I know I’ve told this tale before, so I won’t bore you again. But driving back from Aberdeen on Saturday I was again reminded of the night I spent at The Music Hall watching Southside Johnny and Graham Parker on, what must be, one of the great all time double bills. You can read the full adventure should you show wish.
On Saturday it wasn’t really about the gig as much as the memory of a glorious return journey rolling past Stonehaven in the sparkling light of a Spring morning and a fishing vessel splitting the waters as it headed out to sea. Somehow the beauty of that new day matched my exhilaration of the night before.
Neither Southside Johnny or Graham Parker’s Rumour could be considered ‘country’ of course, but there’s no doubt that Americana fans of my generation would own their records alongside their Byrds, Burritos and Emmylou albums. As my producer and I talked through this week’s show we both decided it would be good to bring you a little more from Eric Church’s Evangeline Versus The Machine album. I’d quite forgotten, until I looked again, that the record winds up in a great cover of a Tom Waits song. Given that was the only excuse I needed I thought it only fair that on this week’s show I’d follow that up with one of my favourite Tom Waits moments when he teams up with Southside Johnny himself.
There will be more of course. We’ll mark 60 years since Bob Dylan’s record company (CBS) had to release Like A Rolling Stone as a single despite having serious misgivings about its length being inappropriate for radio play. However, in this particular case, the rest is history. One of the greatest recording sessions of all time became one of the greatest single releases of all time and became the bridge between acoustic and electric Dylan that changed so much of what we know about modern music. In keeping with that significant year we’ll bring you two tracks from iconic country records released in 1965.
We’ll also remember a couple of Lefty Frizzell anniversaries play you a John Prine discovery as well as some fine new releases from Kelsey Waldon, Ryan Bingham and Dylan Gossett. It all starts at five past eight this Tueday evening on BBC Radio Scotland FM or BBC Sounds. Join me if you can.