I don’t want to bore you about how good Gilian Welch and Dave Rawlings were the other night, especially if you couldn’t make it. But there is something worthy of a little discussion here coming from that brilliant night: Interval Music. Who listens? Who picks it? How loud and how good should it be?

Gill and Dave’s selection was spot on. A less secure act would have thought twice about coming back on and even I did wonder at the what might come next….

Charlie Rich – Behind Closed Doors, The Louvin Brothers and two George Jones songs that were worth leaving your house for….. a risky game to play. I remember as a kid noticing some band playing the Last Record Album as a pre gig tape…..I thought they must be crazy, how could they top that. If memory serves me well, though, they did. Perhaps it’s the very act of raising the bar and saying ‘There is an entire Universe of  pop music out there and frankly, we feel that’s great but it’s inspired us to create …THIS!

People tell me the Alison Krauss show was also a great night at the Armadillo. I wonder what they played before they came on stage? Feel free to let me know. I know this much about that day…Alison was in fine form and chatting to us about everything. We talked early bluegrass days, her first solo adventures, picking songs, Robert Plant and of course ‘Oh Brother Where Art Thou.’ She told us about T Bone and gave us a little insight into why a song might be cut by her and others left on the shelf. She has one of the sweetest voices in popular music, she is the recipient of 36 Grammys (at the last count) and she is a very nice person to be around. Experience Alison Krauss in full this Friday on Another Country.

We have new music from A.A. Bondy, My Darling Clementine, Crooked Still and a new solo project from Craig Finn. (from The Hold Steady) We’ll also dip into the Dylan album with one of the most iconic covers of all time …….

……..and play you where he was in 1963. It’s all in Another Country this Friday on BBC Radio Scotland. The fun starts at five past eight.

Well it feels like that to us. It had been trundling along nicely here at the AC. We had some guests and occasionally we decided we’d rather just play some records we loved. Then suddenly, as if from nowhere we received news that three of the biggest names in our kind of ‘country’ were to be visiting us within a couple of weeks of each other. We will broadcast the half hour chat I had with Alison Krauss in her dressing room very soon and Steve Earle’s interview and live gig will be our pre-Christmas treat on the 16th of December. Meanwhile you can catch what happened when Ryan Adams came to Glasgow recently on tomorrow night’s show.

Ryan’s got plenty to say and has also been good enough to play us some songs. I think you’ll enjoy it. It’s all in hour two of the show this week. Did I mention I’ve got a great interview with Jim James from My Morning Jacket too?….Thought not.

Apart from all that, you say, what else have you got?  We are in to the final countdown on Bob Backwards and The Times They Are a Changin’. People who half-know Bob – and that is essentially me – will know loads of songs on this record. There’s the title track, With God On Our Side, The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll and When The Ship Comes In. On the cover Bob looks like a share-cropper but, although the songs are still topical and disaffected, the title works on two levels. Hear Bob about to turn tomorrow night.

We have some archive material that is suitably obscure and some new records by  The War on Drugs, Dave Alvin, Red Sky July and someone I’m just getting to know…Charlie Parr. If you are determined to listen to the radio this weekend remember I’ll be doing my last stint for Bob Harris on Sunday morning from midnight. Lots of great music including a live session from Cahalen Morrison and Eli West. If you’re not nocturnal you can use the break from league football to tune into Dermot O’Leary’s Radio 2 show on Saturday afternoon where I’ll be welcoming The Feeling and Jim James from My Morning Jacket. I know…it’s crazy this radio lark, but you get to meet some lovely people. It all starts Friday at five past eight on BBC Scotland.

I don’t know where to start but I’ll have a go:

Occasionally people (and it seems to me that this seems to be happening in a lovely way across the pond) seem to find it easier to cut themselves off and make gloriously isolated music. Over the last few years we’ve loved Bon Iver, Grizzly Bear and our old friends Richmond Fontaine who have all wallowed in their own sacred space. Their playgrounds were scattered throughout the northern states. So let’s add a new destination: Stillwater, Oklahoma. Home to this interesting collective:

Other Lives (for that is them) have done some good touring of late. Opening for Bon Iver across the west coast earlier in the year they quickly endeared themselves to Justin Vernon, his band and their followers. Now they are winning over European audiences and on Friday we will find out how all this has come about. One thing seems certain…if you want to get in on this cool act, grow your hair and don’t trim your beard.

We will also have some other great new things……including the new single from our faves, The Black Keys. I don’t like hyperbole but it’s TOTALLY GREAT.

We’ve got old things from Rick Nelson, Johnny Cash and Guy Clark. We also have lovely new things from Ash Mountain, Shelby Lynne and Kurt Vile. We’ll hear what Richard and I were doing this week and I’ll tell you all about the country roots of my new friend…Hal David.

Now I hear you say. What about Bob?  We are close to the end of our backwards epic journey. But we still have some significant landmarks to pass. This week it’s 1964 (As it was last week but we are still in Bob as a folk musician – though you can hear the rubs beginning to happen.) If this all sounds like gobbledygook  because you’ve just joined us then we’re playing Bob Dylan‘s entire catalogue backwards and this week we will listen to….

It will all in colour and on your radio…now how do we do that? Join us on Friday at five past eight on BBC Radio Scotland to find out.

So spake the wise St Andrew….no, not that one…Dundee’s patron saint. Created by Andy Pell his songs celebrate the greatness of being in the moment and , well….being from Dundee. I tell you all of this by way of introducing the three people who fill my thoughts this week: Ally McErlaine, Steve Earle and Ryan Adams. Steve and Ryan are people who have ‘lived a bit’ and their own stories will unfold later in the series after I speak to them both this week. Two years ago not even Ally himself or his wife Shelley would have predicted  he would be here to talk about his new album.

In the summer of 2009 Ally his wife Shelley Poole and fiddler and singer Charity Hair were planning to make an album under the banner of Red Sky July. They were two days into an agreement with producer Rory Carlile when Ally was struck by a potentially fatal aneurism. What happened next was the project was quietly shelved as Ally remained in hospital unconscious for three months. No one knew what would happen next but gladly for all of us Ally, Shelley and Charity will be with us on Friday to show that this was a story with a very happy ending. It will be one of these very special AC nights when we rush down from our home studio on the 4th floor to Studio One  to be in the room with our live guests who will be performing songs from their excellent debut record. I can’t wait and am so glad to welcome an old friend to the programme.

There will be so much more. We meet the point in Bob Backwards where his recordings reach the great folk/rock crossroads. Bringing it All Back Home from 1964 was one half electric and one half acoustic – we know what happened next – so what was the reaction to this one? How good was it and what changed? We’ll try to talk about all of that and listen to the evidence.

Also – great new music from Strange Boys, Alana Del Ray, Jeffrey Lewis and Tom Waits. We’ll get your news on Scottish shows by Wilco, Steve Earle, Ryan Adams and that Bon Iver gig and we’ll play music from all these fine artists.

Is that enough…..? If it’s not you can drop in on Sunday morning on Radio 2  in the Bob Harris Show when I have four hours to play you almost everything I can think of. Join me if you can this Friday evening on BBC Radio Scotland from five past eight.

This Friday we celebrate live music. For the next few months Scotland will host  an amazing line-up of visitors with whom the listener to Another Country will be very familiar. First up we need to mention this ensemble…..

Steve Earle is coming to Glasgow next week. On Friday’s show we’ll bring you some very interesting news about Steve, Glasgow and The AC. Here’s the official blurb…..

After many years of touring solo and acoustically worldwide, Earle will be touring in support of the new album with his electric live band, The Dukes (and Duchesses) featuring Allison Moorer.

Also coming to these parts: Ryan Adams (Edinburgh)

Glen Campbell (All of Scotland), Alison Krauss (Glasgow), Wilco (Glasgow) and our old friend Diana Jones who is coming in to Glasgow to play at the Fallen Angels Club at the CCA on 29th October.  Also we’re getting very excited about Other Lives visit to The Captain’s Rest next Tuesday…

However on Friday we will also pause to celebrate this album:

Highway 61 Revisited is a landmark record in so many ways. Firstly seeks to beautifully upset the delicate balance of Bringing It All Back’s home acoustic/electric two sides by dispensing with any attempt to please the folkies. For that reason alone it is worth celebrating Bob Backwards all year. Great folk music listens, adapts and changes. But sadly, in my experience, folk purists often remember the first two rules but forget to change and round on those who do. Rather like the church or the aristocracy, folk music has a habit of pointless resistance to change. At its best of course it is a dynamic force for good but sadly when it comes to poker-faced earnest devotees of folk who harangued Dylan for ‘going electric’ I’m on the side of Bob every time. So let’s go with him and embrace the shock of the new. One of the things I love about this period is that one is often tempted to assume in these God-awful X Factored times that anything massively popular has to be bad. With Highway 61 and Like A Rolling Stone Bob Dylan hit the Zeitgeist perfectly. He made brilliant art and blistering pop music that people bought in droves. It’s worth remembering it can be done.

Finally on a Friday when we celebrate so much live music it is hugely significant that this Dylan album hosted three out of fourteen songs Bob played live a couple of weeks ago in Glasgow. Highway 61, Like A Rolling Stone and Desolation Row. Pretty good huh.!

Nae Luck

That’s what they say when a rival team beats yours up here north of Hadrian’s wall. It’s the commiseration offered under your breath when the ostentatious Range-Rover-driving neighbour scrapes the chariot off the gate-post and, frankly, it’s the best I can offer to all this Friday’s artists whose name doesn’t start with Ro…and end in immerman.

If you have a new record out this week, good luck. But heck I can only wish for you that it had been a few weeks back when we had Self Portrait, or months ago when we were exploring Saved. Pity for you that it hasn’t coincided with Under The Red Sky – we’d have had all the time in the world then. But for the next three weeks we arrive at the reasons why Another Country’s year-long pilgrimage would ever take place. Three great landmark albums by the towering figure of modern folk, rock and roots music….let’s call it for what it is...Americana. For me Bob Dylan defines the genre and if you ever had any doubt just witness what the ripe trees of Autumn are bestowing upon us: Blonde On Blonde, Highway 61 Revisited and Bringing It All Back Home.

This is not just a purple patch of records my friend, this is a man writing a new rule book on popular music. These albums contained the blueprints to songs, styles, attitudes and sonic sculpture bands and artists would try to emulate over the next 40 years. Some would hope the magic would brush off on them if they copied their stylings and titles…..the guilty parties know who they are….some would hope to emulate the ambition, but no one in the succeeding decades has come close to the colossal impact of these records. Perhaps it was the times: The Beach Boys were re writing another script, The Beatles were leading a popular art revolution and year on year every thing we thought was right was being turned on its head. Not a bad time to be alive. In the middle of it all a man who had rightly been embraced by the folk community was showing them he no longer wished to be contained. Nothing would be the same again. It’s special stuff……and over these next few weeks we’ll try to make it feel that way.

But there’s  always more:

New and wonderful things from Tom Waits, hidden gems from The Dixie Chicks and dark beauty stuff from the album I’m listening to now; Bonnie Prince Billy.

Richard has also found you some great music from Kitty Wells and Loretta Lynn which might well make our good friend Stevie think…..Heck, I’ve opened my eyes, it is country music and I like it. Decide for yourself on Friday at five past eight on BBC Radio Scotland.

Thanks to everyone who has encouraged continued Blog-Roll…….It carries on unfettered. I am also sitting in for the great Bob Harris on his late Saturday/early Sunday show on Radio 2 for the next 5 weeks. It’s such a pleasure and I have some great guests….so if you can’t sleep Saturday, you know where to find me.

Join me on Friday if you can.

What’s your heart’s desire?

I’m sitting writing this on a wind torn Wednesday night listening to my guest for this Friday, Israel Nash Gripka. I like Israel’s music a lot and I realise I really didn’t know much about him. But over the last few years I’ve read lots of artists stories that have followed similar themes. In Israel’s case it’s the Catskill mountains but in others there’s a back ground of snow, or mountains or woods. Many favourites we’ve played have  ‘holed up in a cabin’ or a basement or a barn……and come out with an album. I can think of  Bon Iver, Grizzly Bear and ….well, add some more.

Heart’s desire? When I read about Israel retreating to the big old barn in the Catskills I did have the first sproutings of the horns of jealousy. Maybe it’s age, maybe it’s remembering the excitement of early recording sessions but there is an attractive romance about being lost in the woods and making music.

We’ll hear more from Israel about that magical month on Friday. He’s going to be live in studio one only an hour or so before he plays his gig at Glasgow Americana Festival. Exciting huh?

We’ll also be listening to John Wesley Harding and working out where Bob Dylan’s head was in 1967…….Looking for some comments on the facebook page too.

We will also be playing the music of this man.

And yes, you’re right…it’s about time we welcomed Jim Lauderdale. He’ll be in Scotland soon too and his new album sounds very good from what I’ve heard so far.

Willy Vlautin mentioned Tom Russell and we thought it was about time we gave Tom’s music a spin. Not least because he and Ry Cooder are asking some big American questions. We’ll also have some comment from the pen of Woody Guthrie and his grand daughter Sarah Lee. It all connects you know. And it all starts on Friday at five past eight on BBC Radio Scotland. Join me if you can.

Sundays continue but without me for a while. The wonderful Cathy MacDonald is your host for the next couple of months and I’ll be joining in come Christmas. I have no idea if anyone is reading this blog any more so perhaps you’d be good enough to let me know here or on Facebook if it’s important to you or not.

The picture that’s most used of me on Another Country links is one taken around 18 months ago. It is a cropped shot of me edited from a wider photograph taken in the corridor after the first visit to the AC of Richmond Fontaine. I’m only guessing but I suspect the reason that Alan (BBC Scotland’s web maestro) and Richard chose it is because I’m looking so damned happy.

No wonder; I’d just had the joy of interviewing Willy Vlautin and I was happy. Interviewing Willy is really one of the cherries on the icing of the very fine cake that is the wonderful job I get to do. Don’t get me wrong – there have been many wonderful moments. Mary Gauthier, Kris Kristofferson, Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings have all been memorable days. Now however, I have met Willy three times and even when my questions are lame and prosaic his answers come back with all the life that Willy’s songs and novels manage to package. Willy isn’t trying to dazzle or flatter, he’s just at pains to explain how music made him the man he was; how albums became ministering angels and songs brought solace. We will spend a good bit of time in the presence of Richmond Fontaine‘s writer and singer and I do believe there will be very few of you not grateful for it.

We will of course be spending time too with this record….

In case you haven’t been on this planet all that long you are looking (above) at he front cover of Bob Dylan’s 1969 album, Nashville Skyline. It comes highly recommended by our guest too. We will also celebrate a few birthdays as well as play some exciting new music from  Wilco, Nick Lowe, Hillfolk Noir and JT Nero……who?

JT Nero are from Chicago and they sound both charming and intriguing…..

When Richard mentioned to me the other day that sad news had come in of the passing of  Kitty Well‘s husband Johnny Wright I had to admit I hadn’t known of him. It was only when I started doing the blog and doing some digging that I realised that he was one half of that great country duo Johnny and Jack. I’m pleased to say I know very little but I do know enough to own an album by Johnny and Jack. You can hear the music of Johnny Wright on Friday’s show.

It’s called Another Country and it’s on BBC Radio Scotland this Friday at five past eight. Admit it, you can’t miss it.

Sunday Morning

I’ll be spending a lot of the first hour of Sunday’s show with this man…

George Galloway is the man who divides opinions more than anyone else I know. To some he is a fearless challenger to received orthodoxies who has championed very difficult causes all his life. His passion is Palestine and his background is the Labour movement and the city of Dundee. We have a lot in common. I’ll also be finding out why so many people find George hard to take and where he might go next.

We’ll also be talking to the people bringing you a Glasgow Passion Play in October…..Surely it can’t be as good as this one I was involved with a few years back….?

We are going to spend a bit of time finding out why some Christians and others want to keep the 50% Income Tax Rate for high earners even if some people say it brings in less revenue. We’ll ask Sally Magnusson for all the unprintable gossip from  Songs Of Praise which is now 50 years old. (Hasn’t it been longer?) Cathy MacDonald is also coming to join us and tell us more about the people she’ll be meeting as she takes over the Sunday Morning baton for a few months. I’ll be back in the New Year reading more interesting books, meeting fascinating people and playing more gems from my record collection. Do join me for one last extended breakfast this Sunday morning on BBC Radio Scotland from seven.

On Friday we are going to spend a lot of time in the company of these men…….

They are called the Avett Brothers and is if by magic one of the stories they will share with you is how they met Bob.…..oh, yes…that Bob. More on the Avetts later but back to Mr. Dylan.

When Richard Murdoch and I sat down to talk about Bob Backwards it was fair to say we didn’t over analyse the weaker Dylan albums. We recognised there might be good weeks and great weeks and the occasional week where we’d be glad we weren’t playing an entire album. What we both thought was that by the time we got to the 1970 we’d be fairly safe.  That was to prove slightly naive. Right between two pretty good Bob Dylan albums comes one of these odd curios that I’ve always know was there but have resolutely refused to explore for 41 years. Until now. As I write this on a late wet Wednesday I am putting the proverbial needle down on the first song. …..flipping heck……it’s a double album! How could I have forgotten that?

I like to think I know about thses records. It’s not that I owned half of them. I couldn’t afford that. It was more that we as secondary school pupils used to go and hand around the record racks in Boots, Largs and Chalmers and Joy of a lunch time in Dundee. We may not know what was going on on the vinyl but, by crikey, we could tell you what “Weazels Ripped My Flesh” looked like.

In case you need reminded….

As it happens sometimes the reality of these things is better than the expectations. I’m sitting here quite liking what I’ve heard so far. I think I like Bob’s voice of this period and I love the fact that we get to know what songs he loved at the time. And lest we ever think Bob was flattering to deceive he is not above paying tribute to one of THE songs of the year, Simon and Garfunkel’s The Boxer. (That’s PJ Harvey doing Foster The People’s ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ folks.)

However all of this can be discussed further on Friday when we’ll play the album and at this moment on this Wednesday it’s sounding really fascinating and worth the £7 I just shelled out.

One of the most interesting things is meeting artists second time around. On the AC we”ve been lucky to have had return visits from a few special artists. Justin Townes Earle, Mary Gautier and of course Richmond Fontaine…who will hold the record soon. But none of these acts have had quite the experience of The Avett Brothers. Since they first called in they have steadily grown their US fan base. (They’ve just played Red Rocks for goodness sake) They came back to see us when they were in Glasgow recently. All three guys turned up and made a point of thanking us for our support and told us the pieces in the story of The Avetts success. Anyone who wants to be in a successful band needs to listen to this interview. It’s heartening to know that a cottage industry involving printing CDs, lumping PA systems and playing barbecues can wind up with Gold records and Grammy Awards appearances with Bob Dylan. It’s rags to riches Avetts style and it gives an excuse (an excuse is needed?) to play that great session again.

We’ll have great new music from……… The Jayhawks, Blitzen Trapper, Ben Glover, Eilen Jewell and Anna
Coogan. We’ll start the road trip at five past eight on BBC Radio Scotland. Please know there’s a seat in the car for you.

Sunday Morning With…..

I am really looking forward to meeting Scott Rennie.

Scott is a man who probably wishes he hasn’t become a familiar name. However I suspect that is a burden he’s going to have to bear for a long time. Scott is the openly gay Church of Scotland minister who had to fight to be ordained against a fairly vociferous opposing such a plan . Although there were forces lined up against his becoming a minister there are also many people who have supported him and he will be joining me on Sunday to talk through that experience . We’ll hear Scott’s own story, hear some of his music choices and we will all get the chance to know Scott a little better.

Also….when was the last time you went on a march? Perhaps you have never done it.In light of the fact it’s been 30 years since the hunger strikes in Northern Ireland, 30 years since Glasgow gave Nelson Mandela freedom of the city and 30 years since the Greenham Common protests began, we’re discussing protests and protesting. We’ll be talking about how protesting and our response to protest has changed over the years.

I’ll also be finding out more about why this man has no intention of retiring….

His name is Lewis Wolpert he’s an octogenerian and he’s talking about how to grow old well.

I’ll also be finding out why David Peat didn’t get  this photograph developed for forty years..

And finally, a question: Have you got …….?

We hear from The Humanist Society and let you know where the auditions are being held. The good news is there’s no Simon Cowell. The bad news is they probably don’t whisk you off to a pool-side location somewhere warm either.

We’ll hear music from Danny Kaye, Nanci Griffith, Hoagy Carmichael, Seasick Steve and The Dixie Cups. All from seven on Sunday morning BBC Radio Scotland. Join me if you can.

If I remember correctly it was the summer of 1988. We had been recording over in the west coast of the USA for the first time and returned to the more prosaic duties of playing gigs and festivals up and down the land. I realised I never liked festivals. I still don’t really – though I had one of these strange moments at one this summer which made me realise why people occasionally love them; more on that later. On this particular Saturday our band played an afternoon slot at the Reading Festival. One of our guys pointed to the stage and said, “It’s a bit of a ritual here, but the first 5 minutes of any set the lads throw all their plastic beer bottles on stage. Don’t worry, it happens to everyone.” It happened to us, but as the urine filled bottle hit Graeme’s guitar for the nth time a strange clarity broke over the proceedings for me and I led our troupe offstage.

At the time it seemed as if we were the ones breaking social convention. However I realised that whatever I hoped the live experience might be it was never going to blossom in the mud/bear/beer pit of Reading Festival. In the middle of all this mayhem was an adjoining portacabin which was the makeshift dressing room to the turn on the next stage about to endure the same bottle dodging maelstrom. The turn in question was John Hiatt.He had made a favourite album of mine at the time, ‘Bring The Family.’ It was recorded in a few short days with a supergroup of Ry Cooder on guitar, Jim Keltner on Drums and Nick Lowe on bass. The bass player was sitting in the portacabin hanging with John.

I can’t remember much of the chat with John but I remember Nick vividly. He was charming, welcoming and friendly. I enjoyed John Hiatt’s set from the same vantage point as Nick and took comfort that he received as many missiles as we had. The next time I met Nick it was at a gathering to decide who should be worthy of a Q award ( I know!). After lunch he said to me, “I’ll give you my number – I think you should have it.” I was more than pleased to have Nick Lowe’s number in my diary even though I would never use it. It would be twenty two more years and some wonderful Nick Lowe albums later that I would have the joy of meeting Nick again.

To my delight he was the act on before us at the Glastonbury Festival 2011. It was ironic that it would be at a festival – perhaps the twenty three years had help me forget. To my joy and surprise the festival audience had grown up and changed into quite the most lovely audience in the world. As Nick and I  met again in the gloomy backstage marquee that passes as a green room I was curious to find out whether Nick had a new album coming out and was delighted to hear about ‘The Old Magic’ and immediately booked him for Another Country. The plan was for me to go to London to meet him but I couldn’t make the trip so we chatted down the line, and what an enjoyable chat it turned out to be. Nick talked about these wonderful songs on his great new album, about his old friend Elvis Costello (who he’s covered brilliantly on the new record) and about life round the Carter-Cash dinner table. It will all be on the AC this Friday. By a nice coincidence we’ll be playing new songs from Ry Cooder and John Hiatt too.

What else? The Avett Brothers and Ron Sexsmith on their favourite Bob Dylan album, ‘New Morning.’ Yes it’s 1970 in Bob Backwards.

Also wonderful new music from Lindi Ortega, Lindsey Buckingham, Devon Sproule, Ryan Adams and yes……Dirty Beggars. We’ll also mine the catalogues of Hank Williams, Roy Acuff, Johnny Cash and Elvis Costello.

It all starts at 8 o’clock on Friday Evening on BBC Radio Scotland.

Sunday Morning With……

On Sunday I will be chatting to Mary Contini whose memoir  ‘Dear Olivia’ is essential reading for anyone wanting to know about the Scots Italians.

Mary’s family story is a great century-long adventure and it never moves too far away from the kitchen – which suits me perfectly. It’s only a shame the radio cannot give you the aromas which must have filled Mary’s childhood.

Aric Sigman is going to join us to talk about this book…

And we’ll hear from parents here in Scotland about how they go about letting their children learn about alcohol and its effects. We’ll also try to discover the best ways to allow teenagers to discover alcohol and see if anyone thinks we can do it better that we have up till now.For those of you wanting a more musical instruction on the perils of the demon drink feel free to learn the words of this Two Ronnies song.

We will talk to Doctor and Screen Writer Simon Stephenson about brothers.

His book on the loss of his own brother and sister-in-law in the Asian Tsunami makes powerful reading.

It’s 50 years since the founding of Amnesty. We hear some of the reasons why we need to keep listening to what they are saying.

Great music from Stevie Wonder, Diana Krall, Ennio Morricone, The Impressions and Michael Kiwanuka. All from seven on Sunday morning. Join me if you can.