On Friday last week I found myself in an interesting place which should perhaps have a blue plaque. Shepherd’s Bush Empire in west London was the venue for our final show in our short run of theatre concerts last week. Although I knew it to be a great music gig I was surprised at how wonderful it was as a great rock n roll ball room. Yes, there are floral boxes and plaster carvings on the decorative ceiling but there is in its heart a warm space where rock ’n’ roll can thrum and thrive.
It has history of course. In the seventies the Empire was home to BBC live events like In Concert specials from The Old Grey Whistle Test. In the eighties it became the permanent home to the Wogan TV show which aired three times weekly. Before all of that variety acts of all stripes and colours performed on a stage which even boasted Charlie Chaplin as a visiting artiste.
In 2003 a run of the mill London date by American Country act The Dixie Chicks gave the Empire a new notoriety. Ashamed and embarrassed by George W Bush’s intervention in Iraq, Natalie Maines declared:
Just so you know, we’re on the good side with y’all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas.
That short sentence triggered a longer backlash than anyone could imagine. It also foreshadowed the ominous fissures in American politics which have been a hallmark of US society since that time. For the Chicks (their name change came along 17 years or so later) their country music career almost ended. Pariahs on country radio and victims of death threats at live performances, nothing would be the same again. It is good to remember however that, despite being banished from one genre’s airwaves, they remain a successful recording and performing group.
All of this has been going through my head as I get back to celebrating the great roots music we love to highlight each Tuesday on the AC. People (quite correctly) are feeling anger and disappointment towards America and what the current president is inflicting on countries who have been good friends over many years. Even at this Sunday’s Olivier awards it was remarkable to hear legendary American actors apologising for where they have come from. There is , of course, no need.
America is not Trump, Vance or Musk and they in turn, are not America. Similarly America is not The Chicks and neither is it their great adversary, Toby Keith. America may be divided and extreme but these are positions that have always been apparent in US society. Country music, at its best, will keep telling the stories of ordinary Americans, and for that I am still grateful. We play all of these voices on Another Country and we continue to celebrate that diversity.
We will play tracks by Charlie Worsham, Maddie and Tae, Hailey Whitters and an extended chat with 49 Winchester’s Isaac Gibson recorded during their recent visit to Glasgow.
Join me for another packed episode from Tuesday at 8 p.m. on BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Sounds.
