………………….I Like It
It seems to me that I drop in recommendations now and again and forget to remind you what they might be;
Firstly, that book: In The Country of Country by Nicholas Dawidoff…
I have talked about it now over the last couple of weeks and I highly recommend it to you. If you are wondering how bluegrass came about or where-the-heck Bakersfield is and what’s so important about it…this is the book for you. If you also want to journey to the places where the music came from then this is also something you should be packing in your suitcase for the holidays.
There are also some good new records coming out and I would like to mention some of the ones that work well for me.
We first heard about this band from Caitlin Rose and since then they’ve brought out this new album. It really is good……
Phosphorescent are coming this way soon…Next Friday 4th June to be exact. Expect me there if it’s at all possible and, as always, you have my permission to miss the show!
Willie Nelson is also in town next week and his new album Country Music is one of three new offerings produced b T Bone Burnett in the last few months. The soundtrack to Crazy Heart and Jakob Dylan’s Women and Country……
What else, I hear you ask? Well that brings me to Friday’s guest, Mr Ben Glover. I met Ben when he gave me a lift to a gig in Belfast a couple of ears ago. I was at the Belfast Nashville songwriters festival and it was there Ben was introducing his debut album. It was a strong record of songs titled “The Week The Clocks Changed.”
That record propelled Ben to Nashville where I next met him.
We decided to meet up at that old Music Row stomping ground, 
Noshville- where a heart breakfast was enjoyed.
Ben told me then how he’d been living in Nashville and starting to write songs for this new album. On Friday we’re going to hear how that recording went and get a chance to hear live songs from “Through The Noise, Through The Night” and chat to Ben about his life in Tennessee and how he wrote and recorded the songs for the record.
Ben is also playing gigs in Scotland over this weekend so look out for news of them on his own website.
Here’s Ben. You can get to know much more about him from Friday at 8. All on BBC Radio Scotland.
Yay! Thanks so much for playing Mary Chapin Carpenter there tonight, Ricky. How could you possibly have resist these past few weeks?! It’s a great album!
Seriously, though, thanks very much for listening to us mere bloggers here. I’ve been listening to the album plenty in recent weeks, but nothing quite compares to hearing a song going out over the airwaves and making new friends for itself. The great power you wield – along with its inevitable accompaniment of great responsibility – must be a real joy.
Great show so far tonight, as ever – and not just for Mary Chapin!
P.S. I’m always more than open to book recommendations, and “In the Country of Country” just nudged its way onto my Amazon Wish List. See, these things work both ways!
Like Adam I am really enjoying the MCC album, she is one of my absolute favourites and i am hoping she extends her tour to Europe. I have a pal in North Carolina who is going to see her and I am jealous!
Brilliant show as ever loved the Ben Glover sessions (another album to buy) and Hold Steady, Tift Merritt and Phoosphorent among others excellent.