Before I go any further I need to apologise for a little detail I got wrong. The Rodneys
found me out! Robert Earle Keen never lived in East Nashville…sorry folks, it won’t happen again! (or rather, it probably will as I am skating on a very thin piece of ice where a knowledge of Americana artists is concerned.)

Thanks to all of you who make this blog work. A big thank you to you for making me feel we’re doing something good with the show. We (my producer Richard Murdoch and myself) love doing it, but it’s good to know you are enjoying it too.

I was very nervous last week as I had a date with destiny. On Friday morning I was to meet Lyle Lovett at the BBC for a quick interview for the show. I was to be in London and so was he…so what could be simpler? The trouble is I am not a regular radio type and I’ve been on the wrong side of so many ghastly interviews that I am painfully aware of how wrong they can go. I’m also aware how intolerable I have been over the years when I’ve been at the other side of the questions. (if anyone who has interviewed me between the years 87 – 94 is reading this, please forgive me. I was young(er) and stupid.) So last Friday on a morning I walked through Hyde Park enjoying the sunshine but dreading the meeting with LL as much as young Bertie Wooster would dread an appointment with his Aunt Agatha. What if he’s as serious as he looks? What if, like The Rodneys, Lyle finds me out?
Well, maybe he did…but if he did he never let on. What a lovely man. Polite, generous and a true professional. the best moment of the day was when we thought a microphone wasn’t working. Lyle looked down at a small box on the desk, hit a button and hey presto the mic was open. It’s one thing answering the questions; it’s another when you can trouble shoot a BBC self-op studio!

In the first hour of the show we will broadcast a Devon Sproule session she came in to record a couple of weeks back. Coming back from a shopping trip to buy my wee boy a new football tonight we listened to Get It On. Bryan was fielding some requests for him to play Lyle Lovett and he kindly trailed my show. He mentioned that on Devon Sproule’s previous visit to BBC Scotland she’s made such a big impression that everybody involved immediately fell in love with her. I have to say that she made a similar impression with us. You can experience the magic for yourself on Tuesday night at 8.

Next week will be the last Another Country for a few months – don’t worry we’ll be back in time to coincide with the Americana Awards. Just to make the last night special I’m going to be in Nashville and hope to bring you all the news from Music Row + some very special live guests.