I still have huge problems with the telly. Mrs Ross has taken to Strictly of a Saturday and I’m partial to all sorts of nonsense myself and then I realise why it all breaks down……the songs. They dance around to them on Strictly and that kind of annoys me. Then you get a documentary – the Trump one on BBC recently was very good – but I found myself more concerned with who was playing the music – Jonsi (thanks for asking) – than the main thrust of the story. For me it all starts and ends with the songs, I even found myself drifting off while someone was talking on the radio over a football PA system blasting Coldplay. Let’s face it – it’s always going to be more interesting than some gnarled old pro saying nothing about football.

The trouble being that it seems to have happened all my life. I used to get hooked on the test-card tunes as a kid and I now get seriously annoyed (is that just being an old fogey?) when I hear great songs played in Morrisons. It seems wrong, to me, that ‘God Only Knows’ can be talked, shopped and shelf filled over. I have to stop, listen and respect in some sort of mad, middle aged protest. Look out for me, bring your kids to watch – you’ll be entertained.

But songs…. I remember my old friend and lecturer, Jim McIntosh sighing wistfully when he exhaled the word ‘songs.’ He was often talking about Shakespeare where the clown gets to say everything everyone has been feeling but hasn’t yet been able to say…’sigh no more /present mirth hath present laughter’…you name them, there’s plenty of great ones.

This week the funeral of Michael Marra was brilliantly punctuated by song. There were his own and some remarkable others…Danny Kaye, Wilco doing Woody and a performance of another which you will know. It’s a song by Gillian Welch we’ve played a few times and should perhaps play again. On this occasion ‘The Way the Whole Thing Ends’  was aptly chosen and performed brilliantly by Rab Noakes, an old friend of Michael’s, and the man who originally thought up the concept of country music on the radio on a Friday night.

This Friday we’ll play some more great ones; some you’ve probably never heard before and others you’ll welcome back as you would lost friends. You never know you might hear something this week that will be become a friend for life. I hope so.

To help us along we have the return of a great old friend. A son of Antrim and Nashville resident, Ben Glover returns for the third time in as many years. He’ll be playing live some of the excellent songs from his new album, ‘Do We Burn The Boats?’ He’ll talk about writing the songs and then he’ll tell us about playing them across the world and occasionally getting to work with some people he’s admired at a distance for some time. He’s great company, so don’t miss a minute.

We’ll have some new music from Punch Brothers, Howler, Tift Merrit and John Hiatt. We’re also going to play a batch of songs that could only have come from…well…Jail! It all starts at five past eight on Friday, BBC Radio Scotland.

I’m back on Sunday Mornings….

I know you are all up at 7 on a Sunday so….. You’re not? Well fear not, for the early riser or the all night clubber I am on the airwaves from five past seven over the next few months each Sunday Morning but  for those with a gentler start to the day you can now DOWNLOAD the best bits of the show and listen at your leisure. Let me know if it works for you.

Talking, listening, playing some great music and getting involved in some of those tricky moral questions which never seem to go away. Each week I also get the chance to have a lengthy conversation with someone I’m sure you too would like to meet. On Sunday I’ll be spending a lot of the first hour of my show with Colm Toibin, Irish novelist, poet and recently author of the play turned novella, ‘The Testament of Mary.’ It’s his imagined account of a memoir by Mary, Mother of Jesus. As you can, no doubt, imagine there’s a lot you can expect in the narrative and a fair amount you don’t.

We’ll hear how the Coptic Christians are going about electing their new Pope in Egypt nearly two years after the start of the Arab Spring. We’ll also hear a very moving interview with Margo MacDonald about her attempt to pass an assisted suicide bill through Holyrood. I’m talking water with Ian Bradley who’s just written a fairly exhaustive Spiritual History of Water ………

And we’ll also meet the next Moderator of The Church of Scotland. She doesn’t look like you’d expect him to either…if you know what I mean.

Along the way we’ll play music from Judy Garland, Ry Cooder, Louis Jordan, Jonsi and Karine Polwart. It all starts at Five past Eight on Sunday morning. But don’t forget you can now download the best bits so you can play any time you want.

It’s 1994. In the spring months I have gone through losing my father, watching Dundee United win the Scottish Cup for the first time having been (with my Dad) to 6 losing finals and…..done, what I thought, would be the last Deacon Blue gig ever. On top of all that we decided to move house…..

In late June we go on holiday to a remote village house half way up a mountain in the Alpes Maritime. It’s a lovely spot and for company we take a few key CDs. One of these is ‘My Life’ by Iris Dement. Was it just the times I was going through or did it really seem that God had delivered that album just when I needed it most. Songs of loss, struggle and ultimately redemption seemed the perfect soundtrack to my life….I’ll include my wife here too as she also loved that record. My mother came out to join us and she too loved the sound of Iris. Later on we were joined by my sister and her family and she too fell for the charms of that brilliant album. Iris came to Glasgow. We enjoyed her but there were some odd moments of personal reflection that didn’t quite sit as easily as the songs. However there was no doubt that Iris was a major talent and she would leave a stamp on me that few others have succeeded in doing.

So it’s with this background that I leapt with joy when I read about a new Iris album coming along in Uncut this month. Sure as shooting it was waiting for me when I got back from my month on the road. That’s a welcome home. So this Friday I’ll give you a flavour of what to expect from Iris on her first studio record of new songs for 15 years. Crazy huh? (I’ll tell you now you won’t be disappointed)

We will also have some great things from old friends The Jim Jones Revue, Grizzly Bear, Kris Kristofferson and Wanda Jackson. There will be no guests this Friday. There will be no exteneded chats and no deviations. We will simply play you some of the best new records you need to hear and remind you that there is so much already available you can still enjoy.

Now I’ve enjoyed playing live recently. It has been wonderful to get out and see songs come alive but there’s a big bit of me that has missed my Friday nights in on the radio. So why not stay in yourself or take a long drive and together we’ll spend a couple of great hours in Another Country.

It all starts at Five past eight on BBC Radio Scotland.

1987…… late 1987. I am in the home of the ‘family of music’ CBS Records in Soho Square, London. I’m there to meet Bob Clearmountain who is in London to work with our band and intends to re record one of our songs in order to make it sound like the smash record everyone tells us it should be. Bob’s in the A & R office and together we make our way to the studio where we’ll be working. I tell him how much I like the new Bruce Springsteen album. (Tunnel of Love has come out in September) He likes it too. We share a few sentences on the themes of love, disillusionment and fear which seem to rise to the surface from Tunnel of Love. ‘Yeah’ says Bob, as he looks bewildered at the London traffic, ‘ I said to him at the time,……’Has Julie heard these songs?’

A few months later Bruce Springsteen’s short marriage to Jilianne Phillips was over. The man who had paid to go through that Tunnel of Love had come out the other side a slightly more perplexed figure than the one who had gone in. He didn’t go up to the fat man sitting in the ticket office and ask for his money back but heck he did decide a few more shots on the waltzers might be worth the money. By spring ’88 I was in pole position to see the Tunnel of Love Express tour open in Madison Square Gardens NY. Bruce looked at Patti Scialfa all night and Patti looked back. The rest was history.

Five years earlier I was leaving Dundee to come to Glasgow. I remember trying to make sense of my friend, Andy’s 4 track cassette recorder. It was great. For five minutes it sounded like you were making an album. Drums on one track, bass, keys vocals…..wasn’t this how The Beatles did it? Bruce Springsteen also bought one. He set it up in his house and recorded what we now know as Nebraska. The story goes that Bob Ludwig refused to master it, and again the rest is history.

On Friday we celebrate the significant anniversaries of these two seminal albums. Some would say they may be the best albums Bruce has ever recorded. You can judge for yourselves but both records have drawn country artists in and we’ll play you some great covers of the songs as well as the unbeatable originals.

That’s not all. As promised we also chat to this band.

It’s Grizzly Bear who return with a great new album and we’ll ask all the right questions to the men from Brooklyn and hear some of these new songs.

All the usual mix of old and new from five past eight this Friday on BBC Radio Scotland.

Stop me if I’ve told you this before. It’s the BBC canteen circa 2008 and I am meeting a man called Richard Murdoch who has lately arrived from Radio One and between us we’ve been tasked with putting a show called Another Country on air. I’m parking the car thinking to myself, ‘Who is this guy? Why am I doing this? I know this won’t work…and I’m about to get found out.’ (add your own here) We meet over a BBC table. Me ‘So, Richard, do you know anything about country music?’ Him ‘No.’ Me ‘Neither do I.’ Us….’so shall we just muddle through?’

And from that promising start we have been muddling through very happily for the last few years. Occasionally, however, I get found out big time. Look, I love country music but I’d be the first to admit there are prairies of missing information out there. A couple of years ago my live agent (a man who knows a thing or two about country) said to me ‘Marty Stuart’s coming over.‘ I think he expected me to organise a conga right there. I realised as I put the phone down I had not been reacting properly. Who is Marty?

I started to search around and the more I learned, the more I wanted to know. Then it really clicked. I met Marty on that fateful frosty morning, bestsonned and beaming and coming towards me in the BBC carpark. I got it. Marty is the keeper of the flame.

From collecting missing memorabilia of Hank, Patsy and his old boss Johnny C and opening up RCA Studio B to record his albums to hosting one of the best nights of country you’ll ever experience…Marty’s Late Night Jam at The Ryman…to writing,producing and performing country songs like someone who means it  – i.e. your heart might just get broken – Marty is the man who can explain everything you love about country music.

So you’ll be pleased to know that we will spend hour two of Friday’s AC with the man himself talking about his new album, Roger McGuinn, Stonewall Jackson and listening to the music of his Fabulous Superlatives.

Also we have Ry Cooder, Patterson Hood, Bruce Springsteen and lovely new things from Get Well Soon, Karima Francis and The Jim Jones Revue.

I have one more night on Radio 2 this Sunday sitting in for Sir Bob Harris and look forward to you hearing Rachel Sermanni in session plus some great music from Frank Ocean, Neil Young, Joan as Policewoman, Admiral Fallow, Judee Sill and Bill Withers. Not bad huh?

Friday starts at five past eight on BBC Radio Scotland and I’ll be on Radio 2 from just after midnight on Saturday. Do join me if you can.

In 1989 I was on tour with Deacon Blue when we played at the Royal Court in Liverpool almost a month after the Hillsborough disaster. People in that city were clearly in shock and we received many letters in the dressing room from members of families who were grieving. Some of the people had been planning to come to our gig that night never made it and we were asked to remember them at the show. When we went on stage the standing crowd started to bombard us with flowers until the apron at the front was covered. Half way through the show I felt we had to deal with the emotion running through the hall. We played a song called Take Me To The Place and, even as I write this, the tears are coming to my eyes. There was a raw emotion in that room which, once we named how much we were all shaken by what had happened to the whole city, rose to the surface. Our song barely over the entire theatre sang us ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone.” We stood and listened. As it ended I turned round to see if the band were ready to get the gig going again as, by now, I was in pieces at the front of the stage. I’ll never forget turning round to my fellow musicians and seeing they were as emotionally wrecked as I was. It took an almighty push but we managed to get through that show and , as often happens, peoples’ spirits seemed lifted by the power of music.

I write this because the memories of that night have flooded back to me over the last few days when I happened to be in Liverpool on Wednesday morning as the city waited to see if their long search for the truth had finally borne fruit. What have I have found humbling in these intervening 23 years is how accepting people have been of any support at all. Often I have felt that anything I add in the way of solidarity is hardly going to make any difference. That is to misunderstand the nature of this people-led commission. Simply by telling their story as widely as possible they have brought together parents, brothers, sisters, friends and fellow travellers to join with them on their search for the truth about what happened to those they loved. I’m very glad of the welcome Liverpool has always given me and I want them to know how much I admire them for keeping faith that justice will finally prevail.

As I talked about all of this to various friends in the city yesterday I was reminded of how important songs are in keeping people going. On Friday we’ll play something for the people of the one of the world’s great musical cities.

Centres of musical excellence are a common theme on our show. We’ve featured Portland Oregon, Brooklyn and, of course, Nashville but this week we’re taking in Stockholm. When I first went there a few years ago I tapped into a thriving music scene with writers, producers and artists all burrowing away in studios. Not only that but it was great to discover that instead of electronica background muzak filtering from hotel stereos I distinctly noticed a great mixture of acoustic and roots music being played. I have to say that spoke volumes to me. Here was a culture that clearly valued the thing which brings us all together round the radio every Friday; the song.

This week we get to catch up with two artists from Sweden who epitomise the creativity of that great epicentre of pop music. First Aid Kit have made two albums and are creating a stir around the world. Like us, and unlike their parents they love country music. They came in to AC Towers and played us live versions of songs from their latest album and a few weeks ago I caught up with them for a chat. We talk about the records they listened to, meeting and working with Mike Mogis and get the truth of how to rebel when your parents love punk rock and you dig Hank! In keeping with the spirit of First Aid Kit we’ll celebrate with some great country duets.I’m sure you can suggest a few yourself on the Facebook too.

Not only that we’ll hear some great new music from Houndmouth, State Broadcasters, Calexico and one of our favourite friends, Tift Merrit. We will, of course, celebrate country and Americana and play tribute to one of the country greats who sadly passed away while we were off air during the summer – Kitty Wells. It all starts at five past eight on BBC Radio Scotland at five past eight.

This is Americana Awards time in Nashville. Because of that the great Bob Harris is over in Nashville. I’m delighted to say I’m sitting in for Bob on his early Sunday show for the next two weeks. This Sunday my special guest is Karine Polwart who will be playing tracks from her new album Traces and picking some music she’s been listening to recently. I’ll play music by BB King, We Are Augustines, Chuck Prophet and Those Darlins. Do listen in if you are up…..it’s on BBC Radio 2 from Midnight on Saturday.

Sometimes you’ve got to do it: just get in the car and drive. Last month I organised the rest of the family to get on the plane home and drove back from Italy all alone. I went through the mountains with no better plan than the hope of some scenery and time alone with…MY ENTIRE RECORD COLLECTION!  Well the stuff I’d burned on CD or had in the old 60 gig i pod. ‘Was it worth it Rick?’ I hear you say.

Let me tell you friends that it was so worth it. Sometimes out there in Switzerland you look round and you think they’ve got it made. I once heard a rather complacent Alpine sounding bloke talking to his US host outside the Bluebird Cafe. When asked where he preferred most from all his travel experiences he rather flatly said….home. Well fair enough I suppose. You’ve got your mountains, your lakes and some pretty nice chocolate bars in some funny shapes…..but heck what will you listen to when you’ve settled down for the night in your chalet?  I travelled passed by their glacial waters and under the shadow of their tallest peaks listening to great music and realised I’d take Glasgow with country music rather than all the fine scenery in the world without it any day.

It was there on that long ride I found a few gems I’ll share with you over the next few weeks. Safe to say we’ll move seamlessly through the decades. We’ll have music from Grizzly Bear, First Aid Kit and John Murry. Also new things from older greats – Ry Cooder and Bob Dylan.

In the second hour of the show we’ll reflect on the legacy of Patsy Cline who would have been 80 years old this weekend. Linda Ronstadt, Loretta Lynn and KD Lang will help us out and we’ll hear Tom Jones, The Band Perry and Gretchen Peters talking about how much they love Patsy’s music.

If that’s not worth making an excuse for a long drive through Scotland then I don’t know what is. Join me if you can from five past eight on Friday evening. It’s all on BBC Radio Scotland.

One summer evening many years ago I was in flat in Edinburgh at festival time. I encountered a young man from Canada and started to talk about the little I knew of Canadian music. (This was around the mid to late seventies remember)……Who, did he think, really spoke with a Canadian voice that I should be listening to? Bruce Cockburn, he told me……Before I could say ‘who?’ he was quietly reciting to me….

Rain rings trash can bells /And what do you know / My alley becomes a cathedral..

It would be some months or longer before I was able to find a Bruce Cockburn record. (this was the seventies remember) I eventually tracked down Sunwheel Dance in Groucho’s in Perth Road, Dundee and my life started to take an interesting direction. What fascinated me then was the label: True North Records. I suppose it tickled my imagination that up in North America there was something going on which we hadn’t fully caught up with.

Every year around the end of June, Richard Murdoch and I have thought of doing something for Canada Day. This year we have finally got round to it and – you never know – it might become a fixture if we’re all spared. What propelled it this year was the amount of music and visits we’ve had from great Canadian artists. We’ve been raving about Lindi Ortega, Madison Violet and The Deep Dark Woods this year and last year we enjoyed the company of Anabelle Chvostek and Frazey Ford…that’s before we even start to think about the great music we’ve enjoyed for decades from Canada. Judging by your comments on the Facebook it sounds as if Canadian music has made its mark with you too.

Here’s a picture of my favourite Canadian in 1957……I’m sure you’ll recognise him, but if you don’t I can tell you now he’ll be the first artist on the playlist this week.

So this Friday we will celebrate Canada day early and fully by playing two hours of music written, recorded or performed by Canadians. You’ll hear artists you have probably never known were from the country and you’ll hear others who would be among the greatest of All North Americans…(North or South of The Border.) You’ll also hear one or two moments of genius which will make you realise that away from Leonard, Neil, Joni and Bruce, Canada has some amazing new music coming through which we need to get to know better. (this is not the seventies remember)

So for two hours this Friday we will be in the True North…….it all starts from five past eight on BBC Radio Scotland.

It”s time to tell the truth. I’ve never been to The Grand Old Opry..Nashville or Glasgow. I pass the Glasgow version every Friday night on my way home and metaphorically tip my hat. I often think it odd that the people inside might not know much about us down at the AC Coral and likewise we would be strangers to their local ways. (I’ve heard there are mock gun fights) For those who don’t know about this fine piece of Southside Glasgow mythology it is a country (and western) club/venue in Kinning Park to which all manner of stetsonned, nudie-suited Scottish cowboys and girls pay regular homage of a weekend.

It’s with this in mind that I have been reflecting on the nature of the country music we play. Sometimes we skirt around the edges and at other times we hold more towards the ‘Another” than the ‘Country.’ I’m guessing the secret is to keep the country purists – like a dear recent correspondent from Edinburgh who digs Hoyt Axton and Boxcar Willie -and those who like something dark and strange – like my music loving hairdresser pal John, who today was getting ready to buy Lera Lynn on the back of last week’s show – all listening together. Like any radio audience I’m sure we are a diverse bunch.

What probably holds us together is something we all heard once and immediately loved. Perhaps it’s that ‘High Lonesome’ thing talked of by Bill Monroe or that Sparkle and Twang so beloved of Marty Stuart or perhaps it’s just those harmonies from Emmylou and Gram that came into our consciousness so unexpectedly and made us realise perhaps we did love country after all. In my case the last two are to thank……..so God Bless The Broken Road. Sometimes, and this can happen in the States, you can tire of it. Save me from another city boy in a hat eulogising about his truck, beer or church attendance. Give me Johnny Cash’s struggle, Merle Haggard’s solidarity and Tammy Wynette’s heartache. Don’t think this means I’m only listening in the seventies. I’ve grown to love the authority of Alan Jackson’s voice and last week we celebrated the pipes of Josh Turner. As ever we will bring all this together and add in an artist seldom played on the AC – Todd Snider whose recent profile in Music City has been very high indeed. We’ll have some lovely new things from the current Queen of country pop, Carrie Underwood, Willie Nelson, Darrell Scott and Beth Neilson Chapman. It’s all good. Plus we’ll have a rather special second hour with these people…..

My Darling Clementine have listened to Dolly and Porter as well as Tammy and George and I suspect they have spent some time listening to Roy Orbison along the way. They have distilled all of this perfectly in their album, How Do You Plead and I’m delighted to say they will be with us live in Studio One tomorrow evening for the second half of the show, playing live and explaining where all that heartache came from. It all starts at five past eight on BBC Radio Scotland.

I’m going to keep this brief……..

……………OK that’s the end of the puns.

I didn’t really understand a lot of the hoopla around Tom Jones. He was a big star in the sixties and he had some remarkable success. But when I heard of his collaborations with dance producers and various pop whizz kids it made me feel, well, slightly depressed. There’s a lot on the world of popular music that does depress me and I’m pleased to say I don’t ever have to deal with it in this blog or on the AC as there’s too much good stuff to celebrate. But in this particular blog I need to explain a Damascene conversion more remarkable than even the great stalwarts of the Labour Party’s conversion to membership of the upper chamber. Folks…I’m loving where Tom Jones has found himself and for that reason I’m pleased to say he is a returning star to the Another Country gallery of great guests.

I knew the inside track on this story a little from a friend who is working within Tom’s management office so I was not completely  surprised when I heard the few tracks for Praise and Blame. However I know enough of the story to know that no one – including label or management quite knew what to expect. Ethan Johns – the man who has produced both Praise and Blame and the new Spirit In The Room is a man with a serious pedigree. Having produced seminal albums for Ryan Adams and Ray LaMontagne as well as many others he was in a position to dictate his own terms. From my inside knowledge I understand the most surprising aspect was that no one outside of Tom, Ethan and the immediate circle was allowed in. No one knew how long the process was going to take and it was all the more surprising when the smoke went up the chimney within a couple of weeks to say – “Our work here is finished.”

When Praise and Blame started to appear on our radar there were a number of people expressing love and admiration for the record. Although the song choice was less than impeccable (a little too many songs had been done by others for my liking) nevertheless, as in all successful albums, there was one song which stopped you in your tracks and made you want to play it to all your pals. For me that was Tom’s quite stunning version of Bob Dylan’s “What Good Am I?” Although I’d liked the song it had never appeared as visceral and human as on the Tom version and something in the voice of this septuagenarian reflecting on his own path made me stop and reflect that this indeed was a very special performance. The highlight of all this for me came in January of last year when Tom and his band performed the entire album as a piece of work at our own Celtic Connections. It was perfect.

I was therefore delighted to announce that Tom had not only done it again but, in all honesty, surpassed himself on Spirit In the Room. There’s so much to enjoy of the new record and again a heart stoppingly brilliant interpretation of a previously overlloked song – Leonard Cohen’s Tower of Song. The second half of Friday night’s show will be Tom Jones and myself talking it all through. There’s much to learn friends – and it’s all good.

I’m writing this on my (long) way home from Nashville. As ever it rekindled the flame that always burns for country. highlights were seeing Stonewall Jackson with Marty Stuart, working with some great, great songwriters and hearing some brilliant country songs I’d never heard before on the radio. Look out for Josh Turner, Don Williams and the other man from Memphis on Friday. It all starts at five past eight on BBC Radio Scotland.

Trying to dig a little deeper this week I looked into the background of Nashville’s oldest and most famous radio station WSM I cam across an interesting pointer to the story of why Music City became the centre for country music. It seems the key is in the sheer power of WSM’s reach back in the day. The radio mast – now inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame – was so tall and it’s power so strong that country music and The Grand Old Opry in particular reached people all over the south and midwest of America.

It’s WSM’s AM frequency where you’ll find any resemblance to the country music we play here on the AC. For the other stuff you’d need to check out alternative stations like Lightning 100, where they are advertising the up and coming Grizzly Bear dates and playing people like Patty Griffin, Dr John and The Decembrists and for our other acts we sometimes play you’d perhaps need to find a college radio station. Of course you get all this in the one place and in two hours of commercial free radio on your own BBC. (we all own it)

This week however we will have a taste of the Nashville scene as we host one of our dearest friends, Beth Neilson Chapman live from music row this Friday. Beth has a hundred stories to tell and indeed, she is the most inspiring woman you may hope to meet. Having overcome huge health setbacks she approaches each new album project with an ambition that would defy lesser mortals. Last time round she produced a double album of sacred music from the world’s full list of faiths (well almost!) This time she’s going to space.

I’m also going to ask her if this space travel can explain why she seems to be wrapped in Christmas lights in the above picture….but there will be a reason. Hear Beth sing on the moon, the stars and other matters and join me to hear all her own recent adventures in the first part of our live show this Friday from Nashville.

It’s great to be here but slightly strange to be away from Glasgow when we are hosting one of the most interesting and ambitious singer songwriters to come out of this side of the Atlantic in a long time. I’d like to categorise Anais Mitchell for you but I can only tell you she is someone who fits in perfectly to our show. Her last album was an incredible take on a the Greek myth of Orpheus featuring Bon Iver and Low Anthem guests. (I know we’re getting a little far off country here but go with it, you’ll like it)

This time it’s less of a concept but musically it’s as striking, bold and brilliant as the last album. Anais will be playing songs from ‘Young Man In America” with her travelling ensemble live from Studio One at AC HQ. I’ll be here on Music Row playing music from this great city and telling you a little about what I’ve been up to this week…We don’t have that diamond shaped mast of WSM or the 50,000 watts of power but heck we have FM, Digital and the iplayer…you can’t miss us. It all starts at five past eight on Friday evening on BBC Radio Scotland.