be the art itself. So, when the news played a montage of small clips from 40 odd years of Bowie songs I felt a deep loss of someone who had touched my life. The songs made all the difference.

One of the things I loved about him most was his enthusiasm for new music. I well remember hearing him being interviewed on radio by Marks Radcliffe and Reilly and being asked what he’d like to hear on the radio after the interview was over. He requested Granddaddy, who were just breaking through at that time. As a fan of that album I was so delighted to hear a star championing that still unheralded gem. In that spirit then we will bring you a playlist tonight that celebrates all that is good and bold in the new releases.

We’ll start with the exciting news of Margo Price. We’ve told you about Margo before and we think we have probably been the first to play her music  in the UK. However she’s just been recorded by Jack White and her first release is out on Third Man Records. You can hear that getting its first spin on the show this week.

In fairness some of these records came out towards the end of last year in North America but, to my knowledge, have received very few spins over on this side of the Atlantic. So I’ll play you a great track from Krista Detor who’s beautiful minimal album ‘Barely’ has been playing in my house and car all this week. I will reveal a gorgeous other piece of minimalism from Cam Penner, explain why you might want to check out The Mike and Ruthy Band at The Old Fruitmarket this week and a little piece of magic from this side of the water by Keston Cobblers Club. We’ll also mourn the passing of Red Simpson the great Bakersfield singer who made the Truck song his own particular speciality. We’ll remind you of some of the great country acts appearing at Celtic Connections over the next few weeks and I’m happy to bring you a Don Gibson song covered by two names never before played on the AC, Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper.

One final thought: As I went deep into my thought last night at my first yoga session of the new year my mind wandered back to David Bowie. How sad it was I had never seen him in concert or even been in the same place at the same time. And then I remembered the story I used to tell but had temporarily forgotten. It was the early 90s and we were visiting LA and staying down La Cienega which, when it hit Sunset at the top of the hill, had a large parking lot hosting the best Tower Records you could ever imagine. It was always my duty to make a pilgrimage and this morning I’d decided to do the thing no LA resident would ever dream of; I walked. As I made my way from the hotel on a quiet side street a beautiful sight came into view. A racing Green E Type Jaguar convertible, top down gleaming in the morning sunshine. Behind the wheel, slowly taking the corner, the proud driver smiling in the joy of the day. It was David Bowie.