As I write this I’m thinking of a very special place I visited with my wife, Lorraine, five years ago. Bukavu in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo is a very special place. The suffering and crimes that have been visited on the women there have been chronicled elsewhere in my writing but it’s safe to say that events over the last few days have made people’s lives there far more precarious, if that is even possible.

I usually think deeply about Bukavu every Sunday morning as I recall the most exciting Mass I have ever attended. The singing, the dancing and the sense of celebration and welcome allowed our small party of Scots visitors to experience a unique religious experience which, speaking for myself, I have never encountered before or since. I doubt today, I will ever participate in anything like it again. The coming of the M23 rebels into the city has changed everything and we await news from our friends there who, when we last heard, were too frightened to step outside their homes.

Some of the amazing Bukavu singers

In the church on that Sunday 6 a.m. Mass we heard music that soared through the building and felt as if it might lift the roof. What a thing music is. Sometimes it comes in when you least expect it and it changes the scenery and offers hope and release when there seems little else to lift the spirits. My old friend, The Herald’s foreign correspondent, David Pratt told me a story about reporting from a war zone in the middle east and, avoiding gunfire, found himself sheltering a giant video screen which was showing a video of Deacon Blue being broadcast by MTV or another music video channel.

In 2017 I was visiting Sarajevo  when I heard from a Bosnian woman who told me how our music had offered her respite (as a young school student) during the worst days of the Balkan war. It was humbling and reassuring to know music travels, inspires and sometimes, at the worst of times interrupts the darkest of times. Songs are necessary and I’m grateful.

On this week’s Another Country we’ll play you some songs you may find will (happily) interrupt and inspire. I trust none of you reading this are facing the hardships and dangers endured by some of the stories I’ve chronicled here. However we will all face times we haven’t reckoned on and I’m sure music and particular voices and songs will find a way in. Let me point you to some special moments you want to revisit from this week’s show. Listen out for Madison Hughs and Brent Cobb, Will Johnson, Vincent Mason and Katie Pruitt. You’ll also hear some classic songs from Shania Twain, Charlie Worsham, Tift Merrit and Brandi Carlile.

It all starts at five past eight this Tuesday evening on BBC Radio Scotland (FM folks) or BBC Sounds. Do join me if you can.

I’m  in a learning mode. Let me explain: In the period between making a record and the record coming out is a strange liminal period where no one really knows what’s coming except the band and close associayes who played on the record. It’s probably fair to say we don’t really know it that well either. In truth I have to go about leaning my own songs. I have a poor memory and often when I sit down to recall a song i find myself thinking, ‘I’m not even sure what key this is in.’ So if you pass me running on the road  or driving along somewhere and I look lie I’m singing to myself …I am doing just that.

It’s a thing that I never thought would happen, but there are songs I’ve written or been involved with in some way that I have forgotten, and sometimes I can’t even remember them coming about in the first place. However that is the magical thing of creativity; sometimes these gifts just land and the only thing you really are asked to do is to accept or refuse the offer.

I thought about all of this as I was in conversation with a journalist about how one of my earliest songs came about and I found myself confessing that I really don’t know where it all came from but was simply glad it had arrived. An old songwriter friend once recalled how a record company had nudged him to write them another of his classic songs which he’d penned for some significant artists. He explained that he’d try, but that kind of song usually only arrives once a year or so, despite the fact he went into his studio every day to upset that ratio.

As someone who sifts through new songs by new artists every other day it’s interesting to stumble on a track that makes you want to play over and over again only to find the next release somehow doesn’t do it for you. I guess if we knew how to hit the mark every time we’d all be doing it!

All this brings me to this week’s celebration of one of the greatest pop/country song writing partnerships of all time. Boudleaux and Felice Bryant were the magical husband and wife team behind some of the biggest songs by The Everly Brothers, Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly, Ray Charles and even Bob Dylan. It’s 105 years since Boudleaux was born and you’ll hear some classic country cuts of his songs on this week’s show.

Listen out too for fabulous records by Stephen Wilson Jr, Sierra Hull, Dylan Gossett and Waxahatchee.

All of this begins at eight o’clock on BBC Sounds or BBC Radio Scotland. I’d love you to join me if you can.

I’ve never received a Grammy and I’m thrilled for anyone who gets any award. Over the years I’ve cast a cold eye on the award season having often got a little over excited at the nominations. ‘Oh look, there’s ****** and they’ve finally been recognised!’ Only to wake up on Monday morning that the usual suspects swept the board and an opportunity has gone.

The CMA ’24 awards were a classic case in point. Poor Shabbozey; everyone in the world thought he had the single of the year except the folks who hand out gongs on Music Row. And then there was Beyonce´. Single handedly re writing the manual of country music and bringing an amazing  collection of talent to the party into the bargain. Allison Russell, Tiera Kennedy, Rhiannon Giddens, Dolly, Willie the aforementioned Shaboozey...the list goes on and on.

So on this week’s Another Country we shall celebrate the great decision to award Beyonce´s Cowboy Carter, best album at The Grammys as well as giving gongs to Kacey Musgraves and Sierra Ferrell. We applaud you folks.

We have some beautiful new music too from Alisa Amidor, Red Sky July and Cale Tyson to play you as well as ain interview with a special guest.

Willie Watson, once of Old Crow Medicine Show was in town last week to play at Celtic Connections. We met up with him the day after his show at Cottiers to talk about the record he calls his debut album. The reason for my clarification is Willie has already made two solo albums, Folk Singer Vol 1 and 2, but this new album is his first featuring original songs. It’s not the easiest interview I’ve ever conducted and at points I almost thought we weren’t going to finish. You can hear Willie talking about his own mental health and combatting ADHD which helps explains how he responded.

We will be playing out songs from the new album as well as some of the old catalogue and lovely collaborations with The Fairfield Four. It all starts at 8 p.m. this evening on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio Scotland. Join me if you can.

Over the weekend, having abandoned our East Neuk weekend to the storm and subsequent power cut, I encountered two great pieces of radio and a film which, though it never wholly disappointed, equally left no real mark.

On Saturday on BBC Radio 4 there was a wonderful half hour programme in which two comedy producers, Jon Plowman and Peter Finchman explore a classic comedy series. This week they interviewed Ricky Gervais about ‘After Life.’ It was fascinating and hugely enjoyable as they, and in particular, go to the heart of what makes something funny, but also why the show was so moving. Towards the end of the interview they focussed on Ricky Gervais’s use of music. They marvelled at how ambitious he’d been with songs and artists but more crucially at how the entire song had been used to tell a particular part of the story. You can hear it all on this link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0027cr1

Later that day I went to see ‘A Complete Unknown’ which focusses on the early years of Bob Dylan’s career. Again, the interesting thing about the film was the respect paid to the entire song. (with the interesting exception of the title track) Dylan’s songs were used to move the narration along and, inevitable, this worked seamlessly. If I’m honest, the songs outshone the drama.

Finally let me point you to Nick Cave’s Desert Island Discs in which, over a brilliantly hosted hour, Lauren Laverne listened to the stories behind his choices. It was utterly compulsive listening. Uplifting, funny, heartbreaking and ultimately life affirming, it again showed we need songs at all points in our lives.

On this week’s  AC we will again devote two hours celebrating the great art of the song. You’ll hear songs lasting just over two minutes to ones that creep up to four, but each will be there because they say something quite unique and have been created and crafted by songwriters who want to share a story which has not been told elsewhere. You’ll hear selections from Ashley Campbell, Hannah White, Carly Pearce and Ruston Kelly. We’ll celebrate Neil Young’s country roots and we will say Happy New Year to our Nashville correspondent, Bill Demain.

Bill has an interesting anniversary to celebrate concerning an artist who had to flee Music City to be taken seriously. You may take a little while to guess so while you’re pondering I can tell you that Bill has news of exciting developments on the live scene in Nashville.

To hear all of this and more please join me this Tuesday for two hours of country, Americana and  roots music which will have you scurrying to discover more about some very exciting artists. We start at five past eight on BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Sounds where you can listen any time you choose.

As the host of a show which celebrates Americana I suppose I should be spending some of today with my eyes on the TV. There’s an event going on in Washington which is getting quite a lot of attention, as I’m sure you know. However I’m more inclined to take the sage advice I stumbled upon earlier today on hearing T Bone Burnett on a talk show when he pointed out that if you really want to know anything about America you can do that best via its music. I’m not going to argue with that.

I think that is probably true of the nations of the UK too but, perhaps, we know less about our own music than we do about America’s. What is certainly true for me is the refining and re understanding of the human spirit is constantly mirrored in the songs of any era. Sexual politics, relationships, inequality and social perspectives which constantly change are all subjects of modern songs. Given that country and folk music seeks to tell these stories simply but profoundly it’s no surprise the genres keep churning out more songs.

One of my best friends who is a great all round musician explained why he wasn’t over interested in writing songs in the way I was when I started out in music 40 odd years ago. ‘All the books have been written…’ he began. And, yes, there was logic to what he said. Had we to draw a line at the end of 1984 many of us listening to Oldie pop radio stations would hardly notice. But the line wasn’t drawn there and as we gear up for another adventure around the sun it’s obvious so many songwriters still have so much to say. Overwhelming as that is (the current estimate is 100,000 songs per day are added to streaming services) I welcome each new release with the start of this year bringing some wonderful new releases which – pardon me for repeating old tropes – I firmly believe we shall be enjoying on our best-of play lists next December.

Allow me to highlight some gems which are coming your way on this week’s AC:

Listen out for Gaby Moreno. Now an Angelino, she is originally from Guatemala and has had huge success and Grammys in Latin Music. However her current single crosses between Spanish and English and seems a perfect fit for our wider understanding of Americana.

You’ll enjoy too the wonderful talent of Stephen Wilson Jnr. He’s become a successful songwriter for hire but is breaking through with his own singing career and his current single is co written with nashville legend, Travis Meadows, the man responsible for Dierks Bentley’s Riser.

My Morning Jacket

We are also delighted to tell you we will include new tracks from old friends Bonnie Prince Billy, Michaela Anne, Ruston Kellly, Nadia Reid, Jason Isbell and the most welcome of returns from My Morning Jacket.

Finally: I’m not sure who is and ism’t Americana these days, so to muddy the waters further I find myself reflecting on a line from a song from U2′s The Joshua Tree where Bono sings, ‘Outside is America.’ It sure is.

It’s all in a packed two hours of Another Country this coming Tuesday on BBC Sounds or BBC Scotland from five past eight or any time you like after that. Join me if you can.

I was thinking that night about Elvis
Day that he died, day that he died
I was thinking that night about Elvis
Day that he died, day that he died

Just a country boy that combed his hair
And put on a shirt his mother made and went on the air
And he shook it like a chorus girl
And he shook it like a Harlem Queen
He shook it like a midnight rambler, baby
Like you never seen, like you never seen, never seen

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings

I’m old, but not old enough to remember Elvis Presley in the wonderful time of early rock n roll. I do remember his name coming up in the late sixties and my older sister explaining to me that he was someone from the past. That was enough for me to pay scant attention to his later output and ignore the early output until I got my act together and learned what I’d been missing a good many years later.

There were two narratives running when I was making my way in music. One was it was only loveable eccentrics  who still loved Elvis. The other, perhaps more harmful than the first, that the story of the King of Rock n Roll deserved little more than a sidebar as he didn’t write any songs and he became a gloated cabaret star. Needless to say I subscribed to none of this and it has been my pleasure to highlight gems from Elvis’s extensive back catalogue over the years we’ve been on air.

On this first week of the AC in 2025 we are going to highlight some great Elvis country tracks (many recorded in Nashville’s RCA Studio B) which show his deep love of country and roots music. It also highlights Elvis’s energy for showcasing great songs. Elvis would have been 90 on January 8th and it seems a good time to celebrate his great voice and memorable recordings.

We’re also in an exciting time for live music. Celtic Connections begins very soon, The UK Americana Awards follows on and before you know it we will be gearing up for Country 2 Country in March. On this week’s show you will hear music from acts who’ll be appearing at these festivals as well as records from albums coming out over the next few months. Listen out for Brett Eldredge, Dylan Gossett and The First Time Flyers. It’s a packed show which reflects on what will, inevitably be, a packed year of exciting new music. Join me if you can from 8 p.m. this Tuesday on BBC Sounds or BBC Radio Scotland.

It’s a busy time of year for buying gifts , so I just decided to give myself an extra gift hoping no one notices. It will arrive tomorrow but in this baffling world of streaming I am able to be sitting by a winter fire listening to Mindy Smith’s Quiet Town on this very quiet Sunday afternoon.

It’s taken a while to catch up again with Mindy since an afternoon I spent in her company some years ago outside a bar in Nashville’s cool 12th South district. On that particular afternoon it seems Mindy had been sitting in that trendy bar a little too long and the conversation didn’t really make a whole lot of sense. After that Mindy slightly faded from my view and I’d almost forgotten about that afternoon and her music until the first track from this current album popped up earlier in the year. It was that title track which got me hooked and as the subsequent songs emerged I found myself loving an artist as much as I ever did first time round. I can’t wait for that CD to arrive now so I can put the whole thing on and let it run on.

It’s a reminder to me that as much as we celebrate the discovery of new acts at the end of any given year, it is always a joy to be reminded of talent we’ve celebrated along the way. So, step forward Adeem The Artist, Lauren Alaina, Morgan Maloney and Shaboozey but let’s recognise too that we’re still playing Kacey Musgraves, Miranda Lambert and Eric Church. In Eric’s case he released the most moving song (and maybe his best?) in aid of the reconstruction of parts of his home state wrecked by the storms that swept across North Carolina in the autumn. I loved Eric’s Darkest Hour from the moment I heard it first but it has gone deeper into my heart and I now can’t imagine it somehow not existing. Eric channelled his inner Al Green and sat down on his own to write a mind blowingly great song which the ever faithful Jay Joyce produced into four minutes of audio perfection. I don’t like to think of myself as having a track of the year but if a certain beer company did country music they’d have brewed this one.

Safe to say all these artist have either appeared on last week’s Best of show or you will be able to catch on this week’s AC. All of this and our Christmas Eve special will be available over the holidays and I hope you can find a quiet moment to enjoy them.

Meanwhile let me thank you for keeping up with the blog, making your contributions and for listening and listening again. I wish you all a very happy Christmas and successful 2025 when it comes.

For the past sixteen years over the Christmas break I’ve found myself thinking about what the next year might bring. Of course there are a few records which make themselves known towards the end of any given year and you can reasonably predict they are the precursors of an album you’re going to love. But I still love it when I get to the end of a year and find myself having an argument with myself about which songs we should play in our best of shows. Hey – we have nearly four hours to play with so you’d imagine it wouldn’t be a big issue, but damit, every year there’s a million things I feel I’m missing out.

Truth is our best of shows are pretty subjective and even we might change our minds over the next weeks, so it’s probably best we broadcast and be damned. In any event, there is no chart or list of songs, it’s just a re run of some of the things which have made us smile over the last twelve months. This year we’ve pulled our collective heads and I’m grateful that Richard and Emma from our team have weighed in with some killer choices.

There are a few things which i feel I won’t want to be without for the rest of my life and for that I am truly grateful. So on this week’s Another Country you shall hear part one of the cuts that made the cut. You’ll hear from Beyonce, Morgan Wade, Charlie Crockett, Allison Russell and Morgan Moroney who can lay claim to stealing our collective hearts on this fine year.

We shall also play you some of the last releases of the year which have sneaked onto the stereo in the final weeks. Listen out to great new records from Elle King, Patrick Davis, Michaela Anne and listen too as your host finally catches up with Teddy Swims. I like to think we get to all good things eventually!

Michaela Anne

What is certain is there is a beautiful spread of down home country, pop country, dark Americana and bluegrass to reflect all the sides of the AC. We may be a country show but we consider ourselves to be an eclectic bunch and we can guarantee that if there’s something you don’t quite dig , you will find some solace in the track to follow.

It’s two hours of brilliant songs by amazing songwriters and singers that may well help you decide what you’d really like Santa to be putting in your stocking. Do join me live this Tuesday evening from five past eight on BBC Sounds or BBC Radio Scotland.

It was 2001 and we were on holiday in the south of France. As family will testify, one of my favourite holiday pastimes is exploring the aisles of the local supermarket. There’s any number of tasks to fulfil on arriving on foreign soil with a bunch of under twelves so, in the interests of avoiding the peskier jobs, I’ll always opt to do the supermarket run. On this day (pre sat nav) I was trying to find the local LeClerc or Carrefour and one of my daughters had elected to accompany me. She was around eight going on nine at the time and old enough to sit beside me in the passenger seat. As we cruised the Provencal lanes in the dappled light of a summer’s day she decided to help sort out my CD collection which was bundled into the glove compartment.

One by one she pulled out each album and tried to marry the  discs to the appropriate jewel cases. She stopped at one particular album and showed me the sleeve. You like this one a lot, dad, don’t you…..Tom Watts. He’s good isn’t he? I agreed, of course, and quickly also concurred to her suggestion that we put the CD on and listen to the music. Now Mule Variations isn’t the most dark or testing of Tom Waits’ catalogue, but it has its challenging moments. My daughter decided that it was a good opportunity to sing along with the lyrics. This worked well until it came to the classic spoken word song, What’s He Building.
It’s a great song and a clever satire on the idea of personal freedoms….who has a right to know what and to what extent do we guard our privacy are the themes in the song. If that sounds a bit dull then I have failed to make the important point that, like all Tom Waits songs, it makes its point with humour.

He’s all to himself
I think I know why
He took down the tire swing from the pepper tree
He has no children of his own, you see
He has no dog, he has no friends
And his lawn is dying
And what about all those packages he sends?

This was treasure enough if the comedy hadn’t been heightened by by young daughter’s determination to speak the lyrics along with him. It’s still my favourite Tom memory. But you can see from this photograph that I’ve collected a good few Tom albums over the last few years. Some are more accessible than others but all are worthwhile.

On this week’s AC we’ll skim through some of these albums and earlier vinyl as we celebrate Tom’s 75th birthday which is next Friday, 7th December. Although every song will be a Waits original we’ll intersperse all his performances by versions of his songs by many of our favourite country and Americana artists . You’ll hear Johnny Cash, Nanci Griffith, Tift Merrit,  Norah Jones and Crystal Gayle. In the words of Kathleen Brennan, Tom’s wife, you’ll hear ‘grim reapers and grand weepers.’ You’ll hear songs they wrote together and songs which have become 20th Century Standards and will, I suspect, last years longer than the writer and your radio host. So do join me if you can this coming Tuesday evening on BBC Sounds or BBC Radio Scotland for a two hour celebration of a great troubadour.

The other night I got a small inkling of what some foreign citizens must have experienced had they been sat next to a patriotic Scottish person at one of our gigs abroad. It was only 30 seconds before the woman sitting beside me in the Grand Circle at the Jason Isbell  gig in Edinburgh gave out a shriek which would have sent the ghosts of the old town scurrying down the nearest vennel. Immediately she got her phone out and proceeded to loudly proclaim her love for Jason while scrolling through her messages. With fans like that….

In fairness there was much to get excited about. Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit played a beautifully curated two hour show which could not have possible left any fan disappointed. My Grand Circle neighbour continued her excitement and as time went on I did recognise that she was a real fan. Her ecstasy grew as classic song followed classic song. Alabama Pines– stand up. Elephant – scream. At Decoration Day she lost it. I felt a tap on my arm. ‘I apologise. We’re from Alabama.’ I got it.

Jason’s songs of the south connected with more than the lady in the circle. You could tell, even on the coldest of Auld Reekie nights, that there was a warm connection to the humanity in these songs. I loved the fact that Jason and the Four Hundreders never let it just become a big rock show. No sooner had the big guitar solos on The King of Oklahoma faded than he strapped on an acoustic guitar and played a beautiful version of Strawberry Woman. It was all the songs we wanted to hear and I’ll try to play some highlights on this week’s show.

There were probably a few ladies from Alabama all over The Bridgestone Arena for the CMA Awards night last Wednesday too. I watched the stream the next morning and though I understand  why the BBC are showing the whole thing, my heart sinks at what the people who might just have fallen in love with country music might be thinking if they saw it. All the best and worst was there to see.  We’ll concentrate on the good stuff in our show. There were token nods to the new African American community without any getting remotely close to winning anything, or in Beyonce’s case, getting nominated. What does Shaboozey have to do to win song of the year when 17 weeks at No 1 isn’t quite enough? However let’s celebrate the good and I’ll be playing Luke Combs, Kelsea Ballerini, Kacey Musgraves (utterly jaw dropping) and Megan Moroney over the course of the show.

If all that’s not enough we’re starting to feel like Christmas with a special moment from our friends Chapel Hart and their holiday release which they will tell us all about. Finally a nod to the excellent Bonny Light Horseman who had a Glasgow audience in rapture last Friday at the QMU. All this in two hours? You’ll need to join me to find out how we do it. Tune in on BBC Radio Scotland or BBC Sounds from 8 this Tuesday.