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.
First things first! Lyle gets photo grin of the year award.
I have only been lucky enough to see him a couple of times and he has been brilliant both times and comes across as not only an outstanding musician but a fine chap as well!
Studio technology is probably the same as every other kind – if in doubt hit buttons – it usually works a treat!
I am looking forward to hearing Devon Sproule as well – not a name I know but had a quick listen on her website, which is very good, and she sounds really good. Possibly a wee bit like Susanne Vega or even Michelle Shocked vocally.
That trip to Nashville sounds like a tough assignment!! Intolerable? Surely not!
A rare treat for me tonight: I’m home “early” enough to be able to listen to the second half of the show live! I’ll be “listening again” also to the whole thing, but it looks like another great edition in store.
Lyle Lovett is one of those artists I’ve always admired from a distance, appreciating his talent without really having gotten to know all that much of his music. I look forward to discovering a little more of it — and far more besides — through this week’s show. (OK, so I’ll have to listen back to that bit, but you can be sure I will!)
Good to see you were down here in my playground of London town too, Ricky! Talk of Hyde Park conjures lovely memories of shared evening walks with the dog through all seasons and pretty much every climate you can imagine. Good times.
As a P.S. …I love “Love Is Plenty” plenty too, so thanks for making that available. It’s always a priviledge to hear any new music from you, and to have it gifted is a real treat! I only wish I could be there for one of your Highlands shows in May, but I’ll actually be Stateside myself then. Enjoy your own trip next week, and here’s hoping it won’t be too long before you’re back behind the microphone in Pacific Quay again soon…
Adam
Adam – as a native of the Highlands I can promise Ricky he is in for a great night “up the Strath”!! Pity it is a Sunday and Monday so I wont be able to go.
Enjoy Ricky!!
Getting off Ricky’s original topic but on to Adam and Norrie’s replies, I’m also enjoying “Love Is Plenty” more with each listen. Hoping to get to a DB show in May and Montrose is closest, Strathpeffer sounds intimate, and then the acoustic gig sounds a bit different from a typical DB gig and maybe worth the extra travel as i won’t be journeying to Liverpool Pops and back this year due to work commitments. Any news from Ricky on whether its just acoustic gig in May?