This week on the AC we not only have a Grammy winner, but Lord preserve us, one who won the gong aged 18! I ask you. That’s not the only unusual thing about Matraca Berg.
She also belongs to that rare group of Nashville musicians who were born and bred within the city limits. When matraca sings Oh Cumberland – she means it. She came in last week while she was in Glasgow to play at The Arches and performed a great session for us down in studio one. She was joined by her husband Jeff Hanna from the Nitty Gritty Dirt band. We also had a long chat about those Grammies, those songs for other people – Faith Hill, Deanna Carter, Kenny Chesney, Trisha Yearwood and many more and she found time to explain why she hadn’t made an album in a long, long time before last year’s The Dreaming Fields. Now she’s got another one recorded and released and… well…there’s no stopping her.
New music from a great new artist called Anthony D’Amato who’s in town supporting Israel Nash Gripka.We’ll sample more of Neil Young’s Psychedelic Pill and hear fresh music from Delta Spirit and new English band Iko…you’ll like it. We’ve talked about memphis Minnie before on the show -0 certainly with those Carolina Chocolate Drops…now there’s a tribute album and we’ll let you hear Maria Muldaur doing Minnie. We’ll also play plenty records which will remind you why we love Country Music. We’ll start lining up the records around on Friday Evening at around five past eight on BBC Radio Scotland.
On Sunday
As it’s remembrance Sunday we hpe to play lots of music to suit the occasion. There will be the nostalgic, the stirring and the elegiac as well as the odd song which asks a question or two about the business of war. We’ll have a first hand witness too.
Robert Lawrence was an officer involved in the conflict in the Falklands. He was severely wounded and was awarded the Military Cross. We’ll spend a good bit of time talking to Robert about his own memories of that time and how he adjusted to life after military service.
What does the Roman Catholic Church do when it runs out of priests? Apart from recruiting them from other countries or ordaining women John Haldane will explain why he thinks it’s time they thought about allowing clergy to marry. Hold on to your berettas there – this could get heated.
During the second world war The Germans held four very gifted young men captive. Their story is told in a remarkable new bok called ‘Birds In A Cage’ and we will hear from Dr Kevin Franz about what he thinks of the book. We also hear about Horseback UK which is taking injured Military Service personnel out to the countryside to see how horses can help their recuperation.
There’s probably more, but you’ll have to tune-in to hear it. It starts at Five past Seven on Sunday Morning, BBC Radio Scotland.
I loved the second hour of this week’s show, as a personal introduction to Matraca Berg. It’s one of my favourite aspects of The AC—those unexpected (if invariably expensive!) introductions to as yet undiscovered or unappreciated artists. I *loved* “Your Husband’s Cheating On Us”—it could almost qualify for that often dubious trend of the Twitter short story, and with 111 characters to spare! Now that’s economical storytelling.
I caught Friday’s Review Show on BBC Two as well, and found the discussion interesting. I’m not a big reader of biographies—I have been once too often disappointed, and it’s a crowded genre with way too much of little or no substance in it—although I did enjoy “Diamond in the Rough”, Shawn Colvin’s memoir published earlier this year. It’s not perfect—it’s certainly quite linear, if that’s a fair criticism—but at its best it provides a very insightful companion to her music, as well as touching upon her depression (a subject close to my heart). I can’t help but wonder if you might some day burst out of the blogosphere yourself and pen a tome of one kind or another. If you did elect to do so, I’m sure that would fall into the rare category of being a must-read!