Miranda Land

Wireless

The term ‘wireless’ has done a fair bit of work over the last 150 years or so. As a child it was exclusively used to mean the radio until the transistor radio came along. I’m now realising the term ‘tranny’ has also been round the block a bit too! But the radio as a concept has endured even if it’s now less live than ever with the advent of the podcast.

Recently my wife and I got on board a tram in the beautiful city of Melbourne. The tram station adjacent to our hotel seemed to offer the easiest way to get into the heart of the city so we hopped on still a little unsure whether we were taking the correct route. No matter, we reasoned, we can ask someone when we get on. As the driver was at the other end of the car our only option was to ask a fellow traveller. To our shock and dismay everyone was oblivious to our questions due to sporting headphones or airpods and there was no chat amongst the passengers. I didn’t know whether to cheer for the power of the podcast or weep for the decline in social cohesion. Getting back to Glasgow and using the upgraded clockwork orange I realised things weren’t dissimilar here either. I hope some of them were tuned into country music, but I’m doubtful

Cowdenbeath

Since my Antipodean adventures my travel has been limited to trips to Fife with a particular emphasis on Cowdenbeath. From the 8th of May I’ll be part of the cast (songs only) for Black Diamonds and The Blue Brazil at Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum Theatre. The Blue Brazil is the affectionate title given by the fans of Cowdenbeath FC to their local team. Irony being one of football’s less famous friends, the name stuck despite the club’s trajectory which saw them removed from Scotland’s bottom league division some years ago. They now play in the nominatively determined ‘Lowland League.’ I went to join the faithful few for their last game of the season and thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon. The BB took Hearts B apart in an emphatic 3-0 victory and so relaxed were some of the punters at half time that they let themselves out of the ground for a quick pint before returning for the second half. It’s these small details which makes watching a wee club so much more fun than many ‘big’occasions I can think of.
If you want to see and hear more about my love affair with the boys from Central Park you can come and see the show. Tickets on sale now!

https://lyceum.org.uk/events/black-diamonds-and-the-blue-brazil#dates-and-times

On This Week’s Show

We shall take a particular detour inspired by Miranda Lambert’s recent career move as producer to the most successful woman country artist since Beyonce, Lainey and Megan.  That artist is Ella Langley and she is currently topping charts all over the world, and mostsignificantly being played on country radio.  So we will explore Miranda’s country connections and if you don’t already own them you might well find there are some records you need to add to your collection. We’ll have new music from Waylon Wyatt, Carly Pearce and Cody Johnson and some surprises aplenty sprinkled throughout the show. As ever we’re on air from five past eight this Tuesday on BBC Sounds or BBC Radio Scotland. Join me if you can.