The last comment on the blog is, sadly, all too true. It seems Buddy Miller is recovering from some major heart surgery in a Baltimore hospital. We know this because we were planning to make Buddy a special guest on a show next month. So, thank you Norrie for sharing the info and rest assured we’ll be playing a wonderful new Buddy song on the show tonight.

I hope I don’t curse Dan Auerbach by raving about his album as much as I did Buddy’s! It is simply, and only so far, the best record of the year. It arrived here at the hoose when I returned from a foreign sojourn on Sunday and since then I have played it constantly. There are two many stand out tracks to mention here but ‘I Want Some More,’ ‘When The Night Comes’ and ‘Keep It Hid’ (the title track) will keep you happy. We’ll have a new Dan song on the show too tonight too. But let me lead you to our main event.

Towards the final week of Celtic Connections we had a visit from Mary Gaultier. (pronounced Go-Shay) I knew Mary’s name from my friend Tom Jutz who used to be her guitarist. On last year’s Another Country we played ‘I Drink’, Mary’s painfully honest confessional about her drinking days. Tonight she talks about these days, her extensive writing for others, her live work and her on going remarkable life. For those of you who’ve always felt they should be singing, song-writing or involved in some way in making music but have left it too late – an encounter with Mary may give you courage to believe all is not lost. She only picked up the guitar at 35 after over coming a list of personal set backs that would have discouraged the most optimistic of us. I’ll let Mary fill you in on the details during the show.

Here’s a couple of questions for you: We’re compiling our Unsung albums. This usually means we pick an album that may have passed under the radar but, effectively, led you to believe there was more to Country music than you had hitherto given it credit for. Let me know if there are albums we should be listening to that we’ve overlooked too. Secondly, I’ve been trying to think of the country performances that are truly indispensable. When everyone got into KD Lang, Lyle Lovett and Steve Earle because they were ‘new,’ did some old stuff get forgotten? I’d like to hear about some of your recommendations of Country Classics. If the names Conway, Merle, Waylon, Loretta or Connie are mentioned then so much the better.

Let me make a start: I Fall To Pieces by Patsy Cline. (I think the reason for Patsy and this song is my (perhaps false) memory of that being a stand out moment in Coal Miner’s Daughter – the film which made me realise I wanted to hear much more country.

Let me know on the blog or live tonight from 8.