Hayes Carll and Other Stories

One of the reasons people connect with the music we play on Another Country is because of the stories. We play songs telling tales which often reflect the harsher truths of life. If the song is a ballad, there is inevitably an ache, a longing for things to be different and there is probably less romance and fantasy when it comes to the love songs.

Off the top of my head I can think of a few of these troubled love songs….By The Time I Get To Phoenix, On The Other Hand, He Stopped Loving Her Today and that song that every songwriter I know would love to have written, I Can’t Make You Love Me. All of them scratching beneath the surface at all ages of love, whether we are in our teens or have reached a grand old age, they speak the truths of the human heart.

In the same way there are songs we’ve played which have shaken core beliefs and perhaps anyone who has heard them has had to rethink their social attitudes on some key issues.  In the last year I’m recalling Persephone by Allison Russell, Joy of Jesus by Stephanie Lambring  and Willie Jones’ American Dream. It takes a special kind of songwriter to create these kind of songs and it also requires the right kind of slant and delivery. This week’s special guest, Hayes Carll, has all of that and more.

Texas born and raised and now Nashville based, we’ve been fans of Hayes Carll’s music over the many years of being on air. His was one of the earliest interviews we broadcast in the early days of the show when we celebrated with him the recognition he received for his song KMAG YOYO which was Americana Song of The Year back in 2011. Since then we’ve followed the interesting twists and turns in the Hayes story and even caught up with him on his honeymoon a few years back. On this record Hayes has drafted in his wife, Allison Moorer on production duties too. I managed to record a conversation with him about his new album, You Get It All, a few months back and on this week’s Another Country you can hear Hayes’ thoughts on these songs as well as a little insight into the Carll/ Moorer sessions over lockdown which included them playing some killer covers to their on line worldwide audience.

In other news I’ve been enjoying Neil Young’s ‘Waging Heavy Peace’ and towards the end of the book he pays a glowing tribute to Linda Ronstadt. I thought we might play something significant by the two of them as the album the song comes from approaches its 50th birthday.

It’s all on a packed AC commencing at five past eight this Tuesday evening on BBC Radio Scotland (FM only this week) or, as ever, live or any time after on BBC Sounds. Join me if you can.

PS…a friend is looking for a banjo tutor in Glasgow. He thought there might be someone in the wider country music community who could help. Any suggestions please reply to the Blog and I’ll pass on the info.