With the arrival of the recent documentaries on the four remaining Stones available now on the iplayer, we thought it might be a good time to explore the country connections of The Rolling Stones.
There are so many varied Stones country moments that we had to prune a little and bring you the ones we liked best. Some of you may find this a little strange and perhaps wonder if we aren’t making something up here. However let me set a scene I enjoyed watching.
My memory goes back to a documentary made about Mick Jagger writing and recording one of his recent solo albums. At one point the film spends time with him in the studio of Lenny Kratvitz. Lenny leaves the room for some reason or other and the camera stays on Mick who is seated at the piano and proceeds to sing and play a heartfelt version of Hickory Wind, the great Byrds song written by Gram Parsons and Bob Buchanan. At that moment I knew that Mick’s love was real and deep. He sang and played the song as if it was his favourite party turn and it was a fine moment on the screen.
The Stones songs have been covered by Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kathy Mattea and Don Williams. Not all of them have been as successfully executed as The Burritos mind you. You can make up your own mind when we play out a few of these this week. Safe to say we have included some gems for you.
That Stones/ Country crossover theme will form a great spine to this week’s AC. Listen out too for some great new records from Bonnie Light Horseman, Amanda Shires and Beth Nielson Chapman. We will be your musical accompaniment to a warm summer evening and you can hear us on BBC Radio Scotland FM from five past eight this Tuesday evening or at a convenient place and time on BBC Sounds. Do join me if you can.
