Here’s the thing. There’s so much music floating around my head I need to offload
it somewhere. Roll on Tuesday night. Another Country has a new night and once more we get some well worn jeans and a plaid shirt round the Radio Scotland studios.
My producer, Richard Murdoch, and myself have been sending excited e mails to each other and doing some solid preparation for an extended eight week run of programmes. Thanks to a number of great artists coming into Glasgow over the last few weeks we have a great list of guests but hey, you can read all that on the main page. What have you been up to Ricky my old friend I hear you ask?
In October I was actually on my way to Nashville but the day until I suffered my first ‘rock n roll bizarre gardening accident’ involving a falling vase, a large head (mine) and a misplaced hand. The net result was a stookie and 5 weeks of enforced down-time. As soon as I got the plaster off I was eased into a tour bus with the other Blue Deacons and headed out across the UK as guest of Simple Minds. This was great fun. I have also spent some time in Sweden song-writing with the great Tobias Froberg.
However I’d like to thank Dawn Munro and Victoria McArthur from BBC Scotland for their radio-therapy. Just when I thought I was no use to man nor beast and was finding it difficult to complete the simplest of tasks, they caught me up in a documentary about the late Joan Eardley. It was a real joy to listen to stories of people who knew Joan and spend a lot of time just looking at paintings.
Just to get things started for the dialogue we will no doubt have during the shows, here’s a list of recent albums and artist I’ve been enjoying: If you don’t know them I’m sure you’ll become familiar with some of them over the next few weeks. Feel free to weigh in with some of your own recent faves.
J Tillman – Vacilando Territory Blues, Bon Iver – Blood Bank, The Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion, Wood Pigeon – Songbook,
I watched Once and have to say the songs on the soundtrack by Glem Hansard and Marketa Irglova are beautiful. The Devon Sproule and Iron and Wine recent albums still give me plenty of joy. There’s lots of good music from this side of the water too but that’s another show!
oh…. and George Jones. He just gets better with every listen.
More soon
Hi Ricky
I was at the Tift Merritt gig at the Classic Grand and it was an absolutely superb set from Tift. Playing solo on the guita and piano she was really confident and went down superbly well with a reallly apprecaitive audience, her tracks on the piano were a stand out for me. Bramble Rose in reaction to a great shout from the audience was fantastic. Tift took time out to caht after the show – a nice touch.
I think Tift has a solo acoustic album coming out, so look out for that!
As an aside if you get the chance to check out Jackson Browne’s wonderful tribute to Lowell George called Of Missing Persons I am sure you will enjoy this track. You probably know it!
Norrie
Ricky
Don’t think we’ve met since playing together in Steve B’s band in 1983. ‘Checkout Girls’ was a great song. Excellent first programme of your new series tonight. And I’m so glad you mentioned to Bryan Burnett that ‘Pearl’s a Singer’ does NOT feature a key change!
Alan
Alan – as a non muso I found it very hard to spot the key changes! Ah well…..
As Ricky said tonight to Bryan B, it’s the kind of musical device a composer / songwriter uses to ‘lift’ a song when you can’t think of anything else!!
Great to have you back on the air for the next couple of months, Ricky! I’m all set for you to introduce me to some new music over the coming weeks, as well as reacquaint me with some classics that perhaps I’ve neglected to listen to of late.
And that welcome introduction to a great new artist (for me, at least) kicked off with this week’s show, as I ordered a copy of Tift Merritt’s “Another Country” with moments of hearing the broadcast! Thanks so much for an insightful interview and some great live studio renditions; I look forward to exploring her back catalogue.
I’ve also been enjoying Bon Iver’s “Blood Bank” EP in recent weeks, and was listening to the same one memorable morning as I walked several miles to work through London’s all but deserted streets in a near blizzard. I had one moment crunching my way through newly fallen snow in the isolation of a small park not far from home when the music coalesced with my surroundings and crystallised into a perfect listening experience. Pure magic.
Looking forward to more of the same, then, and hope to see you back on the road at some point this year, either with or without the band…
Adam
A footnote on Bon Iver. I read recently that the band took its name from the phrase being traded between Cicilans in the closing moments of an episode of “Northern Exposure” entitled “First Snow”.
As as huge fan of the show, it was the first thing that came to mind when I first heard Bon Iver’s music, well before I learnt this factoid. It still goes down for me as one of the most intelligent and soulful and certainly the most literary TV show the medium has ever produced. A great source of inspiration, and highly recommended.
Hey Ricky,
Beautiful first show this week with the lovely Tift Merritt. Seeing her again next week at the Belfast Nashville Festival, where she’s appearing alongside the likes of Thea Gilmore, Nanci Griffith, Raul Malo, Steve Harley, Josh Rouse and many others.
Bon Iver’s album was certainly a highlight of 2008, as were The Hold Steady, Jenny Lewis, Justin Townes Earle, Kings of Leon and Fleet Foxes records.
An excellent recent buy has been A Camp’s new record (Nina from The Cardigans side project). You do worse than play her song about a place far, wide and one small step away…My America.
Kind regards,
George
Favourite music of the past twelve months (or so), aside from some of those already mentioned here, would include for me Marc Cohn’s “Join the Parade” and Mary Chapin Carpenter’s “Come Darkness, Come Light”. The latter is largely seasonal fare, but her previous album — “The Calling” — is another of those albums that I put on and listen to from start to finish every time.
A couple of not-so-recent recomendations / requests also: Martyn Joseph’s rendition of Larry Norman’s “The Great American Novel” and pretty much anything from Blind Alfred Reed!
Hi Ricky, looking forwrad to the next show,
The Jackson Brown track I mentioned is called Of Mising Persons and is available both on Hold Out and his 2 cd greatest compilation.
I am sure you will enjoy this track if you get the chance to listen in the next wee while.
Regards
Norrie