Dear Listener,
My apologies for the absence of the Radio Blog last week (and this one too in truth) but life caught up with me. Small Acts of Love (a show which for which I wrote the songs) opened at The Citizens in Glasgow last week and, as luck would have it, we are deep in rehearsal for the forthcoming Deacon Blue tour. If either of these runs is news to you then check out appropriate places for tickets…I recommend them both highly!
The Radio Blog will return, but not until late October when I should be back from the peregrinations of rock and will happily return to live Tuesday evening shows of Another Country. In the meantime we are broadcasting some very special two hour shows over the next few weeks. It all starts this week with our Ashley Monroe special. The first hour features songs written by Ashley and various vocal collaborations. In the second hour we have a long conversation with Ashley about her new record Tennessee Lightning as well as tracks from the album and some gorgeous country picks by the artist herself.
Over the next few weeks you can listen in to more special shows. On 23rd September you’ll hear my Country Connections show which (we think) manages to link every song we play to the following track. Connections of singer, songwriter or something significant in the production take us from The Chicks to Jonny Cash and all points in between.
On 30th September we will celebrate 50 years since Emmylou Harris released her debut albums Pieces of The Sky and Elite Hotel. It will feature solo performances, her many duets and some beautiful extra curricular activities by Emmylou over the years.
As promised we will finally get round to our celebration of 90’s Women Country Artists on 7th October.It was a a great decade for female singer songwriters and we have compiled an impressive playlist which may well get you diving back to your record collection to listen again to some brilliant albums.
If all this isn’t enough you will get a chance to hear again our Tom Waits special first broadcast last year. You’ll hear some great tracks by Tom as well as some beautiful covers of Tom Waits songs by country and American artists. That show will be on 14th October.
I hope you enjoy these shows. They’ve been compiled with love and care. The Blog too will be taking a short autumnal break and return with gusto on the 21st of October when we’ll have so many new songs to play you. I hope I’ll meet some of you on the road over the next few weeks.