I’m turning things upside down a little. I’m working on the Easter Bank Holiday. When I say working…. I’m staring out my studio window onto a lovely day. Later on we’re going walking with chums but this Easter Morning I’m listening to some fine new records and making lists of things I want to play on this Tuesday night’s AC. It’s nothing like work and I’m not (quite) stupid enough to ever believe it is. Doing anything musical well takes a bit of application but it’s always going to be a pleasure. I’ve been avoiding real work for 30 plus years and I’ve no intention of returning any time soon.
I was thinking about all of this when I thought about my guest on this week’s show. At one point over the last couple of years Courtney Marie Andrews returned to work. She came home from Belgium where she’d been living for four months and took a job in a bar outside Seattle. Now that’s real work! Over the course of the next while Courtney listened to the stories from the Tavern and began to assemble the songs which would make up Honest Life, her 2017 album. It’s an album that has wormed its way into our affections and indeed, when we reconvened after the Christmas holiday my producer, Richard Murdoch confessed he’d not been able to stop playing it. I have felt a similar bond to an album which, already, seems like a companion to 2017.
This Tuesday you can hear what happened when Courtney Marie Andrews came into Studio One at Pacific Quay at BBC Radio Scotland and recorded a very special session for us. On that day she was kind enough too to leave me a copy of Honest Life on vinyl which is sounding just great on this spring Monday Morning.
Elsewhere I’ll have some new songs from some old favourites including Rodney Crowell, Oh Susannah, Andrew Combs and Hillfolk Noir. We’ll also have new music from the late Chuck Berry, Dan Auerbach and a few surprises you’re really going to love.
I love it when listeners write in and keep us up to speed. So we’re indebted to Conor Randby who alerted us to the death of Johnny Cash’s guitarist Bob Wootton. We’ll tell you more about Bob this coming Tuesday and play something by him and something new from the man he introduced to Johnny Cash: Marty Stuart.
We’re live this Tuesday from five past nine on BBC Radio Scotland. Join me if you can.
