Cause I’m a Muswell Hillbilly boy
But my heart lies in old West Virginia
Never seen New Orleans, Oklahoma, Tennessee
Still I dream of the Black Hills that I ain’t never seen

Ray Davies 1971

America was a dream for Ray Davies. Like many post war British kids his leisure time was filled with images and sounds from the new world. At the pictures on a Saturday to the records on the juke box and the radiogram and eventually on television, America represented all we could imagine and everything we couldn’t get.

For Ray it provided the music which inspired him and which he would adapt and change and, finally, sell back. Eventually, along with his fellow band mates, he’d go to America and experience much of this, though not before he discovered the downside of the dream. Who knows how big The Kinks could have been on the other side of the Atlantic had it not been for their early repatriation and awkward brushes with US law. As it transpired they were banned from appearing in America for 5 of their most creative years: 1964 to 1969. At one point, and without too much of a stretch of the imagination they were one of three British groups fighting for chart supremacy. The other two were, of course, The Beatles and The Stones and it is still difficult to overestimate the influence and reach of both these bands in America.

For Ray Davies the American dream was going to have to wait a few more years. Eventually Ray toured, recorded and lived in America. All of that and the little boy who was a Muswell Hillbilly from his head to his toes explains why he has returned to the dream on his latest album. Recorded with the Jayhawks, Americana is Ray’s own attempt to make sense of that long, strange love affair he’s had with Uncle Sam.

On this week’s Another Country join me in conversation with Ray Davies as he talks about the songs from the album and his own memories and influences in Americana. For me it was one of the greatest joys I have had to sit down with someone I consider to be one of, if not the best, British songwriter of all time. It’s a fascinating listen littered with great songs old and new.

As an appetiser we have a mini celebration of Canada Day. Tom Russell has just released an album of songs written by the great Canadian duo Ian and Sylvia. You’ll hear some of that and the original recordings too. Keeping the tributes going, another Canadian, Catherine MacLellan has just released her own tribute to her late father Gene MacLellan – the man who wrote the Anne Murray and Elvis classic, ‘Snowbird.’ We’ll play Catherine and Gene as we celebrate the brilliant roots music we’ve enjoyed from Canada over the years.

There’s much more too. For all of that you’ll need to join me from five past eight this Tuesday on BBC Radio Scotland. It all starts at five past nine.

If the two years of the UK Americana awards were never to happen again then all of us lucky to have been there would, no doubt, reflect that what we once had was very special indeed. Looking back on both evenings there are events and encounters I’m truly grateful to have experienced. There are also some significant performances.

About those performances: I have to ‘fess up. This year, at the end of the evening, a number of people were all saying the same thing, ‘What about that song by Yola Carter, wasn’t she amazing?’ Richard Murdoch and I would look at each other and shift our feet around a bit……’Yes’….we’d mutter….’but we actually missed it.’

A week or so earlier I had encountered Yola Carter. As I walked into a Glasgow rehearsal room a figure was curled up, having a nap on a sofa and when she awoke she greeted me with the warmest smile I’d seen during that cold January. Later on that hibernating figure would turn out to be Yola and I would see and hear her for myself from the same stage as we both took part in Roddy Hart’s Roaming Roots review as part of Celtic Connections. It wasn’t hard to imagine how well she might have performed at the Americanas given how she brought the house down at the Royal Concert hall on that night.

A few months later and Yola Carter has a (fairly lengthy) EP out and as well as walking away from the Americanas as UK Artist of The Year. This Tuesday evening you can hear what all the fuss was about when Yola joins us in BBC Radio Scotland’s Studio One to play live in the first hour of Another Country. She’ll sing her own remarkable songs and play a cover that no one can doubt epitomises the true spirit of Americana.

As well as all of that we’ll explore Steve Earle’s claim to be a superior artist to Hayes Carl by giving you a chance to compare how much you enjoy both of their recent output. We will continue to celebrate the release of the major release in country this year, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit’s, The Nashville Sound. We will bring you some new recordings by two Sam’s…Beam and Baker. Mr Beam’s Iron and Wine have brought out a brilliant new single and Mr Baker will next week release perhaps my favourite album of the year. More on that when he comes in to see us soon.

Elsewhere we have some gems from Van Morrison, Elvis Presley, Gillian Welch and, as promised last week, something wonderful from Gregg Allman‘s late, great solo career so sadly cut short last month.

It all starts at five past nine on BBC Radio Scotland this Tuesday and repeated this Friday from seven. Join me if you can.

One of the great things about school lunch times for me was the possibility of leafing through albums in Dundee’s record shops. When I went to college instead of doing my 6th Year it was much the same except that lunchtimes occasionally became entire afternoons. Around that time country rock had begun to impact on the mainstream. Daytime radio was playing The Eagles and The Bellamy Brothers and, when Radio One stopped in the early evenings, we got Radio 2’s folk and country output. Around that time too came an alt country band called ‘The Outlaws.’ Outlaws as a theme was in the water.

As young people still slightly wary of country music the idea of Nashville outlaws intrigued us. Those people, we were reliably involved, had been drawn in and subsequently spat out by Music Row and had started the fightback for real country music. Cut their hair? Hell no.

The album which captured all of this and more was The Outlaws album. This wasn’t the band I mentioned above – though they did make an album of the same name – this was the collective of Tompall Glaser, Willie Nelson, Jessie Colter and Waylon Jennings. All of them were big country names and all of them were happy to be branded as outsiders. As far as Mainstream Country was concerned it was the perfect match. Wille and Waylon’s reputation was cemented as the country stars they truly well – the album went on to become a big winner at the subsequent CMA awards – and the names on the sleeves were allowed to continue on their merry, rebel way delighting their respective audiences in their disrespect for the rules.

It’s a well worn path which had been taken by Hank Williams and others before them and would inspire Steve Earle and others in the decades to follow. Though Willie had been a songwriting and recording star before all of this it was Waylon Jennings who would gain the greatest recognition from his time as an outlaw.

This week Waylon Jennings would have been 80 years old. Sadly he’s not around to celebrate that anniversary, but he would have become only a footnote in country history had he not decided to drive that long bus trip from Clear Lake Iowa to Moorhead Minnesota and give up his seat on the plane which crashed killing Ritchie Valens and Buddy Holly.

In one sense the implications of that night never left Waylon Jennings and his subsequent struggles with addictions until his death in 2002 bear testimony to that.

This Tuesday on Another Country we’ll celebrate the music he made and the music he inspired. Hot off the press we’ll share a new Steve Earle track from his forthcoming album which ‘channels Steve’s inner Waylon’ and we’ll try to explain and celebrate Waylon’s unique legacy.

In the bits in between I’ll bring you up to date with some current music from Music City where I’ve been spending some creative time over the last couple of weeks.

It all starts at five past nine this coming Tuesday 13th June on BBC Radio Scotland and repeated this coming Friday evening at 7 o’clock. Join me if you can.

The weather here is America’s Music City is hot; humid in fact. Clouds are rolling in today and by tonight there will be a chance of rain. On the streets however there has rarely been more optimism. This is not based on anything life-changing or brought on by the new regime. It’s simply this: The Preds are on the attack.

Since I arrived last week Nashville has been hockey mad. No professional sports team from the city has ever won anything of significance in living memory, and for all I know, ever. The Ice Hockey team playing in downtown’s Bridgestone Arena have, however, made a serious attempt to change all of that. 2-0 down to the Penguins in the play-off for the Stanley Cup they have now drawn level after two home games which brought the downtown streets to a standstill. Rock ‘n’ Roll stops the traffic? Country? No…Ice Hockey! It’s all to play for till someone wins four games, but right now you won’t get anyone offering any opinions on anything else until this series has been resolved.

This coming weekend Music City may well have a perfect storm. What used to be called FanFare is now labelled CMA week. It’s when all the country stars come to town and play short sets at the football stadium and all over the city to meet and greet their loyal fan base. I can only imagine the chaos that might ensue given the possibility of all that combining with The Nashville Predators lifting the cup. ‘Go Preds’ as even the sign on the 12th Avenus Mosque reads!

I’m here for 12 days of so meeting up with some great songwriters and having my musical batteries charged. I’ve re-walked the city with Bill DeMain, visited some brilliant recording spaces including my good friends, The Orphan Brigade’s haunted house in Kentucky and found myself playing a song at The Bluebird. It’s the magic of Nashville and the city is as charming, friendly and full-on as ever. Always changing, always growing and often guilty of overlooking some of its better assets this, for me, is still the most compelling centre of music anywhere on earth.

Next week I shall be back in Studio 6 playing you some of the records I’ve discovered on some car rides and record shops but this Tuesday we’ll bring you an hour of country guitar music so it will put you in the mood for an hour with the great Duane Eddy.

Recorded in Nashville’s Musician’s Hall of Fame we’ve been saving this conversation for a suitable occasion. Perhaps this week, when Duane played a gig at The Station Inn with Dan Auerbach to launch Dan’s new album, would seem as good a time as any. It’s Country Twang all the way tonight…..join me from five past nine on BBC Radio Scotland.

On some days country music seems to be pretty damned unimportant. Some days very little seems important other than waking up and knowing everyone you love is safe. Today is one of those days. What I wrote yesterday is not vital in any way, but then so little of what I think and do ever is. I dare say, you might feel that about yourself too.

But what is important stuff? Important is the humdrum, the regular, the prosaic. Last night a bunch of kids went to a gig to experience being taken away from that for a few hours and after it was all over some never came home. Some will never come home.

Music was the pull for may of these young people last night and I strongly suspect it will be to music they return for comfort in the days ahead.Today it feels like there are a lot of words out there and not quite enough music. So I’m not going to add any more.

Tonight we’ll be playing music, country music as that’s what we do. We’ll be joined by Rab Noakes reflecting on his love of the genre. We’ll be on air at five past nine on BBC Radio Scotland as usual. As ever and as long as we are able we’ll imagine Another Country, the one where everybody’s welcome.

In a recent Rough Trade podcast John Moreland picks some of his favourite records. On it he talks about his punk rock roots and discovering Bruce Springsteen around the time of The Rising. John also talks about being asked to play his version of Thunder Road on his recent BBC visit…oh that was us John, that was us. We saw a YouTube of John doing the song and we thought we’d love that to happen on Another Country.

This coming Tuesday night you can hear what it sounds like when a young singer from Tulsa Oklahoma puts his own voice around the lines, ‘It’s a town for the losers and I’m pulling out of here to win.‘ That will be the bonus on a really beautiful session which was recorded just a couple of weeks ago when John came to Glasgow. As he explains in the interview, it was his first visit to play a show here but he’d already come across the border just to be here on a previous tour. We think John may become a regular visitor to our country once people hear the music he is playing. Beautifully crafted songs of heartache would be an easy way to describe John’s records, but don’t label him to easily. Coming from a background of 150BPM Punk rock he’s a lover of Minor Threat and other bands of that ilk. On twitter today someone got put in their place when they suggested Chris Stapleton is taking the title for “Sad Bastard of country” away from John…… Here’s JM’s reply: Good, I ain’t country and I ain’t sad.

John Moreland.

The listeners to this week’s Another Country can be the judges of that. It’s a brilliant session where John performs an acoustic version of a song he hadn’t performed solo up until that point and then there is that cover version. John Moreland may or may not be country – that’s really not the point – he is however singing something quite unique in a new fresh voice. Once more the sound of America comes from Oklahoma and we’re enjoying so much of what we’re hearing.

Also we have new and great things from Steve Earle, Bonnie Prince Billy, Pieta Brown and ….wait for it people….Fleet Foxes. We’ll explain – with good audio evidence – why John Mayer has gone country and we’ll remind you of some great music from Buck Owens and Nanci Griffiths.

My producer, Richard Murdoch is back from his American peregrinations with vinyl in his suitcase and you’ll hear the sound of Lillie Mae – fresh from Third Man Records , Pie Town, Nashville Tennessee. It’s going to be a great night. Join us live from five past nine on BBC radio Scotland FM.

On my first visit to the American west coast I drove up the coast from Los Angeles to San Francisco and was transfixed at the California I’d heard so much about but had never seen. With the radio on we drove through the desert as we had only a couple of days spare and as we got nearer our destination ( beach barbecue in Santa Cruz) my travelling partner (the fair Mrs R) pointed to the San Anselmo sign. ‘There’s a lovely song by Van Morrison‘ she told me,’ called Snow in San Anselmo.’ Lorraine McIntosh knew her Van better than either of us knew the map of California and the song was the lead track to ‘Hard Nose The Highway.’

I’ve been thinking about Van this year a lot. At the UK Americana awards in January he was the star turn, laughing and telling jokes and clearly happy to be included in the Americana community. Last year he brought out his excellent album ‘Keep Me Singing’ and it has never been far away from the top 5 of the UK Americana Chart since the release. It’s not difficult to make the case for Van’s inclusion in the genre…in fact there’s a good argument for saying he, more than any other artist, defines it.

Recently his catalogue has been brilliantly updated to include a completed version of his 1974 live album, ‘Too Late to Stop Now’ including the original complete show recordings from London and LA and even more recently a beautifully remastered debut album.It got me thinking a little about paying proper tribute to Van’s Americana roots.

So tonight a little journey with a Van! From ‘The Authorised Bang Collection’ via ‘A period of Transition right up to ‘Keep me Singing….some Vanicana! On the way along we’ll play you some artists covering similar material and explain why following the Van maybe the best way to understand Americana music.

We have some new music from new artists this Tuesday. Listen out for first spins for Kaia Kater, Juanita Stein and a new single from Julie Byrne. We have some 7 inch vinyl from Dan Auerbach and great memories from Hank Snow. We will also be celebrating significant releases from two of the most interesting new voices of the last few years, John Moreland and Chris Stapleton. Do make a point of joining us live if you can. We’re live this Tuesday from five past nine on BBC Radio Scotland FM.

I like my Monday night yoga class very much. There are 8 or 9 of us breathing heavily in a converted garden room as a neighbourly teacher takes us through our moves. There’s only ever been one problem ……the music. It’s not that the music is bad or anything, it’s pretty bland really, it’s just that, well, it’s there.

I have the same problem with films. I’ll find myself coming out and discussing the soundtrack. I’ll have an opinion about it and my friends will say…I didn’t even notice the music. It’s a problem I’m working hard to resolve but it’s been around for a long while now. From early memory I remember watching the TV just to hear familiar tunes on the test card. It didn’t bother me over much that there was nothing to see, I was only really interested in what was coming out of the speaker. You can see how this leads into days getting lost and confused. When I’m listening to a radio half-time report live from a football ground I’m more interested in the song in the background than the story being told by the correspondent. Music kinda takes over in one way or another. I see most of this as a curse rather than a blessing, and I often wish I could shut my brain down.

I say all of this because we are all here because we love music. Some of us may be more catholic in taste than others, but I suspect you are unlikely to be reading this blog if music isn’t a high priority in your life. For most of us that priority is an adjunct to work; we play or listen as a way of relaxing. It will help us celebrate or be the soundtrack to a broken-hearted period or it might well set us up for the working day. Last week I got to experience something really beautiful about music that may not have happened to everyone.

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I’m patron to a very special group of musicians called The Fridays who are part of MusicAll. Based in Hazelewood School in Glasgow, The Fridays meet (every Friday) to make music. Nothing unusual about this so far until you realise that members of the group are all people with extreme sensory disabilities. This means that when The Fridays do a gig – it’s a big deal. There’s a lot to organise. Last Friday, on top of all the other stuff, they had to contend with me playing and singing with them too. They learned up two of my songs and we played them together at a fund raising lunch in the Glasgow Hilton to 800 guests. It went very well and everyone enjoyed it hugely.

What is so moving about any time I’m with the group is how much of a difference the music is making. Although they sing and play, some of the young people are not able to communicate in other ways; sometimes they can’t talk. One girl in the group was silent and uncommunicative in all other areas of her life until she started to make music. When I sang with the group last time round she was still not able to say hello or make any form of greeting. Last week she greeted me like an old friend. Music had sneaked in where all other forms of contact hadn’t worked. It was magical.

This Tuesday we can gather round the radio and be glad we can all enjoy music as a life giving force. Love the old songs from Trisha Yearwood, Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan. You can also enjoy the new songs from Valerie June, Sam Baker, Will Stratton, Charlie Dore and Conor Oberst. But mostly let us all be glad about what music can do. Join me from five past eight this Friday on BBC Radio Scotland.

In my other life we’ve been reminded quite a bit that it’s 30 years since we released our first album. (Mr Murdoch has quietly been assembling an interesting hour of radio on this very subject which you can all hear very soon.) On a slightly less well celebrated note it’s also 10 years since I visited America’s Music City. In 1997 I had an interesting couple of weeks where I deputised for Bryan Burnett’s Brand New Country show on BBC Radio Scotland  – despite knowing nothing about country music. A week or so later I made my first trip to Nashville to engage with the song writing community.

I had always wanted to go. It had lodged in my imagination since I got my first headed letter from my first music publishers, ATV Music, with their offices in LA, London and Nashville. So getting to the city in 2007 was going to be a highlight whatever happened. So much of what I now love and understand was framed in that first visit. I remember checking into my hotel and walking over to Music Row so I could understand a little of what it looked like. It was a weekend night and there was no one around so the banners outside the record companies and offices flapped around in the warm wind as I tried to make sense of the names and the titles. Who were Rascal Flatts and why did the song writers names get emblazoned on the banners? Phoning home in a state of excited exuberance I told my wife I could imagine myself living in the city. ‘Oh yeah,’ her slightly skeptical voice broke in,’ and what would I wear?’ I’d been in the Greenhills Mall that afternoon….she had a point.

At the time my publishers were Warners Music who were headed up by the good, Dale Bobo, one of the loveliest and kindest music executives I’ve ever met. He’s still a good friend. Dale was putting together a writing itinerary for me. ‘You should work with various writers here,’ he told me. ‘Sean here is going well – he’s already had a couple of cuts on the last Brad Paisley album’. To my shame, I had no idea who Brad Paisley was let alone who my fellow writer was. In the time I’ve been going back there – I’m going for the 9th time next month – I’ve heard and seen the name Brad Paisley many times more and realised what I didn’t know was quite a lot.

So on this Tuesday’s AC I will play out my first ever meeting with the man himself ten years on at this year’s C2C. Brad’s new album Love and War is finally out and we spent a fruitful time with him chatting over his own back catalogue, playing C2C and his recent encounter with The Rolling Stones. Later on I saw him deliver a knock down, ninety minutes master class in live performance which (songs aside) was up in Springsteen league for sheers charisma and entertainment value. I’d heard Brad was the doyen of country performers but nothing had prepared me for how good he was. This wasn’t a man playing the hits or resting out on laurels, it was an artist leading his own band and his audience all the way home. It’s early in 2017 but I’ll be lucky to see such a consumate performance as Brad Paisley’s that March evening. Join us this Tuesday for a very personal encounter with one of the biggest country starts on the planet.

If that’s not enough join us to hear new music from Angaleena Presley, Chris Stapleton and John Moreland. We have some significant classic cuts from Skeeter Davis, Gillian Welch and Chris Young. As well as that two gorgeous new songs from forthcoming Ron Sexsmith and Sam Baker from forthcoming new albums. This all happens in two hours so make sure you join us from five past nine this coming Tuesday from five past nine on BBC Radio Scotland.

I’m turning things upside down a little. I’m working on the Easter Bank Holiday. When I say working…. I’m staring out my studio window onto a lovely day. Later on we’re going walking with chums but this Easter Morning I’m listening to some fine new records and making lists of things I want to play on this Tuesday night’s AC. It’s nothing like work and I’m not (quite) stupid enough to ever believe it is. Doing anything musical well takes a bit of application but it’s always going to be a pleasure. I’ve been avoiding real work for 30 plus years and I’ve no intention of returning any time soon.

I was thinking about all of this when I thought about my guest on this week’s show. At one point over the last couple of years Courtney Marie Andrews returned to work. She came home from Belgium where she’d been living for four months and took a job in a bar outside Seattle. Now that’s real work! Over the course of the next while Courtney listened to the stories from the Tavern and began to assemble the songs which would make up Honest Life, her 2017 album. It’s an album that has wormed its way into our affections and indeed, when we reconvened after the Christmas holiday my producer, Richard Murdoch confessed he’d not been able to stop playing it. I have felt a similar bond to an album which, already, seems like a companion to 2017.

This Tuesday you can hear what happened when Courtney Marie Andrews came into Studio One at Pacific Quay at BBC Radio Scotland and recorded a very special session for us. On that day she was kind enough too to leave me a copy of Honest Life on vinyl which is sounding just great on this spring Monday Morning.

Elsewhere I’ll have some new songs from some old favourites including Rodney Crowell, Oh Susannah, Andrew Combs and Hillfolk Noir. We’ll also have new music from the late Chuck Berry, Dan Auerbach and a few surprises you’re really going to love.

I love it when listeners write in and keep us up to speed. So we’re indebted to Conor Randby who alerted us to the death of Johnny Cash’s guitarist Bob Wootton. We’ll tell you more about Bob this coming Tuesday and play something by him and something new from the man he introduced to Johnny Cash: Marty Stuart.

We’re live this Tuesday from five past nine on BBC Radio Scotland. Join me if you can.