It’s early July and for once, in these unpredictable meteorological times, there’s been nearly 24 hours of sunshine. I’m celebrating as I watch the dark clouds gather from my studio window. Many of you will, no doubt, be taking a chance to slip away on summer holidays and some of you might still be taking your radios along for the ride. I still recall an early teenage holiday with my parents which I went without my older sister coming. Feeling a bit lonely, and slightly spooked by reading a book of ghost stories I took comfort from listening to Radio 1 in my hotel room and found, like Nanci Griffith many years later, that the radio can be a good friend.
This blog is here to highlight the next two shows on the AC as I’m off travelling myself next week and have left a wonderful special featuring a conversation with Willy Vlautin about his latest novel, The Horse, and this includes Willy singing some songs from the book as well as an hour of records mentioned in the book. The Horse may well turn out to be my favourite Willy novel yet and it brings together so many themes that have been present in Willy’s songs and prose writing. Centred around a song writer and a horse – there have been so many in and around Willy’s work – it’s set in the landscape Willy knows so well, the north west of America.
This week’s show also features a very special guest too. Brad Paisley is a man from a great country tradition of genius guitar pickers who also happen to be great singers and song writers. In the Good Country blog the other day I saw that they had put Brad into the lineage of Glen Campbell and Vince Gill and for good measure I’m going to play another great picker to set up the show – the one and only Ricky Skaggs. Brad will be picking three country songs he loves and each one is a mini masterpiece.
We’ll aslo throw the spotlight onto some new talent from Scotland as we play Rhona Macfarlane who captures the mood with a song called July Rain. We think we’ll grow to love Rhona’s music as she’s a special talent. Listen out too for new songs from Miranda Lambert, Willie Watson and my good friend Hannah White who is coming up to Scotland later in the year. We’ll have new songs too from our old buddy Rob Vincent whose new album came out last week. As ever it’s two hours of country music – our way and we’d love you to join us . We’re on air from 8 p.m. on BBC Sounds or BBC Radio Scotland.
I loved Brad Paisley’s choice of Bonnie Raitt’s ‘I Can’t Make You Love Me’ in this week’s show. What a great song that is – all about coming to terms with the fact that it’s OVER, and wishing it WASN’T. You should also check out Hannah Aldridge’s ‘Lie Like You Love Me’ and Courtney Marie Andrews’s ‘Near You’ for that same heartbreak pain in a song. These three women would have a lot to say to each other, I’m sure.