Let me take you back to the late eighties. It’s somewhere on the south coast of England and the record label CBS are holding their quarterly sales and marketing conference. This is not the big wakoo they hold annually every September to set up for the all important final quarter. It is a spring event with less hoopla than the autumn version and the sales and marketing guys (and believe me it’s 90% guys) get to let off a little steam combined with getting their colleagues excited about the records coming through in the next few months.

For some reason a couple of us have been invited to share the event and this has the unfortunate outcome of letting the artists witness how their work is being handled by the label. Perhaps we were naive, and perhaps we just had never enquired enough but somehow the Mark Twain adage that “Those that respect the law and love sausage should watch neither being made,” now seems very apt. As each marketing manager brought their products up to the gathered workforce the need to surpass the impact of the previous presentation increased. So it was that one unfortunate staffer found himself with the task of introducing the new album by one of the greatest artists his label had ever been lucky enough to call one of their own. The presentation was mainly visual and centred around the size of Dolly Parton’s breast size with accompanying visuals bringing cheers and hollers from the assembled rabble. For us , it was too much. We had been sitting in the front row in lieu of our own record being presented and we made no small fuss of leaving our seats and walking out of the event.

Now it was bad enough watching how a fellow artists record had been diminished but given we were fans of Dolly Parton and believed her to be up there with Springsteen, Dylan, George Michael and all the other flagship acts on the label, it was galling to see how disrespectful this was.

The trouble then, as it has often been in this country’s media, that Dolly Parton has never been taken seriously enough. It’s almost impossible to list the number of ways she has changed the face of popular music but let me at least point to a few: She wrote her own songs when 99% of country hits were written by outside writers, she walked out of a successful TV partnership because she knew she wanted to speak for her self, she has had success over six decades in multiple countries and by success…I mean SUCCESS! I could go on.

On this week’s AC we will anticipate Dolly Parton’s 80th Birthday (19th January) by playing cuts from all these decades. Believe me there is so much more could play too but safe to say Dolly is another great Country game changer in this year where we are celebrating all the great country artists who have changed the genre. From five past eight this Tuesday evening join me for this special show on BBC Sounds or BBC Radio Scotland .

It’s the start of another year and, as often I’m given to thinking over again, what is it that we love about music? Why do we get so hooked, charmed, consumed by tiny little songs which last barely three minutes but make us want to hear them again and again and again. It’s often too at this time of year that I think about the great Buddy Holly and that catalogue of recordings he managed to accumulate at such a tender age before he left this world so violently.

Buddy Holly was only twenty two years old when he was killed in February 1959 before most people reading this were born, no doubt, and before some of the more seismic events informed what we understand about popular music even happened. His records were made in the days before multi track recording and stand as a testament to great performances of ground breaking musicians , recorded by people who knew how to capture the magic in a short space of time. All of these recordings were made in mono with almost no overdubs. Needless to say that recreating that sound today would take days of digital noodling.
Mono is how many of us fell in love with pop music. We heard it on old car radios and tinny transistors and going in and out of signal in high streets, tunnels and under bridges…and we loved it all.

On this week’s edition of the AC I’m paying tribute to Raul Malo whose death was announced last month. Raul was a frequent visitor to Scotland with and without The Mavericks. The interview I recall highlights his sheer joy at recording an album in Mono – called ‘Mono‘ some ten years ago.  Raul and The Mavericks were a unique band of musicians. Embraced by country music and Americana fans they also had a huge audience among the Latino community from where they emerged originally. That blend of Country, Rock n Roll, Latin and Pop music proved to be such a winning combination which brought them huge success in Europe as well as in the US. We’ll play some great Raul/Mavericks songs just to remind you.

We shall also pay tribute to Joe Ely whose death was announced just before Christmas and who was a highly regarded member of the country/Americana community.

As well as these tributes we aim to bring you new records of note for the new years. Listen out for wonderful things from Valerie June, Margo Price, Tyler Ballgame and Courtney Marie Andrews. We will also bring you new acts we are excited about as well as a few records you really want to hear again and again. I’ll be back on BBC Radio Scotland FM and BBC Sounds this Tuesday evening from five past eight. Join me if you can.

It was last night while I was out walking that I caught the first real tingle of the festive season. I was out delivering cards to my neighbours and in the process of being postie I met up with three of the folks I was calling on. As it happened I hadn’t spoken to any of them for quite some time, not out of indifference or division you’ll understand, but simply because we hadn’t bumped into each other recently. Since our old dog, Alfie, died last year we have walked out less and stayed home a little more. Driving away from your house does not allow the best chance of meeting up with the folks living nearby.

So if there’s a new year resolution I think mine has to be to walk and talk more. I am however grateful for the familiarity of our local ‘hood. We feel relative newcomers even though we’ve lived in our house for the last thirty one years and I still feel there are many locals I haven’t yet encountered. So, if you’re reading this and passing me over the holidays , do say hello.

If that tingle factor hasn’t happened for you yet I hope this week’s Christmas AC may be the thing you need, even though you didn’t know you’d missed it. This coming Tuesday evening I’ll be on the airwaves with a broad selection of AC Christmas favourites and a few newer tracks we haven’t broadcast over the last eighteen years or so. The country community are given to celebrating the holiday season more fervently than any other genre. No country artist worth the name can reach peak performance without delivering an album of yuletide classics. The trouble is they all tend to cut the same classics as each other and it seems pointless filling up the airwaves with more of the rather bland offerings that come out each December. So forgive us if we repeat ourselves but we’ve chosen to make this week’s AC special a wide take on the Christmas classics.

You’ll hear John Prine, The Youngsters, Los Lobos, The Staple Singers and the great Mahalia Jackson. There will be Santa and all the usual nonsense but we’ll also get to the heart of the story via Bruce Cockburn, Mahalia Jackson and The Louvin Brothers. Whether you’re affiliated to a particular religion or have no need of it I promise you we will try to bring songs which illuminate one of the world’s great stories. For me, the idea of a God who comes to be born in a stable still moves me beyond words. I hope you feel the power of the nativity story in this special show too. Thank you for listening over the last twelve months. I’ll be with you again when January comes. Have a peaceful Christmas season.

Yes, it’s that time of year…well…it’s the first part of that time. For once, I’ll cut straight to the car chase: On this week’s Another Country we will play Part One of our Best of The Year. I should qualify that ‘best’ thing a little. I’d suggest all of us could imagine lists of things that deserve to be crowned ‘the best.’ So on these nights this is simply a nod to the artists we’ve enjoyed over the course of the year. Sometimes there’s songs we’ve played and loved and sometimes it’s simply a case of choosing one song by an artist we’ve played a whole bunch over the last twelve months. (step forward Charley Crockett)

There’s another qualification I need to confess. This year’s list is essentially my list. My long time producer, Richard Murdoch, has been stolen away on other wireless duties for the last couple of months of this year and I’ve been handed the keys of the record cupboard to make up my own list.  I have missed his input but I think I’m pretty sure he’d agree on most of the picks.

This week then will have two hours of songs I think worthy of your attention should you still be searching for that perfect Christmas gift or even if you are about to write that letter to Santa. If you’ve not been naughty you could perhaps want to look out for some of these artists’s albums which have put a smile on my face over the course of 2025. On this week’s show that list will include Eric Church, Kacey Musgraves, Tyler Childers and The War and Treaty. Now those names you might expect but you may not have expected to hear The Kentucky Gentlemen, Case Oats or Lainey Gardner but you will.

The thing is we could have played so much but I’ve really tried to pick things which truly delighted and surprised. Occasionally we’ve managed to spend time with the artists concerned and on some occasions I’ve caught their live show which has perhaps focussed my attention all over again. (that’s you Cody Johnson) Sometimes I’m playing one song from albums where I could easily be picking ten or twelve (that’s you I’m looking at Lainey Wilson) and sometimes there’s just one song because, well, often there’s only a need for one song.

Whichever way, this week’s AC will be all killer and no filler. If you think I’ve missed anything significant feel free to let me know but don’t forget Part two will be broadcast next week. I’ll let this blog speak for both these shows and will be back just before Christmas for a final blog of the year.  The first of these special shows starts this Tuesday evening on BBC Radio Scotland or BBC Sounds. Join me if you can.

If there’s anything I’ve learned about country music over the last seventeen years of the AC it’s that whenever I think I know something it, inevitably, opens up a door to an area I know nothing about. In 2018 (one year out for some reason) we paid a tribute to Cindy Walker who had been a century before (2017). On that night we included significant cuts by her fellow Texans including songs from Willie Nelson who had brought out an entire Cindy Walker album shortly before her death in 2006.

However if you dig deeper into the Cindy Walker story you find that her songs cry out for women’s voices . Of course with a catalogue of 500 plus songs it’s almost impossible to have a complete collection. That being said Grey De Lisle, actor, voice over superstar and folk singer, has assembled a fine array of country and Americana women to contribute versions of Cindy songs for a new compilation of her songs. ‘It’s All Her Fault’ has been released as a celebration of Cindy Walker’s art but also to raise money for the home where she lived with her mother and in which she wrote nearly all her songs every day of her working life. That house  has now fallen into disrepair and the ambition of this new album  is to raise the necessary funds to turn the house into a living museum celebrating Cindy Walker’s songwriting – an ambition I endorse. The more I’ve read of Cindy Walker the more admiration I have for a remarkable career and for someone who showed remarkable chutzpah in getting her songs heard in the first place. As Elizabeth Cook sang, sometimes it takes balls to be a woman.

When Cindy was finally inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1997 she left the stage to a standing ovation and fellow Hall of Fame inductee Harlan Howard described her as “the greatest living songwriter of country music.”

Grey De Lisle and her fellow performers put together a great selection of songs which will only make you want to dig deeper into the Cindy Walker story. On this week’s show we’ll play a track from the compilation by one of our favourite artsts, Amythyst Kiah as well as hear one of her most successful cuts and a selection sung by the songwriter herself.

You know, of course, we’ll have so much more too including beautiful new songs from Kelsea Ballerina, Stephen Wilson Jr and even an early festive offering from The Old Crow guys. It’s all in two hours of country music – our way – this Tuesday from five past eight on BBC Sounds or BBC Radio Scotland. Join me if you can.

Every day, so they say, is a school day. And so it was this morning when a line in a novel led me to that wonderful Danny Kaye song The Inchworm, written by the great Frank Loesser . Then, as luck would have it, Spotify rolled on and I found myself encountering the songs and poems of Molly Drake for the first time. If you too have not discovered Molly Drake, Frank Loesser or even The Inchworm there are wonderful things to find for you out there.

I remember reading a preface to a book on the French Impressionists which opened with an apt slogan. ‘The world is full of such wonderful things, we should all be as happy as kings.’  It seemed to me then, a fairly serious youth, to make sense of how painters could keep painting and beautiful art could continue to be made even when the world around the artists is in self-destruct mode. It is often worth remembering , and not difficult on one of the most beautiful days of early winter here on the west coast of Scotland, that there are always great things to celebrate.

My Molly Drake discovery however also fills me with FOMA worry. What have I been missing all these years? Molly was the poet and songwriter mother to the late, and very great Nick Drake whose music was also discovered by new genertaions of people decades after his early death. No one I knew talked or listened much to Nick Drake as I was growing up but somehow the music found an audience to make him a posthumous folk hero. How comforting all of that could have been to his poor mother we shall never know but given she died a good twenty years on from the loss of her only son gives hope that she may have enjoyed how much his music came to be lauded.

I can’t think of why any of this matters to this week’s AC other than I hope you manage to find some music that will make your own life a little better over the next wee while. Isn’t that why we listen and listen again? We will be in reflective mood this week too as we think back over the last year in country and look at what the Country Music Association has recognised in their awards cermony last week. For some people this is the biggest night of the year and for mainstream country artists and the industry it is certainly bigger than any other gongs bash. We’ll play some winners, losers and worthy contenders this Tuesday evening.

We shall also play some new things too by The Barr Brothers, Sierra Ferrell and even Jon Batiste! We will also pay tribute to Tod Snider who died recently and was affectionately known as ‘The King of East Nashville.’

It’s a packed two hours of country music, our way from eight o’clock this Tuesday evening on BBC Sounds or BBC Radio Scotland. Join me if you can.

Like yourself, no doubt, I’ve read, listened and watched many interviews with Neil Young over the last 50 years. Even as recently as last week I still have a sharp intake of breath when I come across him talking about his single minded approach to his career. He openly talks about how willing he is to follow his own path despite the effect on any colleagues, friends or collaborators. Now to many this speaks about the courage of the artist but even from his own perspective he admits that,  “You can’t go along creating and changing without hurting a lot of people.”

It is that duality which has kept many of us fascinated in what come next. Are we going to get the pure country folk Neil of Comes a Time or Harvest, the dark brooding, even grieving Neil of Tonight’s The Night or perhaps the political Neil of Living With War? A few years ago I read “Waging Heavy Peace,” Neil’s autobiography, and was astonished how all the contradictions we’ve all seen in Neil over the years are there in plain sight. The millionaire who rants against the corporate, The environmentalist who rejoices in travelling back and forward (hundreds of miles) between his houses and hilariously the rocker who has stood in front of howling loud speakers for sixty years telling us about the quality of sound files.

But it’s all this that makes Neil Young the fascinating artist we know and love. After all this is an artist whose appearance/ non appearance at Glastonbury caused a media flurry at the beginning of 2025. He seemed to have no idea about the details of the festival but accused them of being ‘under corporate control of the BBC.’ It’s fairly clear from that outburst he knew very little about the BBC too. Then there was his withdrawl from Spotify because they hosted a podcast he didn’t like! For a minute he was followed up the hill by Joni Mitchell until they both realised there was no one marching behind them. I’m sure you can find your own mad examples.

But, but, but I say again….maybe this is why we all fall in love with the music and the man. I remember him singing about his life being an ‘open book’ and perhaps that is why we keep reading it. It reflects our own contradictions, mini hypocrisies and double standards and perhaps it allows us to feel a little bit better about our failings. The songs, the voice and the guitar are all so special that we can’t help listening.

On the AC this week we shall devote our entire two hours to celebrating the country side of Neil Young. There is, of course, another side which gave him the moniker  ‘Godfather of Grunge’ which I will let others explore. For us, there are enough country connections to fill hours of radio. But we have satisfied ourselves with songs from across the decades and great versions of his songs by Dolly Parton, The Byrds, KD Lang, Waylon Jennings and many more.  It all starts at five past eight this Tuesday evening on BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Sounds. Do join me of you can.

I bought this T shirt (pic below) a couple of years ago. It was bought on tour, never the wisest purchase window so forgive me, but it sort of summed up much of what you feel as a songwriter. You can pour your heart and soul into what you are currently doing but you can be 100% sure your audience would happily ignore it all in favour of a song from your earlier work. Incidentally this is not a complaint, it is merely an observation I’ve made  based on my own preferences on attending gigs. I’m thinking of the wide smile that spread over my face when Gillian Welch and David Rawlings opened with Elvis Presley Blues at last week’s show in Glasgow. There was a definite sense of, ‘Phew, we’re off to a good start’ within the room.

On this week’s Another Country we will join with our old friend and Nashville correpondent Bill DeMain whose custom it is to bring us an early listen to a new artist whose music he’s been enjoying. I probably don’t need to remind you but Bill it was who brought Eli Paper Boy Read, Margo Price and many others to our attention. On this week’s show I know he has another new name to bring to us and I often think how much we will hold on to that first song we ever heard. It’s the one that go us hooked. Ashley McBride’s Dive Bar in Delonega, Kacey’s Arrow or Luke’s Hurricane..you can add your own in here. As guilty as my own audience I return to these songs again and again.

So with this in mind let me also draw your attention to the latest Bob Dylan release. Through The Open Window (bootleg Series Volume 18) may be the most fascinating collection yet in that beautifully curated series. On this album (double if you have less money and time or 8 CD /139 tracks if these strictures don’t concern you) we look through that window into Bob Dylan in his house, on early folk records and his first recordings in a New York studio. We see the artist emerging and we hear the voice and style changing. There’s a fascinating early version of Don’t Think Twice where he strums rather than picks and I find myself wondering if he hadn’t yet mastered his picking style for which he is so well known. In a time when Dylan performs while barely mumbling a word to his audience there are long loquacious ramblings which are both insightful and very funny. And of course there are brilliant, brilliant songs which foretell the sixty year career to follow. What rounds this off however is the fact that, in Dylan’s case he is on a five year tour of his last album which he plays (in almost its entirety) every evening and people seem to be more that happy. As I’ve often reflected; there’s Bob and then there’s the rest of us.

We’ll share some of the great moments from that Bootleg release tonight as well as bringing you great music from Cale Tyson, Tyler Ballgame, Lucinda Williams and Jake Owen. It all starts at five past eight this Tuesday evening on BBC Sounds or BBC Radio Scotland. Join me if you can.

It’s a beautiful  late October day and I’m looking out of my studio window as the autumn trees bend and sake in the breeze. The leaves are all golden and once more I understand why the romantics loved this season more than any other. Perhaps what we enjoy about the post clock-reset is the certainty that it’s really OK to light a fire and put on woollen garments happily discarded over the summer months. (that last bit was aimed at my southern readers as Scottish summers usually don’t allow for the shedding of any layers)

It’s also the season where we enjoy going out to be entertained in indoor spaces. This week alone there are plenty of live attractions coming your way and (if Chuck Prophet is still this side of the Atlantic) opportunities to witness rock n roll shows that will melt your heart and change your life for the better. This week I’ll get to see the long awaited Gillian Welch and David Rawlings show and last night I saw Brandy Clark for the first time ever. Brandy curated a brilliant gig which touched on most of her best songs as well as showcasing songs which may appear on record next year. Judging by the reaction of a very enthusiastic Glasgow audience, Brandy has made a connection for life with the city. I’ll play a highlight moment on this week’s AC.

As I pulled the car out of the drive last night to see Brandy, I was serenaded on my journey with one of Mr Murdoch’s fine playlists which sprung into action as soon as I turned on the engine. It happened to land on Will Clark and his latest album Carolina Lightning which also happens to be my soundtrack as I write. There’s something about bluegrass music which puts a smile on your face in a way no other music can do. A few years ago when Steve Earle was touring with the Del McCoury band he visited Scotland with his bluegrass show. A very well known promoter was known to be rubbing his hands with glee that he could put on a high selling show where there were a number of musicians on the stage and only one microphone required! It’s the joy of watching the musicians take their solo round that one microphone that makes live bluegrass so special. Let’s get more of it over here, I say.

You’ll hear Will Clark’s excellent new album on this week’s AC as well as a little Bob Dylan rabbit hole I want to take you down. It’s only a few weeks until Bob comes to Scotland. Each time we never can know if it will be the final visit but I intend to celebrate what must be my favourite album of the last few years. Rough and Rowdy Ways (if you’ve not heard it, go buy it) is perhaps one of the finest records of Bob’s career. It’s perfectly sequenced and the fact that the live show leans so heavily on the album only endears the experience more. I could go on….

I will this Tuesday. Join me from five past eight on BBC Sounds or BBC Radio Scotland if you can.

Hello again.

It’s been a break from the Radio Blog for me, but over these last few weeks I may have waved at you from a stage or joined you in singing a song. If you have been on The Great Western Road Trip over September and October then I’m grateful as you were wonderful audiences. More news of live appearances coming very soon!

I’d also like to say a huge thanks to all those of you who messaged me to say how much they enjoyed Small Acts Of Love at the Citizens Theatre over these last couple of months too. Working with Dominic Hill, his great theatre company and my co writer, Frances Poet was a real joy.

All of this has meant that I left my live duties as your AC host for a few weeks. However the BBC were good enough to let me leave you with a few special shows including 90’s Country Women, Tom Waits Birthday Special and a 50 year celebration of the amazing career of Emmylou Harris. Talking of Emmylou, if you tune in to this week’s live broadcast this coming Tuesday evening you will hear exclusive news of Emmylou which will bring great pleasure to her many fans who listen in. You can still listen to that all this specials as well as my Country Connections show via BBC Sounds. In the meantime there has been so much going on in country music we need to share with you. It seems Luke Combs may not only be a country music superstar but, in fact, second only to Coldplay in live ticket  demand in the UK. As I write this the news has just broken of a 3rd (THIRD!) Wembley Stadium show next summer in addition to his two Edinburgh Murrayfield gigs.

I think we can safely say that country music, far from being a weird subset, has become part of and as big as the mainstream. I also hope this means that some of these country music fans start to dig a little deeper and find the joys of artists they’ve not yet discovered. As ever, I’d like to suggest The AC as a perfect way to start that discovery. On this week’s show for example you’ll hear artists including Will Clark, Waylon Wyatt and The Head and The Heart. If these are new names to you then you might be relieved to know we’re also celebrating 110 Years since the birth of Nashville’s legendary producer, Owen Bradley whose stewardship introduced Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn and Buddy Holly to the world. We’ll also celebrate imminent visits of Brandy Clark and Chuck Prophet to Scotland. All this and and so much more in a packed two hours of country music that starts at five past eight this coming Tuesday evening on BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Sounds. Do join me if you can.