Dear Listener,
Thank you. Thank you for listening. Thank you for keeping listening and thank you too for interacting. I’m particularly grateful this week because the last two shows have been given a lot of love from you. Our Allison Russell interview made waves across the Atlantic and this Sunday (BBC Sounds still has it) it even made Pick of The Week on Radio 4. Our Linda Ronstadt special also made an impact and it was really lovely to see so much love and gratitude for Linda coming back to me via twitter, this blog and general comments.
Sometimes, however, it’s just good to take stock and allow ourselves to be thankful. Life is not perfect, we’re still in the business of fighting the virus and nearly eighteen months on it sometimes feels like we’re never going to get there. We are however, and we’ve all come a long way since last year at this time. Perhaps too we can be a little grateful that in a year when none of us can travel very far, we only need to step outside our front door to enjoy a little sunshine. That, as compensation goes, is as good as it gets in the month we often mistake for summer here in Scotland, July.
In that spirit this week’s AC focusses on the positives too with a celebration of all that is great about country music. I really want you to hear the new album by Joy Oladokun. We featured Joy recently on the show and this is another great track from her brilliant debut album, ‘in defense of my own happiness.’ (Now there’s a title).
Here’s Joy from her own biog on Spotify…so good I had to quote it in full:
hi i’m joy! i’m a songwriter, a sensitive stoner, and i’m currently trying to become so good at COD: Black Ops that it makes white boys shake. i live in nashville with my girlfriend and my dog. i make most of these songs in a studio on the second floor of the house we share and they’re all about life as i learn to live it. i hope these songs help you the way they help me in writing them. i have a new album out called “in defense of my own happiness”…you should listen to it. if you want.. i’m not here to tell you what to do. -joy PS. BLACK LIVES MATTER.
If that doesn’t make you want to listen in, then I can’t help you. Elsewhere we have more joy from the brilliant new Wallflowers album, which really must be one of the best albums of the year so far. We’ll have more from Robert Finley and Yola who are sharing producer, writing and label credits. We’ll have Jason Isbell doing Metallica, something current from Chris Stapleton and pay an audio visit to The Ice Road courtesy of Luke Combs.
All this in two hours? Oh yes, but to find out how we do it, you’ll need to listen on BBC Radio Scotland FM from five past eight this Tuesday evening or check us out on BBC Sounds any time after. Did I say thanks for listening? Never mind, I want you to know, I’m deeply grateful.
