It was nearly ten years ago I first encountered Kacey Musgraves. It was the summer and we were all excited about the Commonwealth games and a coming referendum. (OK some weren’t as excited as others – but you have to show some enthusiasm for these athletes too).

The year before Kacey had released her debut album, Same Trailer, Different Park, which was in retrospect a ground breaking album. It ways in we can only quantify now that album changed something in country music which, since that time, has found new audiences to reach and new ways to reach them. It’s also seen Kacey evolving and changing in ways that still delight and suprise.

The young Kacey and a still old, me. 2014

It’s a cold, rainy Monday evening and I’m safely tucked into my studio enjoying my second spin through Deeper Well, Kacey’s 5th studio album. It’s a much anticipated release which I’m enjoying in warm loud hi-fidelity after a rather hasty take in my car over the weekend. Again she has collaborated with the Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk on song writing and production and it all works beautifully. Don’t expect her to retrace any steps but similarly, know that Kacey’s Texas roots and her love of country music shines through perfectly. Here I must quote my old late friend Rab Noakes who, helpfully, described the music on the show which pre dated ours, Brand New Opry, as celebrating music which had been (in some way) touched by country music. That country music has touched, influenced and thrilled Kacey, there is no doubt and I hope you make the discovery for yourself. We’ll give you a head start by playing two selections on this week’s AC.

Elsewhere we will play out some fascinating conversations from this year’s C2C in Glasgow as we catch up with Lily Rose, Mason Ramsay, Drake Milligan and Tigirlily Gold who all triumphed at this year’s festival. As well as chat we also have some exclusive live performances from Lily and Mason. Believe it or not we still have more in the can from C2C to play out in the next few weeks.

We’ll also have new music from Wilder Woods, Lizzie McAlpine and The Secret Sisters. As ever we’re on air from 8 on BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Sounds. The blog shall return in two weeks time as football takes over the airwaves next week and you may well find me cheering on our National Team at Hampden next Tuesday rather than spinning discs in the studio. Meanwhile do join me for another very special show this week.

When the C2C ’24 line up was announced last year there wasn’t a huge deal of enthusiasm coming your way from this source. I felt it wasn’t a line up stacked full of names we’d play regularly on the show if I’m honest (which I like to think I try to be!)

So far, so true. But now the weekend has come and gone I have to say how out of step I was. With very few exceptions I discovered so many new artists and songs to enjoy despite diving in and out of backstage to catch interviews which interrupted the time I could spend watching each set. So, what did I see?

Priscilla Block was the perfect opening act, I missed Brian Kelley, despite being determined to catch him as we had a appointment to chat to Jake Owen and Brad Paisley. I’m pleased to say I caught enough of Jake and Brad to know they were both brilliant. Spotlight wise too, though I missed Mason Ramsay’s performance I heard so many good things and enjoyed our conversation, and both interviewed and watched the excellent Tigirlily Gold.

On Saturday I only saw about ten minutes of Drake Milligan but it was enough to know it was a show that people will be talking about until he, inevitably, returns. Though Elle King wasn’t doing any conversations after her Opry melt down, I thought her performance was mesmerising. I’m a new fan, Elle, cme back and talk to us.

Brothers Osborne (though perhaps making the mistake of playing too loud) were excellent. This has been a festival of some hugely talented guitarists and John Osborne was up there with the best of them. I have to admit to missing most of Old Dominion’s show but we recorded a great conversation with four of the guys from the band which you will hear this coming week. I need to give an honourable Spotlight mention to the artist I am still very excited about. We’ve flagged the songs of Lily Rose up now for a few years and she didn’t disappoint on her C2C debut. We also recorded a great session with Lily.

On that show you will also hear chats with Kane Brown and the wonderful Carly Pearce, who did not disappoint. Again I missed a lot of Lauren Alaina’s set but was there to hear her one woman take on One Beer, which I thought was brave and brilliant.  I saw all of the Nashville Introducing song round and was so taken by all three singer songwriters. We recorded a session with Conner Smith for future broadcast but I also thought Karley Scott Collins an exciting new talent. Great voice and some fascinating songs.

There was a great set too on The Spotlight Stage from Restless Road who had hardly any sleep due to delayed flights from Belfast. By the time they hit the stage they’d performed at King Tuts and recorded a great session for us in Studio One. These boys will take some stopping.

All of this was impressive but nothing compared to the 8 minutes Chapel Hart took to blow the roof of The Hydro. I’ve loved what I knew of The Chapel Hart sisters but I’m now a sold devotee. We recorded a conversation with them and we are hoping to get them into record a session during their next visit this coming summer.

Phew….what a great weekend in the country. Over the next few weeks you can hear some of these special sessions. This week we talk to the headline acts. Don’t miss it. It’s all live from 8 this Tuesday on BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Sounds. Join me if you can.

I’ve very rarely been an outsider looking in, from the wings, to  a show in which I’m involved. Early amateur dramatics aside I’ve always been on stage for all the time a concert lasts and, with our band, there are no ten minute solos where you can slope off and have a break. There was a time many years ago when we had our Bacharach & David EP out and the first encore didn’t involve me at all. I had the strange experience of watching and listening to Lorraine singing, ‘Are You There With Another Girl’ in the gloom of a backstage arena – never the most glamorous of spots. It was strange.

I’ve also been at the other end when I took a solo spot during the gig and one musician failed to return having decided to allow himself a smoke break at the stage door. A mistake that never occurred again, I might add. The there’s the odd time of doing one of these shows with various singers doing spots where you have to be aware of what everyone else is doing. I usually find myself worrying that I’ve really got nothing special to offer and saying to myself, ‘Wouldn’t it be good if they just skipped my turn?’

My other ‘wings’ moments happens on a regular basis at C2C which I host every year around this time. Officially I’m the compere, but as the night rolls on each act tends to have some hi-tech, pyro, video bombast to announce their presence and an old bloke with a mic saying, ‘put your hands together for…’ doesn’t really cut it. So I mill around and pass on the info that a big name is coming in ten minutes and you’d better get your drinks in and prepare. However it does give me a chance to watch at close proximity the talent that’s on show each year at C2C. Great players, brilliant singers and a catalogue of songs to die for seems to be a pretty great reward for a three day ticket at The Hydro.

I have great memories of introducing Marty Stuart before a storming set, standing in amongst Lyle Lovett’s Big Band to announce him on stage and watching from the front as Luke Combs barnstormed his way through a two hour spectacular two years ago. I’m kind of over the phones-lighting-up-the-arena thing and I’d simply take good songs well sung and some country crunch which I do think we will see this coming weekend. I’m not sure there is a more consummate country star around in 2024 as Brad Paisley (above) who headlines the first night. I’m also not certain there is a more exciting new talent as Lily Rose appearing on any of the nights. I’m looking forward to seeing Brothers Osborne properly and hearing Carly Pearce with her band rather than a solo spotlight stage. I’m also quite excited about the short set we’re going to witness from Chapel Hart on Sunday. I’m sure you have your own wish lists.

On this week’s AC we’ll point you to some of our highlights and remind you of some great C2C moments from the last few years. It’s all on the BBC Radio Scotland from 8 p.m. this Tuesday evening or any time you like on BBC Sounds. Do join me if you can.

Over the last few days I’ve received particularly sad news about the loss of two people who made and incalculable contribution to music in Glasgow, Scotland and ,by definition, the wider world.

The music business, when all is said and done, is a small circle of people with whom interaction happens in so many different and varied ways. I was once reprimanded by a young upstart at an awards ceremony for referring to our world as a business. He was wholly wrong of course. It is a business and the fact so many good people make a living from it is testimony to that. The loss of my two friends over the last few weeks illustrates the point that there are so many diverse skills that make up the wider music family.

Last week we heard the news that Steve Cheyne had died suddenly. There have been some lovely tributes to Steve on social media and elsewhere but let me explain, in case his name means little, how vital his contribution was to music in and around Glasgow. Before Steve opened his brilliant rehearsal rooms there was nowhere to make a racket with your band in Glasgow. In the early days we’d found a printers workshop in a basement below Buchanan Street which served as our base in the very early years of Deacon Blue. When that space was no longer available we, along with every other band in town, rehearsed in Steve’s first multi room facility in Washington Street called Berkeley 2 as there had once been a studio and small rehearsal space in Berkeley St. Following on from this place he built another Berkeley 2 along the road where it still hosts everyone from weekend pub combos to Neil Young’s touring band prepping for a European jaunt. The idea that you could turn up with your songs, a guitar and a couple of cymbals and the rest would be provided changed lives. At the door was Steve, welcoming you in, providing change for his prehistoric coffee machine and gathering and dispensing gossip with alacrity. It was a joy to watch. He encouraged, helped and enabled and his presence leaves a massive vacuum in our community.

Just this morning I have heard of another great loss. Robin Rankine was one of the founding partners and main engineers at CAVA studios in Glasgow. His passing, again far too young, reminded me of some great times we shared together. He recorded a lot of material for Deacon Blue as, for a while, CAVA was our second home. Robin knew how to make us enjoy the studio and how to get the best out of the players. We loved his company and there will be many musicians who spent time with him who will be mourning his passing today. There were so many things I loved about working with Robin but what I enjoyed most was when he knew one of us could do better and his enthusiasm encouraged to up our performance.

All of this shows the wider hinterland of music. The joy for me is knowing a diverse group of managers, producers, engineers, technicians, promoters, publicists, agents, writers, radio presenters and producers who have all been vital in the making of music. I’ve enjoyed friendship and good times with so many and we are so much poorer for losing two fine fellow travellers.

So for this reason alone it will bring solace and comfort to spend time on the airwaves this week bringing you great new music. It’s always being created and celebrating that should suitably celebrate the loss of fine people. I trust you’ll listen in to this week’s show where we’ll bring you fine new cuts from Kacey Musgraves, Lainey Wilson, Ferris and Sylvester and The Secret Sisters. It’s all live from five past eight on BBC Sounds or BBC Radio Scotland this Tuesday evening.

Some 18 years ago, after the Christmas holiday, my young (5 year old) son stood at my bedside at 7:30 on the morning he was due to return to school. Without any preamble he declared in a loud voice, ‘I want to be Cash.’ Unpacking this sentence with a rather fuzzy post-festive head, I realised he was not referring to a country legend but was instead declaring his preference for method of payment for his school lunch for the proceeding term. It seemed packed lunches were no longer a requirement and he wanted to accompany those who paid cash at the start of the week for their midday meal.

However from that time on I often thought about that great sentence and how easily it might have been said by any of us that we wanted to be Cash? Who wouldn’t? The coolest of country stars, the Man in Black had the mystery, charm and devilment that ensures legendary status. Twenty one years on from his passing we are still talking about him and, more importantly, still listening.

The same goes for his wife June Carter who’s death was only a few short months before his own and without whom, it seemed, he could not go on. The recent documentary of ‘June’ is a wonderful testimony to June Carter’s legacy and that of her remarkable family. The Carter Family, June’s immediate mother father, mother, uncles and aunts were there at the Big Bang of Country Music when Ralph Peer came down to Bristol, Tennessee to record Jimmie Rodgers as well as the songs of the Carters. It was this event that Johnny Cash described as ‘the single most important event in the history of country music.’

All this leads to a conversation i recorded a few weeks back with the woman who now carries forward the great tradition of the family. Carlene Carter is the daughter of June and Carl Smith and step daughter to Johnny Cash. Her own story is a fascinating tale of where from where the ‘On The Line‘ movie stopped until the present day. Her own memories of life growing up as part of the first family of country music are essential listening and as well as that there is a rich back catalogue of solo recordings bearing testimony to her gifted singing and songwriting. Like her mother June, Carlene is also an actress whose performances in London’s west end, I enjoyed back in the 80’s.

It’s all of this that will form the conversation in the second hour of this week’s Another Country as I talk to Carlene Carter about her music, the music of her family and her remarkable life. Before that we will celebrate the music of the Carter Cash extended family featuring June Carter, Carl Smith , Johnny Cash, Roseanne Cash, Marty Stuart, Rodney Crowell and Nick Lowe.

It’s two hours in the company of legends and it’s all available on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio Scotand from five past eight this Tuesday evening. Join me if you can.

Recently I’ve found myself being taken by two very specific live performances. Perhaps more unusually for me neither was a performance I saw and heard live but and both have been broadcast and discussed widely. The first is the listen I managed (over cooking in the kitchen) to Joni Mitchell’s Newport Live album and the second is one you can only find on the web. A week past Sunday Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs stole everyone’s hearts with a memorable performance of Tracy’s Fast Car at the Grammy Awards.

What was so memorable was Tracy’s beautiful smile showing, in the first few bars, that yes, she most certainly approved of her song reaching this new, perhaps even bigger, audience. The combination of Luke and Tracy is the message about country music…hell , life…we all needed to hear. Not only was joyous, it was timely and hugely significant. Award shows can do that of course. Right now I’m scrolling Google to look for Beyonce and The Chicks at last year’s CMAs to work out the time line for Beyonce’s latest release. That, my fiends, features the banjo playing of Rhiannon Giddens and may be the best country song I’ve heard all year. You need to hear it to believe it.

However I found myself reflecting this week how early songs often seem so effortless. It’s as if the writer just didn’t have to over think it and the song poured out. I often feel this is true of my own song writing. In these later years I often stop in my tracks and ask myself if I’m singing something that has been sung before. The easy story telling and unaffected arrangement of Fast Car (which Luke honoured perfectly) is testimony to the power of the young voice. Listen again to the structure and wonder aloud, did no one say, ‘This is too long for a single?’ Thankfully not.

We’ll play these songs as well as talking it all through on this week’s AC with our very own Nashville correspondent., Bill DeMain who has been equally fascinated with the goings on and criss crossings of genres.

Joni Mitchell’s album (which you need to buy cause you sure as hell can’t stream it on Spotify) also pulls together disparate strands of roots music and exemplifies there really is no point trying to stick songs and artists in boxes. On her third significant version of Both Sides Now Joni is joined by a cast of rock/folk,country and non-aligned artists which illustrate the old adage that there are only two kinds of music: good and bad.

There will be so much to enjoy on this week’s show that we might have a hard job fitting it all in. We’ll  bring you beautiful British Americana courtesy of The Hanging Stars (fun fact: they cut their album in the North of Scotland), brand new songs from Iron and Wine, Kacey Musgraves and Tommy Prine. In a wonderful piece of film which you too can find and stream, Tommy made his debut at The Opry very recently. It’s so moving to see how much it meant to him to finally make his mark on the Opry Circle where his  late father, John Prine had performed so many times.

We’ll also have AC debuts from Colbie Cailat and Jared Dustin Griffin which will rock your country souls. Do join me and time from 8 p.m. on Tuesday evening on BBC Radio Scotland  or on BBC Sounds at a time you fancy. Either way, it’s always great to have you.

It would be the mid 80’s at a party and we were all in the hallway of an overcrowded Glasgow tenement flat. It was the usual kind of bash: dump your carry-out beside the curled up sandwiches on the kitchen table, chuck your coat in the bedroom and make sure no one is making out between the duvet and the clothes mountain. I’d got as far as the lobby when one of my best friends accosted me. He’d been there since things had started and had got a head start on the Stella. ‘Rick,’ he shouted across the assembled crew, ‘Who’s it to be?’ I looked quizzical, not recalling any preceding debate, but wise enough to recognise that a few cans down my pal was in no mood for nuance. His take on life had always verged on religious and political certainty over any hint of compromise or moderation. ‘Between?’...I ventured cautiously. He got louder, ‘Chuck Berry or Buddy Holly? (threatening pause) Who’s it to be?‘ At this point my mind raced over the songs we’d heard together, the gigs we’d been at and the late night rambles we’d enjoyed and I took a leap of faith feeling his increasing physical presence bearing down on me. ‘Chuck Berry…it’s definitely Chuck.’ He smiled. ‘Just as well for you, I was going to throw you into that press if you’d got it wrong.’
I am slightly exaggerating the malevolence here (he was and remains one of my best buddies) but not the vehemence of the argument.

Today I find myself on a quiet street not a million miles from that house party recalling the story and realising it’s sixty five years since Buddy Holly left this world on the night the music died. My pal would probably admit now that the argument is moot given what we know about the life, songs and legacy of both artists. However I find myself feeling slightly guilty over my certainty that one artist was once deemed more important in my youthful opinion.

It’s impossible to imagine how modern pop music would have come about had it not been for Buddy Holly and, as ever, it all started with country music and Music City before, like so many others, he took on board all the music he was hearing and brought it into the mix. All this before he even reached the age of twenty three. That we still value his songs as essential listening says everything you need to know about Buddy Holly. We’ll play some tracks in tribute this week on Another Country.

We’ll also celebrate to first time Grammy winners who are friends of the show. We have championed the music of Lainey Wilson, Brandy Clark and Allison Russell on the show and we are delighted that all three can put a statuette on their respective recording consoles this week after Sunday’s big US music award show. You can hear some worthy winning songs too on the show. Listen out too for future winners Stephanie Lambring, Caitlyn Smith and The Secret Sisters. It’s a packed show full of great music and stories and it can be heard from five past eight this Tuesday evening on BBC Radio Scotland or on BBC Sounds. Join me if yoiu can.

There were many lovely moments at Oran Mor on Sunday night. It was there and then I finally got to experience Allison Russell and The Rainbow Coalition live and, if you were in that select audience too, you’ll know experience is the right term for the gig. Allison gives everything to her performance and in that giving there’s a real sense of acknowledgment about the contribution of her band members and a recognition that none of this has happened overnight. That last point, however is, interesting.

Allison has a ton of Grammy nominations as well as several gongs to place on her mantle piece, though her career is moving at such speed, I doubt there will be time to pause and appreciate them all. Reflecting on my earlier comment that none of this happened overnight, it’s plain to see how Allison has been working hard at her music for the last twenty years but also recognise that since she set out on her own for the ‘Outside Child’ album in 2021 her rise to national and international recognition has been meteoric. That’s why it was great that 400 of us got to enjoy an intimate performance at a packed out Oran Mor on Sunday and see at close quarters an artist at the top of her game. When she stopped to reflect how her life and career had taken off with the help of Brandi Carlile a couple of years back Allison told her audience, ‘When someone opens the door you gather up your friends and rush through together.’ That she included her friends says everything about Allison Russell. That she is on the other side of that door is also without question. We’ll play a highlight moment on this week’s show.

Similarly I recall seeing Ashley McBryde back in 3rd and Lindsely in Nashville and having the distinct impression we were part of the lucky few who were witnessing a star on the way up. Last week Ashley played two sold out nights at Glasgow Barrowlands and I hear from our AC reporter, Emma, who was there that the gig had some great moments which made for a Glasgow/Ashley love in.

Elsewhere we’ll introduce you to some fine new things including Our Man In The Field, Loving and the fab Wilder Woods whose current single features our new friends The War and Treaty. There will be plenty familiar names too enjoy and as ever you can join us from five past eight on BBC Radio Scotland FM or on BBC Sounds live and after at a time and place of your own choosing. Either way I’d be grateful for your company.

When did it last happen to you? You know, that moment when you’re otherwise preoccupied then something comes into your orbit, a melody, a hook, a voice and before you know it a song has wormed its way into your brain before embedding into your heart. Once there it’s unlikely it can be removed.

That’s not to say some songs invade unintentionally and dam it, I’m not sure why one of the worst offerings by Rod Stewart comes into my head when nothing else is going on. (There’s plenty good ones from Faces era I can substitute fortunately) Let’s stick with the good for a minute though. I can remember places, times and particular moments when a song burst its way into my life. The first time I heard Michael Jackson’s Human Nature on my walkman on a ski run where, so absorbed, I drifted on to a perilous black run instead of the easier blue. Or when my pal Charlie put the needle down on that first Prefab Sprout album one winter afternoon in his west end flat. I still want to thank Johnnie Walker for that lunchtime spin for Misstra Know It All coming out of Newsround…..I even taped it.

Country hooks have become important to me too. Country Radio loves these easily identified two bar riffs at the top of so many hits. That little acoustic guitar figure before Miranda’s The House That Built Me, the distorted guitar effects before Sam Hunt’s Break Up In A Small Town, the pedal steel motif that heralds the joyous first verse of Connie Smith’s Once a Day…I could go on. For a short while I became addicted to hearing that mandolin pattern at the top of Carrie Underwood’s So Small ; even now it brings on a Pavlovian reaction of happiness suggesting I’m somewehere other than a dreich Glasgow Tuesday in January.

Some of this drifted across me as I sat in the City Halls last Saturday evening. As each song progressed I realised that Teddy Thompson too had been hooked by the hooks. Not, however, just by the hooks but also by the stories, the melodies and simple wordplay involved in country music. I enjoyed the fact that he assumed no one else of his generation quite understood his love of country and even wondered aloud if his audience (packed out by the way) shared any of this. They did Teddy, but if they didn’t, they do now. It was a masterclass in playing, singing and performance where every one of Teddy’s fine touring ensemble did what was needed and no more.

You can hear some of Teddy’s current album on this week’s AC as we preview another great country event blowing in to Scotland on Wednesday evening. Ashley McBryde’s tour lands for two special Barrowlands nights this week and we will remind you of how significant a writer and singer she really is by replaying you some of the interactions we’ve enjoyed over the years.

There’s lost more, and as ever, lots of new artists to enjoy. You can hear all of this on BBC Sounds from 8 this Tuesday evening or join us live on BBC Scotland.

Firstly, let me wish you all a very happy new year. It’s been a while and you might well wonder what has kept the blog from appearing over these last seven weeks or so. The main reason is that my day job took me to Australia and New Zealand, and if you are reading this from that part of the world, thank you for your warm welcome and some amazing nights.

Some of you listen to Another Country down there and you had the fortune to hear, at first hand, a couple of the artists I came across on my travels. Bud Rokesky opened for the Deacon Blue tour all across Australia and we enjoyed the sounds of his remarkable country baritone all across the tour. When we got to New Zealand I got to stand in the wings of the Opera House in Wellington hearing the songs of Holly Arrowsmith, who, it turns out, was heavily influenced by an old AC fave, Nadia Reid. You’ll hear both these artists on our first live show of the new year.

This time of year also brings some of the most interesting Americana artists into Scotland for the winter festival of all festivals, Celtic Connections. If you are within driving, bus or rail distance of Glasgow over January there are some great nights to be enjoyed. Teddy Thompson, Sarah Jarosz, Molly Tuttle, Allison Russell, Margo Price and Israel Nash are just some of the AC faves coming into town over the next few weeks. We’ll share some great tracks from all of these acts on this week’s show.

We’ll also have some great new releases and one or two things we never got round to in ’23 share with you and I’m particularly excited to play Jess Williamson whose name keeps popping up these days. She’s going to be a very special artist. We have, of course played and loved Jess before but it was in the context of her collaboration with Plains and Waxahatchee. Her album, Time Ain’t Accidental holds some real trasures. We’ll make a point of digging deeper over the next few months.

Finally, a personal story from my travels. In November I spent a week seeing my grandson who lives across the Bay from San Francisco. I found myself taking the Richmond Bridge over to Marin Country a few times over the week. At one end of that bridge sits St Quentin Prison. As you cross the Bay you can’t but miss the stolid walls and bars of California’s oldest penal institution and imagine some of the people and events which took place there. One night in 1968 Johnny Cash brought his touring band to play to the inmates and packed a mobile studio into the truck. The subsequent live album became one of CBS’s top sellers and it contains some great performances as well as being the occasion on which one of the most famous shots of the Man in Black was taken. I found an anniversary edition of the album on my travels and I’ll play you a highlight on this week’s show.

There’s so much to get into two hours and it all kicks of at five past eight this Tuesday evening on BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Sounds whenever you like. Join me of you can.