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. 

I was slightly late to the party where Van Morrison is concerned. I missed out the early seventies and really only caught up in the early eighties through my best pal, Mr. Perkin Warbeck, who had always been a devotee of the man. Van love really came properly when I met my wife and she guided me through the early years and hidden gems. Around 1990 we did a gig in Tipperary where we were second on the bill to Van. That night I thought we played pretty well and did all the things which make you feel as if you should be feeling quite smug about the hour or so you were on the stage. So smug in fact that we took seats out in the stadium to watch Van to whom we thought we may have given some pause for thought. Then Van came on. Reader we weren’t even close.

That night Van debuted songs from his new album, Enlightenment, and by the time he’d got through the opener I knew he was dealing aces with his Real Gone beating ours hands down.

Earlier in the day the Irish promoter had come into our dressing room and said, ‘Would you like to say hello to Van?’ Sure I thought..then started getting nervous on the way to his dressing room/tent. ‘You do one of my songs,’ he said. ‘Van’ I almost blurted out, ‘we pretty well do them all.’ He was referring to a live version of Angeliou we’d released and he seemed to approve. After that  I made a quick exithaving had a beautifully happy Van moment. Yes, I still tell my kids about it.

We’ve been on a bill together since but I decided to leave Van and let the mystery be as Iris Dement wisely counselled in song. Van is a phenomenon who has made some of the most significant to rocknsoulnjazznbluesncountry that  is only possible to categorise as Van Morrison. There have been many who have come close to channeling his influence and you can hear it in Springsteen, Graham Parker, Elvis Costello, Rickie Lee Jones and so many more. I don’t think Tom Waits would be fully Tom had he never heard Van’s music. I have no concrete evidence of this but I think I’m on solid ground.

Van tuned 80 over the weekend and in honour of that milestone we thought we would celebrate his in fluence on country music and country music’s influence on him. We’ll play Van songs and country classics through the lens of Van in the second hour of this week’s show. Elsewher we have an unreleased classic from Charley Pride, new releases from Ken Pomeroy, Lainey Wilson and a fabulou track from another Irish lover of country music – CMAT. If that’s not enough we’ll have a beautiful new recording by another great octogenarian, Mavis Staples. It’s all within two hours of Another Country live this Tuesday evening at five past eight on BBC Sounds or BBC Radio Scotland. Join me if you can.

Ever since The Beatles made it possible artists of all kinds who are vaguely associated with popular music have been encouraged to be the writers of their own material. In all truth it is the only thing I was ever interested in doing and anyone who knows me will tell you the list of songs I can cover is very short. When I decide to do a cover on tour it’s usually a job to learn it up and immediately forget it afterwards. But cover we will and cover we must. Right now we are planning a few good things to touch upon come September – hope you can make it along to hear them.

Over the summer there have been some great tours crisscrossing the Atlantic and the southern US States which have featured many of the artists we favour on Another Country. I’ve been keeping a close eye on the stories coming from Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Tour which is celebrating its 10th Anniversary with Bob Dylan playing on every show from May to September. Bob doesn’t change the show around too much these days but often his own songs feel a little like a slightly oblique cover version. I’m probably  not the only one who recognises a song until a couple of minutes in. But that would suggest a disapproval I don’t intend as some of his reinventions are my favourite moments in the shows I’ve seen recently.

On this week’s AC we aere going to celebrate the cover version by playing some current stand out covers popping up on summer dates. You will hear Bob, Willie Nelson, Margo Price, Luke Combs and The Castellows. The thing about the cover is it often gives us more of an inkling to the thought process of the artist as much as the songs of their own they choose to include. It also happens on recordings too when you think of  Eric Church’s recent album closing with Tom Waits’ Clap Hands. It’s a splendid take on the song too, that had it come a few months earlier, would have certainly been a high point in our Tom celebrations a few months back.

This week I’m also indebted to some fine listener suggestions which have come in over the last week. Look out for a great Neil Young country track and two new artists witnessed live by regular listeners. We shall also celebrate a summer visit by Chappell Roan to Edinburgh this week and remind you of fab things coming your way in this long summer which seems to go on and on. it’s all on BBC Radio Scotland FM or BBC Sounds from five past eight this Tuesday evening. Join me if you can.

On my first day of my short lived teaching career there was a general staff meeting. The headmaster kindly introduced me to all my colleagues. On hearing the announcement my immediate boss, my principal teacher, leaned over to me and said: Ricky Ross! What kind of name is that? It sounds like a country and western singer.

At that time (1983) this was NOT cool. I’m pretty sure these days it would be taken as a compliment. Bill DeMain, our Nashville correspondent who joins me on this week’s show, used to have a running competition along the lines of, ‘Is this a Country star or a London Underground Staion?’ You can see his point. I think I’d want to hear thise first couple of Stamford Brook albums, wouldn’t you? My own personal fave name, however belongs to a country star who died 50 years ago. Lefty Frizzell was only 47 years old at the time of his passing and he left behind a turbulent life with many of the stereotypical lifestyle habit we have come to expect from artists of that era. Lefty was a true star and on this week’s AC Bill will tell us more about his music and his life 75 years after one of his classic songs reached the top of the charts.

That’s not all folks. I’ve been rather taken with a new act signed to Loose Music, Greazy Alice. The band are from New Orleans and their own story is inspired by a seminal American singer. Loose explain:

Greazy Alice is a character from Terry Allen’s seminal 1975 song cycle Juarez, a working girl haunting a cantina on the Mexican border “Well I’m sitting in a border palace, suckin’ on Dos Equis beer, suckin’ with Greazy Alice” – “Border Palace” by Terry Allen.

This will give us the only excuse I need to play you a great version of a Terry Allen song I’ve long wanted to play on the show. You will also hear fabulous new things from Ashley Monroe who comes to Scotland next week as well as Larry Fleet who’s in Glasgow on Wednesday. I’m delighted to bring you new music from Hannah White and a great collaboration between Zach Bryan and The Kings of Leon. I had a gushing notice from my San Francisico based family this week saying how wonderful their joint gig was last weekend and it really did make me feel very jealous. All of this in two hours I hear you ask? Oh, yes, and we start at five past eight on BBC Scotland FM so do join me if you can there or on BBC Sounds.

I had to look, but I was pleased to say they were still there. These first two Oasis album nestling, undisturbed in the O section on the shelves. ‘Definitely Maybe’ and ‘Whats The Story’ sitting there nicely awaiting a re-spin some 30 years on. They’ve survived a few culls which have been less forgiving to some big albums. But, as I write I’m looking down on these two CD’s and a bonus B side compilation and recalling what attracted me to them in the first place.

I guess, for me, there was something about the straightforward nature of the songs and that voice. Big, warm, distorted guitars playing all the usual chords always makes for a good start, but there was also an ache and an ambition that couldn’t quite be ignored which drew me in. These guitars were important though. Suddenly, after years of drum machines, loops and beats, guitar, bass and drums were back in fashion and music shops were packed out with young kids turning up the amps and blasting out Live Forever. For that alone Oasis need thanked.

And what, I hear you ask, has this to do with country music? Nothing really except at BBC Radio Scotland over last weekend this week there is a recognition that the lads are in town and 200,000 gig goers can’t all be wrong. So, to this week the AC will doff a bucket hat to Manchester’s finest and play an hour of country songs celebrating, warning and occasionally over indulging in Cigarettes and Alcohol.

You’ll hear Hardy, George Jones, Patsy Cline, Lainey Wilson and Alan Jackson holding a cold one while they sing songs in praise or fear of the demon drink. What happens when they light up while the beer flows? You’ll need to tune in to find out.

Earlier we’ll catch up with some great new music. Listen out for new cuts from Morgan Wade, Joshua Hedley and The Barr Brothers. We first met these brothers a good few years ago when they performed a memorable session in studio one and, if memory serves me well, their set up involved a spinning bicycle wheel! We’ll also get back to our year long Neil Young celebration with a great suggestion from a listener. You can have a Neil track played too. All you need to do is write to me rickyross@bbc.co.uk and pick a country tinged Neil song and supply the reasons you’ve chosen it.

Do we do all of this in two hours? Oh yes. It all starts at five past eight this Tuesday evening on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio Scotland . Join me if you can.

On this week’s Another Country we’re going to celebrate a band that have finally decided to call it quits after twenty five years. I admire their ability to make the decision though, having decided to split up a band after eight years then reform it five years later, I kinda feel there may be an encore still to come.

For clarity the band I’m talking about is Madison Violet who have been guests and favoured artists on the AC since we first discovered them back in 2009. It seems we were still late to the party even then as they had eight years of previous behind them even at that point. However I have warm memories of sessions and guest spots by Lisa MacIsaac and Brenley MacEachern over these last sixteen years or so and, hearing that this would be there final tour, we thought it only right to ask them to come in and refelect on that decision and on the years of making music together.

We spoke before the last show they played at Cottiers in Glasgow which was promoted , as ever, by The Fallen Angels Club via Kevin Morris who is such a great supporter of Americana music in the city. It was fascination to hear the two women talking openly and honestly about the great times they’ve enjoyed together but also to hear how difficult some of that time has been. Like me, I know you will be moved at how the two women have faced up to grief, personal health issues and prejudice over these last years. In many ways Madison Violet’s own journey has opened the path to so many other women who have now felt able to open their personal lives to their audience. The decisions to do that have not always been straightforward or even voluntary and in a remarkable story you will hear Lisa and Brenley talk emotionally about the toll it has taken. What comes through is a great story of friendship and deep love of making music which makes a fascinating second hour of this week’s show. I urge you to catch it.

Before all that we will have some great new music from Sierra Ferrell, Jesse Wells and Nikki Lane. You’ll hear a great return to form from Tift Merritt and a lovely throwback to ten years ago when Jason Isbell first released Something More Than Free. We’re on BBC Radio Scotland FM and BBC Sounds from five past eight this coming Tuesday evening. Join me if you can.

One of the joys of a hotel stay is turning on a TV and remembering that Frazier gets another spin every Channel 4 morning. Waking up late last Sunday I caught the episode where the eponymous hero sets out to write his own obituary so he can clarify his life goals. Eventually his father wisely counsels that finding lost Inca gold and translating Ovid might be a little fanciful. On reflection Frazier re drafts his obit.

As ever in fine comedy there was a grain of truth to the story line. All of us have a list of things we hoped might happen but never quite achieved. I know there are little journeys, quests and learnings I hoped I’d master long before now and certainly before I die that, on reflection, now seem a little less likely to happen. There is, however, an upside to all of that. As often as we let go of the unobtainable we equally rejoice in the unexpected. Stuff happens that we hadn’t factored into our life plans which, in all kinds of great ways, changes our lives for the better. Sometimes too we are just not ready to do everything in our youth or early twenties so, it seems, some of us get round to some of these things a little later than planned and heck, who’d have thought it, but we do it better than we might have done as youngsters.

All of this came to mind when I opened a package sent to me at AC HQ last week. It seems Rosalie James has returned to making music after working elsewhere and facing some daunting personal issues. However she has made a very fine record which I’ve been enjoying spinning on my home turntable and if I can, will try to sneak in an appropriate track over the next few weeks. (though her record is really not country, it has elements of roots music I know you would enjoy)

On a similar theme Patty Griffin who, let’s face it, has never made a bad record, has (in her sixty second year) just released a particularly fine one. I often wish Patty would drop an album a year but I’m grateful when any come along and especially glad to hear her voice on tape again given the health issues she has faced over the last few years. We’ll tell you all about this moving record and play you a couple of tracks from it on this week’s show.

We’ll also feature songs from the excellent new Tyler Childers LP from which, I suspect, we will be playing songs over the course of the next year or so. Produced by Rick Rubin it is perhaps going to be the biggest album yet from one of the most exciting artists in country music. Patty, Tyler and some other fine artists will all be on from five past eight this coming Tuesday evening on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio Scotland FM. Join me if you can.

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.

I promised myself it wouldn’t happen again, but over the weekend I was pulled back in to an age old habit. Perhaps it was the heat, or just that I found myself in a town where temptation was hard to resist but there I was, inexorably drawn again to the very place where all my resistance was at a premium. In actual fact, it was low to empty.

I’d was revisiting an old favourite old haunt, Guildford in Surrey, on one of the warmest weekends of the year where the south downs nearby and the leafy B roads into West Sussex formed a gorgeous backdrop to my weekend wanderings. ‘If I remember correctly,’I told myself, ‘I can turn up this little alley and there will be a preloved record shop which will have a few gems.’ I wasn’t wrong. Nothing had changed and I began leafing through the racked vinyl in search of lost treasures. I wasn’t disappointed either. I only had to be in the shop for a fifteen minutes or so and I’d found as many as I thought my luggage could hold. A fine haul including a present for my vinyl brother in arms, producer Richard Murdoch. I guessed correctly he didn’t gave a copy to KT Oslin‘s 80’s Ladies and I guessed right.

For myself I found two great Jimmie Rodgers album – one which I hope to share on this week’s show,  Charlie Rich’s Boss Man and a copy of Lyle Lovett’s Pontiac, which to my shame, has not been part of my collection (until now).

But let me draw you attention to a few other classic recordings we’ll be sharing on the AC this week. Listen up for the work of Marijohn Wilkin who was born 105 years ago this week. She had a remarkable career which brought her success in Music City as a songwriter – which as a woman in the fifties was very unusual. We’ll celebrate her songwriting and play you one of the biggest songs of country music which she wrote in the 1970’s.

Elswhere listen out too for fabulous new songs from Chris Stapleton and Miranda Lambert, Mavis Staples singing Frank Ocean, Ian Noe covering Springsteen and something beautiful from the new 7 CD Springsteen set. We do all this in two hours and it all starts at five past eight this Tuesday evening on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio Scotland. Oh…and will there be any Jimmie Rodgers on this week’s show I hear you ask? Oh yes.

Join me if you can.

Maybe it’s the time of year or the long summer days but on this warm(ish) July evening I find myself down a rabbit hole finding gems, not from long ago, but from performances given only days ago.

I’ve been on summer holidays and slightly removed from events at home so I was keen to catch up on some of the Glastonbury moments and found instead that the truly great Van the Man has been performing some lost gems at his recent outings over in Ireland. Van was on great form at the Dublin show where he essentially ‘supported’ Neil Young and I half wondered whether he’d pulled out more stops on the simple basis of proving he should only ever be the top of any bill.

However I gather Neil himself was on great form too and I love the fact he surprised so many by playing a fairly accessible set list on his recent European outings. The great thing about great artists is they are always able to pull a rabbit from a hat just when you don’t expect it. So on this week’s AC we shall have a great new moment from Van Morrison as well as a great country tinged moment from Neil Young in the twenty first century.

I’ve been hearing great things too about the recent Zach Bryan show in Hyde Park from one of my family who made the trip down to The Smoke just to see the show. If that wasn’t testimony enough one of the newest members of the family, my nearly 3 year old grandson, has been vibing to a Zach Bryan song he can’t get enough of. We’ll have some cool Zach on the show too.

If these legends aren’t enough then we’ll bring you a fabulous new track from country legend Rodney Crowell and remind you of the genius of George Jones, Guy Clark and The Wilburn Brothers. I do love realising that the great artists are great for very good reasons and that, even though they’re slightly less nimble on their feet, their minds and voices are still able to conjure up magic. Chuck Prophet is not of course in the same age bracket as the above legends but he is great and we have reached that time of year when Chuck’s summertime epic just needs to be played. Do tune in and join me live on this week’s show which begins at five past eight this Tuesday evening on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio Scotland.