Either Or

I believe I have catholic taste. Music has always been an evolving journey and  Reflecting  on this recently  I recall discovering The Replacements relatively late on. I think it was via music journalist who lived near our house in the early nineties. The album was Pleased To Meet Me and now that I think about it I haven’t played that album in a good while. On a family holiday in the late 90’s I also fell in love with Paul Westerberg’s Suicaine Gratification, which I’ve just started playing again. I remember talking to someone in the music business about all this and he responded by ‘explaining’ that in the 80’s you were either a fan of The Replacements or REM. It seemed to be a fan of one was to exclude the music of the other. But, in the same way as I had been a fan of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones I kinda loved both bands and still do. In fact all manner of eclecticism is really ok. There is still something truly wonderful about discovering something new that you might fall in love with – even for a short while. I hope there might be such a song on this week’s AC just waiting for you.

The Album
I’m working around the corner from a great record shop. The other day I had a quick spin round but realised I didn’t have the time to either browse or to buy and spend time listening. I will return. In the meantime we had a very quiet weekend where, on a relaxed Saturday morning, I played through Freewheelin Bob Dylan all the way through and found myself asking why I hadn’t done this more. The album – and that is really some album – is such a perfect thing when it all comes together. It’s a great shame that artists seem to think they are improving on it by including up to twenty songs. It should last no longer than 50 minutes and take a small pot of coffee with one refill at most. Artists please correct. We are listening.

On This Week’s AC

Kameron Marlowe was one of the stars of C2C back in March. He played a great show on the Saturday of the festival and we caught up with him for a conversation about his story so far. Kameron’s progress has a familiar theme: early recruit for The Voice but an also ran in the competition. However that experience was enough to start a very successful artist career and Kameron has also recorded duets with the biggest stars on the scene right now: Megan Moroney and Ella Langley.

We’re also disappearing down another rabbit hole this week where we’ll bring you some of the great songs written by Hank Cochran. Perhaps one of the most successful country songwriter of all time Hank Cochrane also has a fascinating back story. If that’s not enough we’ll celebrate the new album by Kacey Musgraves which landed last Friday. All of this in two hours which start at five past eight this Tuesday evening on BBC Radio Scotland or BBC Sounds any time you choose.

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.

Meeting Bill

On this week’s Another Country I will get the chance to catch up with my good friend, and hopefully a radio friend to yourself, Bill DeMain. When I first went to Nashville some nineteen years ago I was trying to make as many songwriting connections as possible. I was relying on my music publishers, Warner Chappell in these days, to make calls but was also keen to meet up with other writers not tied to that publishing house. Through my old friend Gary Clark I was introduced to Bill and we became good friends. At that time Bill was a songwriter and one half of the duo Swan Dive who, though based in music city, weren’t really part of the country or Americana scene. Bill however, was connected to the huge and diverse Nashville songwriting community. Bill was way more than this however, he was also an author and journalist and wrote (still does) for a number of music periodicals including Mojo, Classic Rock, Musician, Entertainment Weekly, Mental Floss and Performing Songwriter.

Within a few years Bill turned his knowledge of Nashville into the best walking tour of the city’s musical story. It’s still the first stop I recommend to anyone asking me for recommendations for their forthcoming visit. No one is ever disappointed and if you ever go you will get to access some of the best stories and tips from a morning’s stroll with Bill.

For a few years now – I’m not sure quite how many – Bill has been our official Nashville correspondent. I’m delighted to say he’ll be joining me on this week’s show.

Don Shlitz

When Bill joins me this Tuesday we are going to spend a good bit of time talking about the sad news that the great Don Shlitz died last week after what was described as a sudden illness. The New York Times quoted his publicist confirming the cause of death was an aneurysm. He was 73.

Don Shlitz really was one of the great songwriters from a city which boasts thousands of successful writers.  Apart from the number of successful songs Shlitz was able to construct songs which could easily be described as game changers. In that respect his catalogue fits into our 2026 theme of songs which moved the curve of the genre. The Gambler, Forever and Ever Amen and On The Other Hand are stone gone classics and we will play them all and talk over the craft of a true great with Bill Demain on this week’s show.

I was lucky enough to have seen Don in a songwriting round some years ago at an event in Belfast. My knowledge of country music was limited in those days and my jaw got closer to the floor as the gig went on when I discovered how many well known song credits he had to his name. His death is a huge loss to the songwriting community and we will pay our respects on the AC.

What Else Are We Going To Play?

You will also hear new music from Kacey Musgraves, Willow Avalon and Jason Isbell, Jackson Dean and Anderson East who will direct us down another rabbit hole you may well enjoy. Do get in touch if you have some news to share or just want to suggest other diversions. You are always welcome to listen and we will be on air at the usual time of five past eight this coming Tuesday on BBC Radio Scotland or BBC Sounds. Join me if you can.

 Ivy

On Friday I dedicated the day to my garden. I’m not as green fingered as my dear sister who has planted and maintains a beautiful garden. On any given day she’ll show you round what’s what in the beds surrounding her  curled lawns and a show satisfied smile about a plant that has finally come through. This year it was Camellias (a beautiful pink blossom) where for us the Magnolia decided to make a full entrance despite a no-show since it first was planted. It’s not quite Augusta…but its a start and the flowering is beautiful.

My main task was to prune the ivy. I clipped back all the new growth last year after too long leaving the creepers to gnarl their way into the walls of the house. I had spent some precarious hours leaning off the ladder and knew the only sure way not to risk a future tumble was to trim any new growth as soon as it showed its green shoots. It still took a good long morning.

Up the ladder I found myself  thinking over favourite songs and for no good reason started mulling over one that had been in my head for over fifty years.

Thunder Road

Bruce Springsteen’s Thunder Road is still perhaps the artist’s key song. So many fans adore it and it never quite feels as if the gig is complete without it. It captures all the dynamics of the E Street band’s energy and yet still has an intimacy that makes the evolvement of the song completely personal.

The first time I saw Bruce I arrived early and took in the pre show mix tape. I was struck by the inclusion of Billy Ocean’s ‘Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car.’ A little later on I bumped into Bruce’s biographer, Dave Marsh and I asked him about the unusual inclusion of the Billy Ocean song. ‘It makes total sense,’ he responded. It’s the opposite of Thunder Road…that’s ‘Get into my car and out of my dreams.’ A good observation.

But Thunder Road is so much more. In the early days I was haunted by the biblical imagery of so much of Springsteen’s repertoire. ‘Spent your summer praying in vain for a saviour to rise from these streets.’ But then there was also the detail of the story telling; laying it out like a film script….the screen door slams, Roy Orbison on the radio…then that line that even one of my best friends used indirectly about a girl he was seeing that would surely destroy any human being….’you’re not a beauty but, hey you’re all right.’ Dear God!

But the thing that got me was the detail and endless revision. No song this good comes straight off the pen and this one was called something else, changed around, added to and drafted and redrafted again. It shows. I say all this because if there’s one thing I think we value more than anything else on the AC it is the craft of the song. This week we’ve got some great crafters….

But before we leave this subject, a favourite version.

This Week’s Another Country

Listen out for  songs written by Miranda Lambert, Shane McInally and Brandy Clark where they don’t even feature on the recording. Listen out too for Charley Crockett as heard by the Artemis II Crew.

We’ll also celebrate the late craft of Willie Nelson as he reflects on his apprenticeship in the early days in Nashville. We’ll celebrate Neil Diamond (as promised) and we’ll give a shout to those who warn that everything that glitters in Nashvegas is certainly not gold. It all starts at five past eight this Tuesday evening on BBC Sounds or BBC Radio Scotland. Join me if you can.

Goodbye Blue Sky and friends

This is a slightly new look blog. I’ve been writing a weekly blog since I first came onto the airwaves nearly 19 years ago. Over time I’ve often questioned the point of sending this out but I hope it’s been a reasonable way of keeping touch. From now on in it will become the only public piece of communication I’ll be doing other than Another Country every Tuesday and any gigs we happen to be performing. I have said ‘thank you and goodnight’ to all of my social media accounts and,one week in, I have no regrets. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with these but for reasons to which I’m sure most of you can relate , they are no longer for me. I’m neither interested in reading, writing or posting and I’m more than aware that we lived happily with out all of them twenty years ago and I’m pretty certain we can carry on similarly now. There’s a reply function on this blog where you can easily post your own thoughts and any questions. I’m also on the airwaves every Tuesday and you can find me there: rickyross@bbc.co.uk or text while we’re on air to 80295. Always glad to hear your messages.

The F Word

It’s been a big week for cursing. I’m not sure it ever helps, but I’m going to offer my own take. Americans are bad at it. I’ve watched so many (quite good) dramas peppered with the F word I wouldn’t know where to start. However the peppering has become the problem. I remember hearing one F Bomb in a ‘Don’t Look Now’ blurted out by Donald Sutherland and it made more of an impact than that famous scene in The Wire when they say nothing else but the chosen curse.

We had Ashley Cooke in conversation and I recommend her song, The F Word to you. In her case it stands for Forever and, in case you’ve not heard it , it’s a great twist on a familiar theme. You can still hear Ashley talking about this on the first our C2C special which are both still available on BBC Sounds. But just in case you need to cut to the chase……

I did suggest that our Colonial Cousins aren’t very good at it. Let me suggest that we, in Scotland, could sweep the board if there was an Olympic Medal for the endeavour. If you need  any evidence I can point you towards the movie California Schemin’ co starring my youngest which will take you on an excellent primer to the art of every word including the aforementioned curse starting with F. It opens this coming weekend.l

On This Week’s Show

Having taken a week’s break for Scotland’s national football team to take up the airwaves I’m delighted to be back on air this coming Tuesday. We’ll have beautiful new tracks from Fruit Bats, Ella Langley, Charlie Sexton and Lainey Wilson as well as some classics from Lead Belly, Merle Haggard and a Country Game changer from Kitty Wells. As well as this you can hear a conversation with Nashville’s new rising star Baker Blankenship (pictured above) whose early set on the first night of C2C was a real breath of fresh air.
We’re on from 8 on BBC Radio Scotland or BBC Sounds wherever and whenever you choose. Join me if you can.

As I was enjoying a stroll through the twilight the other night someone came out of their door and we exchanged brief neighbourly greetings before he told me he’d been at C2C and had made a significant journey to get there. It reminded me that C2C at its best is a gathering for folk who love country music and want to feel they can enjoy a night or two together with fellow country fans.

It’s important to know that when someone like Scotty McCreery declares his love for the genre deep into his Sunday night performance and correctly expects the audience to be able to sing along to all the covers he throws into a heartwarming medley of hits. You can hear many of these hits on this week’s AC as we plan to sprinkle many of them throughout the two hours of the show. Not only that but you can also hear the conversation I had with Scotty ewrlier that afternoon as well as fascination insights from Noeline Hoffman, Waylon Wyatt and the Spotlight stage star Noah Rinker.

If that’s not enough we will also bring you new music from significant ex C2C artists who brought new music out over the last week or so. It will not surprise you to know that Luke Combs leads the pack with his new            (22 track!) album now available. As you might hope, but not necessarily expect , there is a new energy to Luke’s music which makes it very exciting to think he’ll be doing two massive outdoor shows in the summer here in Scotland. If you’ve not caught up with Luke’s music I’d suggest this new album is as good a place to start as any.

Kacey Musgraves and Ashley McBryde are anothe two ex C2C stars showcasing new material and fans of both artists will be delighted about these trailers to forthcoming albums. Kacey is back to her dry best – if you’ll pardon the pun – as she, once more, pushes the country permissive envelope in the way only Kacey can. Similarly Ashley’s lifting of a Gospel Children’s chorus is a beautiful piece of borrowing.

You’ll hear all this and more this Tuesday on Another Country. Can I remiond you that I will be live and would love to hear your thoughts on the weekend if you were there and do text 80295 or mail me rickyross@bbc.co.uk to let me know your take on the weekend. Evene if you could only hear our coverage and couldn’t make the gig do get in touch. I love hearing from you. Whichever way, join me if you can from 8 this Tuesday on BBC Sounds or BBC Radio Scotland.

If my calculations are correct it’s ten years ago since I first MC’d the C2C festival in Glasgow. My memory of that time is a little blurred but I do know that the even happened in the adjacent Armadillo rather than the 12,000 capacity Hydro back then.

A few years later demand was so great that C2C became a Hydro fixture and, with the increasing popularity of country music in the UK, I really can’t see it ever moving to a smaller venue. In those years I can recall some great performances which I still count myself lucky enough to have seen at close quarters. Brad Paisley, Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves, Marty Stuart, Little Big Town and my favourite night ever…when Eric Church came to town.

Of course there have also been so many great surprises along the way with many of the acts we now enjoy regularly on the AC first appearing on the spotlight stage or early on the bill . Step forward  Priscilla Block, Ashley McBryde, Andrew Combs and Carly Pearce.

On this week’s AC we will celebrate many of these encounters from the last ten years by bringing you great songs and snippets of conversations with the artist we’ve hosted either in the foyer or studios or in our backstage hideout at The Hydro. You will hear some of the artist I’ve mentioned as well as an introduction to many of the great acts we shall enjoy over the next weekend. Listen out for Tyler Braden, Drake Milligan and Elizabeth Nichols.

I understand there may be lots of new names on the lineup with which you are not yet familiar but let me reassure you that every night of every year of C2C I’ve come away with a new discovery which has made me go deeper into their back catalogue. I don’t expect this year to be any different. There’s gold in them there hills and we shall be pointing you in the right direction from 8 this Tuesday evening on BBC Sounds or BBC Radio Scotland. Do join me if you can.

If there’s one movie I’ve been recommending recently it’s the one our Nashville correspondent, Bill DeMain, recommended to us a few months ago. Blue Moon, the imaginary last encounter between Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers is perhaps the best, certainly most enjoyable, film I have seen in a very long time. It’s also the perfect film for anyone (like me) who is a songwriting nerd. Bill told me recently that he turned round to his friend at the screening to declare that ‘finally Hollyowood has made a film just for Bill DeMain.’

The era of Rodgers and Hart was one where the main focus of their output was via stage musicals. In reality the real success in these came when Richard Rodgers combined with Oscar Hammerstein, which is the centre of the story of Blue Moon. Nevertheless most people would still declare the Rodgers and Hart catalogue to be the gold standard of song partnerships. Bewitched, My Funny Valentine, Manhattan…the list goes on and on and is of such high quality that a rookie songwriter might want to give up before he even started. The trick, however, is to be inspired not down hearted.

Of course I have heard it being said, (and more often than I’d care for) ‘Oh, I don’t really like musicals.’ My heart sinks as, of course, the simple riposte is, ‘well, which musicals don’t you like?’ There is almost nothing in common between A Little Night Music, We Will Rock You and Paddington. (I haven’t seen the last two…but I’m sure you get my drift.) In a similar way I have very little tolerance for those who say they ‘don’t like country music. In the case of country music similarities between different styles and traditions have an even wider disparity than my musicals cmparison.

If you don’t like Toby Keith you may well still love Tyler Childers and those who have no time for Kacey Musgraves may still find solace in Shania...the comparisons go on and on. What I find most interesting is what brings people in rather than what leaves people out. This year our regular feature on most weeks of the AC is ‘Country Game Changers.’ A  while back I asked you to nominate songs which have felt so significant they have changed country music or made such a strong mark on your own listening tastes. I’m delighted to say that this week’s nomination is one of the great singer songwriters who first broke through in that new traditionalits era may of us enjoyed in the late eighties.

Houston’s very own Rodney Crowell has been a guest here at the AC many times in the years we have been on air. It’s an early Rodney record we’re going to play as this week’s game changer and I can verify that Rodney is’s songs were one of the key factors which drew me into the genre. The great thing is Rodney is still making new music and visits these shores soon too.

We’ll have so much more of course and ovver two hours of Another Country we hope there’s something that might take your fancy and even disabuse you of the notion that you don’t like country music. As the good Chuck Prophet would say, everyone needs a little heartbreak and country music will do that for you.

Join me if you can this Tuesday on BBC Sounds or BBC Radio Scotland FM.

The other day I found myself staring at the departures board at an unfamiliar airport. I was temporarily taken by the choices in front of me and it felt a little disappointing to be heading in the opposite direction when there was a flight to San Francisco leaving within a couple of hours.

It is there my daughter and family live and it started a mental travelogue which took me across the continent and  inevitably landed me in America’s Music City. Spinning my smart phone map I was delighted to see I could quickly locate the house where the family lived then slipping across I went for a virtual drive through Nashville’s West End past all the old familiar land marks. It reminded me of nights when I’d be writing in the city and inevitably tune my rental car radio to 650 MW and the city’s great WSM Radio Station. There, in the days before he took a well deserved retirement, Eddie Stubbs would broadcast every evening and suddenly the airwaves became a place of discovery. No artist would ever be played without the pre or post explainer from the erudite Eddie and I particularly recall one night him explaining to the listener how well The Delmore Brothers were always attired. It didn’t matter the occasion, Eddie told us, the brothers always came to a concert or radio session wearing suits and ties impeccably laundered.

It reminded me we need to play some Delmores music on the show and on this week’s packed AC we shall bring you a significant Delmores hit which will inspire the second hour where we are playing some great current country duets including a fabulous new track by Glaswegians Alice Faye and Julian Santamaria.

Before all that we will welcome Courtney Marie Andrews as our special guest. Courtney is in Glasgow to play at St Luke’s on Monday evening and although I couldn’t make the gig I just received gushing praise from some family members who were there. Courtney is an old friend of the show and over the last ten years she’s made a series of beautifully written and produced albums which highlight her singing and songwriting. The new album Valentine comes complete with all the usual heartbreak we’d expect and as well as exploring the background to the songs we’ve asked Courtney to pick some of her favourite country songs. You won’t be disappointed.

It all starts at 8 pm this Tuesday evening on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio Scotland FM. Join me live if you can.

There is a beautiful space in the heart of BBC’s Pacific Quay building. It’s not the foyer, where so many events happen – but is less than perfect for acoustic performances, and it’s certainly not the large television studios. But, tucked away under the enormous stairway of the building, is Studio One. There all manner of radio plays, Loose Ends, radio sessions and many other activities are committed to tape. (ditally speaking)

It is from there, this week, that we shall broadcast the entire two hours of Another Country with the help of great guests who all happen to be in town for Celtic Connections and also happen to be old friends of the show. Playing live will be Red Sky July featuring Ally McErlaine (formerly of Texas) and Shelly Poole. (Alishas’s Attic) Their recent album Misty Morning will be the centre piece of the conversation and we shall hear live versions of songs from that collection as well as a rather well chosen cover version. If that’s not enough they have also picked some Country gems to play which we’ll delight over together.

The first time Red Sky July visited 15 years ago!

In the second hour of the show we welcome Ashley Campbell for the third time. Ashley is the youngest daughter of the late, great, Glen Campbell whose contribution to country music needs no introduction. If Glen’s voice and guitar playing were not reason enough to love his music he often entertained Scottish fans with a blast on the bagpipes. Ashley’s song, Remembering, which featured on her father’s final documentary, I’ll Be Me. If you’ve never seen it, I recommend it to you.

More recently Ashley released Goodnight Nashville which features her own songwriting and playing. She’ll play some selections from that album tonight and we’ll talk about her own memories of her father who, in his friend’s Jimmy Webb’s words, brought country music to the mainstream.

Ashley, along with her partner Thor Jensen will also be bringing us some great records which we will play out over the course of the show. It’s a very special AC available to hear live from five past eight this Tuesday evening on BBC Radio Scotland or on BBC Sounds any time you like. Join me if you can.