Karen's Diary

23 Mar 09

NotSXSW Day 4

My last full day in Austin – this trip seems to be over before it’s even begun!   Checked into my flights home at 11am, managed to get exit row seats for two of the three flights. Then jumped on a couple of buses to take me up to Jovitas (again, why oh why have I taken so long to use buses in this town?).   Before I knew it I was in Jovitas back yard watching Romantica.   This is a band who gave me their CD “Romantica” at The Basement in Nashville during the AMAs in 2007.   I didn’t get to see them play then, but loved the album. So I was delighted to finally catch the band live, and even more delighted when they didn’t disappoint.   They have for the most part melodic country/pop songs some with pedal steel and were joined by Carrie Rodriguez for one number. The last two songs were a little OTT, but aside from that I really enjoyed it as did everyone else sitting around me, most of whom were new to the band.

Steve Dawson, one half of Dolly Varden was up next.    He has a wonderful soulful voice and some great songs.   He was joined on stage by a couple of friends. Firstly Jack Higgins (I think), with whom Steve had worked in the past. Great gruff voice, enjoyed his song a lot and will try to find out more (meant to ask Steve but forgot).   Edward Burch did a couple too which were also pretty good.   Steve performed some of his new songs plus a few by Dolly Varden including The Thing You Love is Killing You and The Dumbest Magnets.    Spoke to Steve afterwards and he hopes to get back to the UK sometime soon.

The next band outside were very loud, so I went indoors to find a seat in preparation for Slaid Cleaves set. Slaid was standing at the door so I had a quick chat with him and came away with a copy of his brand new CD, which is released in April. He’s planning a UK tour in the autumn.    Slaid was joined on stage by Michael O’Connor on guitar.   The set was comprised of older songs including his “big hit” Broke Down (which always reminds me of my first SXSW way back in 2001 when Slaid was the big winner at the Austin Music Awards and brought Rod Picott up on stage with him to collect the award for the Best Song – first time I’d ever heard of Rod) as well as songs from the new album including “Cry” which is a track he did live from Brand New Country back in August – liked it then, and it still sounded great.   He finished with a Don Walser song talking about how Don had been a huge influence on him. Again, brought back memories of seeing Don on that very stage back in 2001 – a sad sight as he had to be helped into his chair and couldn’t move out of it, even during the break. Glad I had a chance to see him play though.

Slaid had mentioned to me that Rod Picott and Amanda Shires were playing at Opal Divine Penn Fields at 5, so I hopped on another bus up there. I had planned to go to Threadgills for the Folk Alliance show, but…   When I arrived at the Penn Fields I found some friends I hadn’t seen all week so joined them. There were a couple on stage who sounded really good.   Apparently the artist who was billed to appear hadn’t been able to make it, so John Conquest asked the audience if there were any folk singers amongst them. This couple – Abby and Mike I think – tentatively put up their hands. They were visiting Austin and had no idea that SXSW was on, but did have guitars in their car.   It could all have been horrible, but in fact they went down really well and I wouldn’t be surprised if John invited them back!   

Rod and Amanda were up next. I’ve only ever seen them play together in that same venue early one morning during last year’s SXSW. They only had time for a handful of songs on that occasion.   This time they had 45 minutes and their set was a mixture of songs from their duets CD plus Amanda and Rod’s solo albums including Mercury, Angels and Acrobats and Workshirts and Turpentine. Their voices work really nicely together and Amanda’s fiddle playing adds a little something.   Lovely set and I’m looking forward to seeing them in Scotland in June.

I ended up staying at the Penn Fields for another couple of hours.   Saw Slaid again, slightly different set this time,

and then the music changed completely.   Larry Lange and his Lonesome Knights took to the stage. Larry was wearing the brightest shirt I’d seen all week and I was glad the sun was setting.    This really wasn’t my kind of music, even although they did it very well.    Other folk seemed to enjoy it though.    The next band were going to be more of the same, and much as I wanted to see Sarah Borges at 9pm I didn’t think I’d be able to handle another hour.   

So I went with my Aunt Nora and friend Sam down to Flipnotics, a coffee shop on Barton Springs. There’d been music there all day and when I arrived Beaver Nelson, with Scrappy Jud Newcomb, were playing in the back room. It was very hot, but, having not seen Beaver play for a few years I settled down to watch the set. It was very relaxed with quite a few jokes about the incredibly loud band playing across the street.   I didn’t know many of the songs having missed out on Beaver’s last couple of CDs, but he’s improved as a live performer. Scrappy Jud’s accompaniment, as always, worked really well.   Again, in the “olden” days I used to see Scrappy play with one band or another on an almost daily basis. Now I rarely catch him anywhere. Either he’s doing less, which is unlikely, or I’m just seeing different music now.

I ended the day as I had begun it, listening to Romantica. I only caught one song before heading home to pack.    SXSW was over for another year.

This was my first year without either a wristband or pass.   I had expected to pay to see a couple of official showcases, but the one night (Friday) when I looked to see who was playing, I saw nothing I was interested in.    Wednesday I was too tired, Thursday I had Jimmy LaFave and Saturday I didn’t even look.    SXSW was therefore a far more laid-back experience for me this year. I saw less music and visited fewer venues, but still saw some great music and bumped into most of the regulars I know who go.    There were no bands that really excited me, but almost everything I saw I enjoyed. Notable bands were Hot Club of Cowtown, Chuck Mead, Rod & Amanda, Romantica and Jimmy LaFave – the latter was probably my favourite show.    The weather was perfect this year too, not too hot and warm enough to be able to sit outside well into the night.

Would I do it without a pass again? Well, yes I think I would.   There is so much choice of unofficial stuff and parties that there’s no need to pay money for a pass.   It meant I had much earlier nights than in previous years, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. I’m usually exhausted by 10pm having been on the go all day and it was nice not to feel pressured to stay out just because I’d bought a pass and felt I needed to get my money’s worth.   

Will I come again next year? I hope so. It does of course depend on money, job etc etc, but I’d like to make it to 10 years then I’ll give it a break. There are other places I’d like to go.   I also hope to make it back to Nashville for the AMAs in September.

21 Mar 09

notSXSW Day 3

I ticked a few of the "things I always do in Austin" boxes on Friday - lunch at Wholefoods, Amy's Ice Cream (mexican vanilla with snickers crush'n) and some CD-purchasing at Waterloo Records.   I also did something I've never, in 9 years of coming done, used the buses. I've taken the (no longer) free Dillo, but never the Metro buses, no idea why, especially as it's only $1.50 for a 24 hour pass.   I pay £1.50 for a single ticket to work in Glasgow.    I've always walked everywhere here (if I couldn't persuade anyone to drive me!), but those days are over, it's buses from now on.

Anyway... I began the day with lunch at Wholefoods. I always load my platter with far too much food and it costs a fortune, but tastes great and is a tradition.   Wholefoods have live music from Australia on the patio every lunchtime, and I found a seat on a wall and listened to a young male duo called The Kin. They are brothers from Adelaide, who, I think, now live in the US.   Nice songs and some good harmonies. They handed out cards with details about 4 free song downloads, so I'll give them a listen.

After a trip to Waterloo (bought Randy Weeks, Willie and the Wheel, Phosphorescent and Landon Pigg (who sounds spookily like David Mead), I went to the Red House / Signature Sounds party at Mother Egans. Last year this was quite busy, this time there was hardly anyone there which was a real shame, especially as I arrived to see an excellent set from Eilen Jewell. If it hadn't been for the fact I recognised the songs and voice I'd have thought it was someone else. She's done an "Alison Krauss" and is no longer the shy mousey girl she was a year ago. The hair is shorter and more stylish, the flattering make-up and a much more confident performance will definitely help her to be taken seriously.    As I said great set too, a mixture of songs from the earlier albums and the forthcoming CD.   I spoke to Jim Olsen from Signature Sounds afterwards and he gave me a copy of that album as well as two other new ones - Sometymes Why and Sweetback Sisters.   It is one of my favourite labels so I presume both will be of a high standard.   

Next up was Ray Bonneville. I seem to catch him intentionally or otherwise, every year at SXSW. I've always liked his music, although it all sounds exactly the same. He was joined by the bloke who played accordion for Jimmy LaFave (foreign name didn't catch it) for a couple of songs.

The third, and last artist I saw at Mother Egans was Rosalie Sorrels. I admit, I received her CD from Red House a few months ago but have never listened.   But I will!   She's 75 years old and a proper folk singer.   There was a lot of talking between songs, mostly about her relationship with, and songs of, Utah Philips.   All quite interesting. I'm not sure I'd want to see a long set from her, but I did enjoy the 20 minutes she was given.   

There were a couple of other musicians at Mother Egans I'd have liked to have seen, but I wanted to go to Threadgills for some of the Burnside Distribution and Folk Alliance Party, so I jumped on a dillo which dropped me at the door.    I arrived at the beginning of the set from the Folk Island Review which is a European song-writing collective + Kevin Welch. He's had ties with Denmark for many years and this group have been working together off and on for a long time, in fact, they apparently released a CD a couple of years ago which I knew nothing about (will try and buy today).   Sounded very good.   But there again, I love Kevin's voice!

There were 2 stages at Threadgills which meant an almost seamless transition between bands.   Redd Volkaert was up next on the main stage. Initially he brought out the Lucky Tomlin Band for whom he plays guitar.   They were ok, but were missing Earl Poole Ball who was stuck in traffic (lots of jokes about that!).    After 2 or 3 songs, that band left the stage and were replaced by Heybale, who were much better. Earl appeared during the first song and sang the second.   I've seen Heybale a few times at the old Texas Music Cafe on South Congress - a place I have very fond memories of.    They were great, top quality honky tonk.   Finally Redd brought up his own band and did a couple of songs from his new CD.   He's a funny looking little man with pudgy fingers, but he sure knows how to play the guitar and his deep singing voice works for me.   

The final artist on the small stage was Linda McRae. Have to admit she pretty much passed me by. Nice. but nothing special.   I was looking forward to hearing Miss Leslie and Her Juke-Jointers though. I have all the CDs and, as with most honky tonk music, it's ok on CD but generally so much better live.    She did a number of songs from her new CD, most of which seemed to be about drinking,   All very enjoyable, however, this pesky cough I'm suffering from decided to over-whelm me, and I had to make a swift exit before I disrupted the proceedings. (so so irritating!!!!)

After my abrupt exit, I made my way up to South Congress and bought some ice cream to help the cough (well that was my excuse any way!), and a coffee at Jos. I sat on one of the stools facing the street and watched people go by. Ponty Bone and friends were standing next to me and I'm sure Darden Smith walked passed.    When Mark Olson and Gary Louris took to the stage I turned around and watched most of their set from where I was - my SXSW policy is, if I have a seat to stay as long as possible!    I saw them play at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass as an acoustic duo, this time around they had drums and bass, which, personally, I don't think added a huge amount especially as the Jos sound isn't brilliant. But, that said, it's always good to hear those amazing harmonies on both the new songs and some old Jayhawks tracks.   

I eventually gave up my seat and moved down towards the front and watched the last couple of songs. At this point the carpark was filling up for the Alejandro Orchestra. There was a long long intermission whilst the 16-piece band were sound-checked.   More and more people arrived. Eventually Alejandro came on stage and the show began. It was loud, very loud, but, for the first time, I'd actually remembered ear plugs which helped a little - the guy who had very rudely pushed in front of me just after the show started looked in real pain at the volume (I was wickedly pleased).   I digress.    I'm not a massive Alejandro fan and have always avoided his band shows although I have seen him with the Quartet and with only his guitarist, both very excellent shows. This time around he had the quartet, plus a 4 man horn section, drums, bass, keyboards and singers. There were some beautiful instrumentals plus great versions of two of the songs I knew and liked - Baby's Got New Plans and Rosalie.   He also did a True Believers song and one from his new CD plus others I wasn't familiar with.   He's a great performer and I can see why friends are such big fans. The band all worked well together and the sound, apart from the volume, was pretty good.    The show was filmed, there was a camera on a long lever that passed over head a number of times, a little too close for comfort sometimes!

I didn't watch the whole set, it was getting quite rocky and I'd stood for long enough. But I'm really pleased I went.   It won't convince me to do the Sunday night Continental Club show though! (not that I could this year as I have to go home tomorrow).

20 Mar 09

SXSW (or "NotSXSW") Day 2

Thursday morning I woke up refreshed and ready to go, although sadly the cough remains with me.    Beautiful sunny day in Austin, but I spent most of it indoors.   

First stop was Jovitas for Day 1 of the annual Twangfest event. 2 day of music on 2 stages.   Everything I was interested in on Thursday took place on the indoor stage - Hot Club of Cowtown, James Intveld, Howe Gelb and Chuck Mead.    I found my friend Phil and his friend Mark already there, there was even room for me where they were sitting, at the side of the stage which was perfect.    Hot Club of Cowtown began pretty much as soon as I'd sat down.   I'd seen Elana James before with her trio, and also performing with Tom Russell many years ago at Gruene Hall, but this was the first time I'd caught her band. Excellent set, Elana especially, looked really happy. The only song that didn't really work for me was a Tom Waits cover. This is the kind of music that I love seeing played live.   A few folk - mostly one man and a different woman each song, were dancing and it was the perfect way to start the day.

Next up was James Intveld. I saw him on my last Nashville trip at the AMAs, he was the "special guest" after the Glen Campbell Tribute show at the Cannery. I admit that I had been a little disappointed, expecting someone a little more "special" shall we say, and my review of his show wasn't entirely positive - and a friend/fan of James complained!   So, apologies to her, as I'm not going to be entirely positive this time either.    James isn't bad, his songs are decent, he had a good, tight band, including Lorne Rawls (Robbie Fulks, Steve Forbert and many more) on bass. He has the looks and he has the moves (definitely spend time studying Elvis), but there's something missing. I just don't engage.   The set, although enjoyable, was workman like, there was little passion or life.   Compare it to both the Hot Club of Cowtown or, later on, Chuck Mead, and James fell short.   

Next up was Howe Gelb, formerly of the alt-country band Giant Sand. I have one of their CDs - All Over The Map - which is pretty good and I was looking forward to hearing him play. Accompanied only by a stand-up bass player, he had 2 mics in front of him, one of which had all kinds of effects on it.   Initially this didn't really work, but it did get better. Although he was using an acoustic guitar, it too had a number of effects pedals so all kinds of strange noises came through it at times.   The set was a little hit or miss for me. I like Howe's singing style and some of the music was lovely.   Other bits were a little weird and didn't really work in the setting.   

The last band I saw at Jovitas were Chuck Mead and His Grassy Knoll Boys. Chuck was of course (and might still be, I don't know), singer in the band BR5-49 although he was temporarily eclipsed by the brilliance of Chris Scruggs.   I've also seen him with The Hillbilly All-Stars (Robert Reynolds, Paul Deakin, Chris Scruggs) a couple of times. He does great honky-tonk, always with a grin on his face.   Very enjoyable set. The band have a CD out soon so I'll look out for that.

We left Jovitas after Chuck's set and headed down to Threadgills for a bite to eat. James McMurtry, who came to the UK for the first time this year generating huge amounts of excitement amongst UK fans, was playing in the room next door, I could just about make out the songs.   I thought it amusing, that here, in Austin, James is just someone who plays lots of gigs, he's nothing special.   I've seen him countless times - very good, but I don't feel any great desire to see him this time around.

I did however pop into the room to catch the beginning of Ray Wylie Hubbard's set. He had his son on lead guitar (he did a pretty good job) and Rick Richards on drums.   I heard Snake Farm and Rabbit, plus a new song then left as I didn't have a seat and felt I was getting in peoples way.   

I had a ticket to see Jimmy LaFave at Threadgill's at 9pm, but having time to kill I went over to South Congress to Jos where there is always music in the carpark. They also do good coffee, so I bought a latte and found a little table and chair at the back, facing the stage (but quite a long way back, so no pictures as I didn't want to move and lose it!).    I saw the Handsome Family for the first time. I liked their last CD, although we interviewed them for Brand New Country at the time and Brett was a little weird - but there again so is their music so that shouldn't have surprised me!    This live set did nothing much for me at all. Even songs I knew and liked didn't come across too well.   They always sell out their UK shows, so I must be missing something...

Billy Joe Shaver took the stage about 20 minutes after his advertised start time. I've seen him at Jos a couple of times, most notably when Kris Kristofferson joined him for a few songs - that was a brilliant experience.   However, I've seen him a few times since then, and nothing much has changed. The PA died halfway through the first number- "Georgia on a Fast Train" but I don't think Billy Joe noticed until the song was over!    I lost interest, so had a look in at the stalls, then walked back down to Threadgills.

Gurf Morlix was the support and he too was plagued by PA problems, so much so infact that they had to stop his set for 10 minutes whilst everything was replugged.   The poor man and his band sat on the stage in the dark, but he took it pretty well!   He had a band, all of whom played percussion, which worried me a little initially.   Rick Richards who had played with Ray Wylie was on the drums and there was another young guy as well.   The set was comprised primarily of songs from Gurf's new CD "Last Exit to Happyland" and it was pretty good.   I still prefer him in his roles of producer and guitarist though.   He told a long story about Blaze Foley - it was during this that the PA packed in - played a Blaze song they'd written many years ago and followed it with a song from his album he wrote about Blaze. The audience, who were primarily locals, all seemed to know Blaze personally so this was a popular section of his show.

The first, and only time I think, that I've ever seen a full (SXSW) set from Jimmy LaFave was during one of my first visits to the Festival. It was at the Texas Music Theatre at the Cactus and his guitarist had a different guitar for each song, he'd still be sorting himself out halfway through each song, and it really spoilt the show for me.    This time however I was delighted to see that Jimmy's guitar player was the talented (and very good-looking) John Inman who I've seen with Eliza and I think with both Eliza and Jimmy at the Red House Party last year. There was also keyboards/accordion, drums (Rick Richards again) and bass/stand-up bass.    It was a wonderful set. I love Jimmy's voice. He doesn't say a whole lot, but it doesn't really matter. He's known for his Bob Dylan covers, but he re-interprets them and they sounded great, especially the extended version of Just Like a Woman which he really made his own as did the band with their long instrumental.   This was a lovely way to end the day and so much more civilised than standing in a crowded bar.   Although, that said, had I had a pass I'd have been at Antones for the Doug Sahm Tribute followed by the Continental Club for Dave Alvin and his Chris Gaffney tribute. But, I had a great night, and am definitely not complaining - Jimmy will be one of my live shows of 2009.

I should also mention that there are more photos at my Flickr site.

19 Mar 09

It’s 8.30 am and I have already travelled from Nashville to Dallas where I await my Austin connection surrounded by scrawny, hairy male musicians clutching guitars and the odd soldier To be honest I’m about ready to go back to bed, but I am looking forward to four days of great music, company and sunshine.

My all too brief visit to Nashville was as enjoyable as always although I didn’t do as much, or see as many friends as I would have liked. The fault was all mine, well actually, the fault was all the Nashville wet weather and the cute kitten I was living with, which combined gave me the worst allergies I think I’ve ever experienced – my eyes felt as though they were filled with a mixture of gravel and itching powder and I still have a killer cough which is going to really annoy everyone at SXSW (sorry, it’ll annoy me too!). Therefore I didn’t feel much like doing a lot. That said, it’s not as though I sat around feeling sorry for myself all the time. On Saturday night, after a detour to Franklin to see Lou Vargo who works at the Saffire Restaurant, I made my first visit to The Family Wash in East Nashville with my friend Colleen. Kevin Gordon was playing which gave me a good excuse to go. I tasted the famous shepherd’s pie (veggie version) – not bad, although I thought the potato topping / filling balance was a little off.   Kevin was great though and I loved the room. It was exactly as I had imagined, a real comfortable, cosy, friendly neighbourhood bar.   There were a few familiar faces there – Stephen Simmons with a group of friends, a drummer called Marty who I had met at Eric Brace’s party in March 08.   

I also spent time watching Irish musicians perform.   Belfast and Nashville are twinned, and there’s an annual Belfast-Nashville Festival in February in Belfast, which I’m ashamed to admit I’ve never yet been too.   To celebrate St Patrick’s Day the Irish came to Nashville for an event at the Belcourt Theatre. But the night before they did an in-the-round at an Irish Bar downtown where they were joined by American song-writer Mark Selby. Now, you may not know his name, but he’s famous for songs such as I Hope We Dance the mega-Lee Ann Womack hit, written with Tia Sillers as well as “There’s Your Trouble (Dixie Chicks) and Blue on Black (Kenny Wayne Shepherd) amongst others.    I actually have one of his CDs somewhere.   The Irish contingent included Bap Kennedy, Ben Glover and a lovely female singer called Eilidh Patterson.      I bumped into Korby Lenker who gave me his new CD. Nancy Griffith was in the audience.    The following night, at the Belcourt (lovely, comfortable old theatre) there were two in-the-rounds. The first Bap Kennedy, Eilidh and Ben from Northern Ireland with Gary Nicholson (another well known US song-writer) and Lee Roy Parnell. Gary’s guitar playing was great on everything. Bap performed 3 songs from his forthcoming concept CD about astronauts.   Eilidh has a love song “Still Learning” inspired by a plaque she saw in a shop and Ben was great, he did two from the excellent "The Week The Clocks Changed" and one I wasn't familiar with.   

After a short break the second in-the-round featured Nancy Griffith, Guy Clark and Irishmen Ken Haddock and Anthony Toner.   Nancy kicked off with the title track from her forthcoming album and Guy did two brand new songs, the second of which was excellent (a ghostly tale about an old guitar in a shop).   By that point my allergies were so bad that my eyes really hurt and I was finding it hard not to cough, so I left. A shame as it was very enjoyable.

Of course I also spent plenty of time at Fido, and also visited my other coffee shop Portland Brew where I met up with Jim Reilley (he’s putting together a band).   My host Tiffany was great too.

And that was pretty much it for Nashville. As I said, didn’t do a whole lot, but actually I needed the break, especially before the 4 days of madness that are SXSW.

I caught a 6am flight to Austin on the Wednesday morning, which immediately wrote me off for the day – I’m useless without sleep! However I bravely persevered and was rewarded with lovely sunny weather and some good music.   My uncle Ed and I went to Fado’s the new home for the annual Guitartown/Conqueroo Party. They had an impressive line-up but the outside space isn’t the most comfortable.   I saw Randy Weeks, who performed songs from his new CD, produced by Will Sexton, who joined him on bass. Tony Gilkyson, brother of Eliza, was on lead guitar.   Enjoyable set, better than I remember him.   

He was followed by David Olney accompanied by Sergio Webb on electric guitar. This set reminded me in many ways of James McMurtry, the same driving guitar beats.   Very different from the last time I saw David play at the ComboPlate party a few years back when he was solo acoustic.   

In need of a more comfortable setting (Ed that is, not me), we left Fado’s and went to Threadgills.   Unfortunately I missed the two acts I most wanted to see – Romantica and Amy Speace, but I did see The Winterpills (not hugely impressed) and Kaiser Cartel from New York who are a male/female duo. The guy primarily played drums, but when he picked up an acoustic guitar it sounded so much better with some lovely harmonies.   Carrie Rodriguez and Alejandro Escovedo were hanging out having a drink and watching the music.   I was ever-so-slightly interested to note that I couldn’t see a single SXSW wristband. There were a few passes, but that was it.

I had dinner with Ed and my Aunt Nora then, I’m ashamed to admit that I collapsed. Killer cough, headache and 3 hours sleep finally got the better of me. But I hope this means I’ll be ready to tackle the next 3 days.

27 Dec 08

Merry Christmas everyone!   Thanks for listening to my show, reading my blog and sending me your CDs. It's much appreciated.

Looking back on the music of 2008, I think it's been a pretty good year.   I spent hours trying to figure out my favourites and below is what I eventually came up with:

1. Justin Rutledge - Man Descending
At the end of the day, this album received the most 5 stars ratings on my ipod. Consistently good with some gorgeous songs. Can't really fault it.

2. Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicolson - Rattling Bones
Best thing Kasey's done and definitely the most rootsy. Very reminiscent of Buddy and Julie.

3. Belleville Outfit - Wanderin'
I love everything about this young band, they are talented, knowledgeable about the music and obviously love what they do.   Would I have liked it so much if I hadn't seen them live? I don't know, but it's a varied and fun album full of catchy songs.

4. Rod Picott & Amanda Shires - Sew Your Heart With Wires
I like the unfinished feel of this album. Good strong songs, nice harmonies.

5. A.H.A.B - self titled
Debut from this duo. Very strong, catchy songs. Keep coming back to it.

6. Yarn - Empty Pockets
Another strong CD, know little about them. Remind me in some ways of Tandy.

7. Fleet Foxes
What can I say that hasn't already been said? Harmonies to die for.

8. Eliza Gilkyson - Beautiful World
Maybe not her absolute best CD, but some very strong songs as usual and a fairly eclectic mix this time around.

9. Caroline Herring - Lantana
As good as her debut, if not better.

10. Jim Lauderdale & The Dream Players - Honey Songs
To be honest my most played & favourite CD of 08 is actually Jim's "Whisper" CD from the 90s - it's been in the Car CD Changer for about 2 years now and I never get sick of hearing it. This one isn't as good as that and lyrically I think it's a little weak, but it sounds great thanks to strong production and the fantastic band (James Burton, Glen D Hardin, Al Perkins amongst others).    "I'm Almost Back" with Emmylou is my song of the year.

So that's the top 10, very close contenders were:

Meg Hutchinson - Come Up Full
Kathy Mattea - Coal
The Lost Brothers - Trails of the Lonely
Mando Saenz - Bucket
Malcolm Holcombe - Gamblin' House
Jeff Finlin - Ballad of a Plain Man
Otis Gibbs - Grandpa Walked The Picket Line
Jill Barber - Chances

And, albums not yet released that would have been in my top 10...

Dallas Wayne - I'll Take The Fifth
Jim Reilley - Thank God I'm A Contrary Boy

Songs:

Jim Lauderdale w/ Emmylou Harris - I'm Almost Back
Mando Saenz - Pittsburgh
Allison Moorer - Go, Leave
Kathy Mattea - Red-Winged Blackbird
Mark Erelli - Volunteers
Capercaillie - Seinneam Cliù Nam Fear Ùr
Kasey & Shane - Wildflower & No One Hurts Up Here
AHAB - Avenues & Wish You
Justin Rutledge - Penny for the Band, Alberta Breeze
Eliza Gilkyson - Unsustainable
Tift Merritt - Broken

Gigs:

1.    Fleet Foxes – Austin City Limits - lying in the sun, with my eyes close listening to their harmonies was sublime.

2.    Carlene Carter – Grand Ole Opry Shop, Nashville & Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, San Francisco

3.    Three Women & Their Buddy – Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, San Francisco

4.    Mike Farris – Austin City Limits

5.    Belleville Outfit – Threadgills, Austin SXSW

6.    Kathy Mattea – Coal album launch gig, Station Inn, Nashville, March 08

7.    Transatlantic Sessions (featuring Mindy Smith, Joan Osbourne, Karen Matheson, Darrell Scott, Jerry Douglas & many more) – Glasgow, Jan 08

8.    Sarah Borges – Opal Divine's Playing Fields, Austin SXSW

9.    Wailin' Jennys – St Andrews in the Square, Glasgow, May 08

10. Glen Campbell Tribute (feat. Raul Malo, Jason Ringenberg, Jim Lauderdale & Glen Campbell), AMAs, Nashville Oct 08

26 Oct 08

Found this on youtube - I didn't go to this showcase as I was working and would have only caught the tail-end so I went to see Carlene Carter instead. She was wonderful, so no regrets there, but still wish I'd gotten to this one...

18 Oct 08

Monday 22 September - AMA Thoughts

                                                        
            
            
                                                                                                                

Yet another hot sunny day in Nashville - the temperature gauge in m car reached 99 Degrees yesterday - that's way too hot for a fair -skinned Scottish girl like me, but I won't complain & it's good practice for Austin at the weekend. (note to self - buy sunblock)

I've had an enjoyable couple of days since the AMAs ended. Sunday I did laundry and loaded all the CDs I've received onto my laptop then met my friend Colleen for dinner. Went to the Alley Cat (tried and enjoyed their hot fried avocado starter) and then moved to the Cheesecake Factory at Green Hills - what a selection, I felt quite sick just looking at them all. Took a while to decide which to have, went for a snickers one eventually (I love the Dairy Queen snicker's blizzard).   Suzy Bogguss passed and said hello.

Yesterday I went grocery shopping - I now have a Kroger card (thanks to a nice cashier called David from the Bahamas) - I feel like I belong now!   I then introduced a visiting musician (from Louisiana) to Fido, not sure he was as impressed by it and Hillsboro as I am though.    I'd arranged to meet friends Lou and Tiffany at a Mexican (La Paz) in Green Hills at 6, so thought this an ideal opportunity to go to the mall.   Unfortunately I'm an idiot. Even although I'd looked up how to get there from Nolensville Pike on Google Earth, and had therefore visualised the route, I went the wrong way twice, and didn't realise for ages. So I had a nice tour of a residential area off Harding and also the affluent neighbourhood of Brentwood.   Of course I did know how to get there "my" way (I65 to Wedgewood) and had I done that rather than going for the more direct route it would have taken a lot less than the 90 minutes (and 1/4 tank of gas) to arrive at my destination. And I was doing so well finding my way around town! At least that happened yesterday not tonight when I'm going to the Bluebird to see Rodney Crowell.    I only ever really drive 4 streets in Nashville - 8th Ave Sth, 12th Ave South, Demonbreun and Wedgewood - they generally can get me where I'm going.

Anyway, I digress.   Managed a brief look round the shops then met Lou and Tiffany. Good food, nice beer. As we were leaving I bumped into Lucas Kane (the uncredited 4th member of Kane Welch Kaplin) he works there when not touring. It's such a small world...   Tiffany also told me when I had mentioned I was staying with Rod and Amanda that she'd met Amanda in Houston airport whilst waiting for a flight to Nashville.   After the Mexican we drove downtown, I spotted a gas station with gas and no queue, so replenished my tank, and then met Lou and Tiffany in Robert's where John English and His Western Swingers were playing their regular monday night slot. The bar was mobbed with elderly people from Kansas (or Kansas City - which I was informed isn't actually in Kansas - I didn't know that).    I love listening to the old-time western swing music and this band do it really well. As do the Time Jumpers who also have a regular Monday night slot, at The Station Inn. We went there next.   Didn't stay for too long but, again, brilliant musicians - all 10 of them - playing classic country and taking turns on vocals.   Good crowd there too.   We were some of the youngest again though!   It's great that there are still bands championing classic country and an audience who enjoys it.

Everyone I've met over the past few days has asked for my AMA highlights - obvious question I suppose.    For the most part I enjoyed almost everything I saw with few stand-out performances.    The Levon Helm Ramble on the Road, was definitely one show that I'll remember for a long time, and everyone I've spoken to who went are in agreement.    Levon is a living legend and talented musician.   You could see the love and respect all the other contributors to the show had for him and his enjoyment to be performing.   He doesn't look well, he's skinny and very pale, so who knows how long he's going to be with us.    Still, ill or not, he puts on a great show.

The other show that moved me was Carlene Carter. She played London recently (too far for me to go), and they had to change the venue because of poor ticket sales. Incredible. Not only is she a member of the country "royal" family, but she's a great performer. I wish she'd been given a venue more appropriate than the shop at the Country Music Hall of Fame - playing surrounded by t-shirts seemed a little insulting. However, her performance had real emotion, even if I hadn't known of everything she's been through, I'd still have been moved.   Her stories about her family were filled with love and sadness and her self-deprecating humour when talking about her own problems was endearing.   Not only that but she's a great singer and not a bad guitar player.    She's performing at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, so I'll definitely see her again - and shame on all those Londoners who didn't go buy a ticket to see her! I wish we'd had her on Brand New Country.

The other topic of conversation post AMAs has been about the AMAs themselves. Apparently only 10% of those who apply for showcases are successful, and most of those are established bands in the AMA world - for me at least, there was very little opportunity to discover new music, I'd heard most of these bands live, or on CD before.   Girls, Guns and Glory were new to me, and I liked them a lot, there were a couple on at the Basement I didn't know (didn't see them so can't comment on how good they were), but that's pretty much it.    As far as I am aware the AMA was set up to help promote "Americana" as a genre and to aid the musicians, most of them independent.    I think my problem with the Conference is that, although the panels are there to assist the musicians, the music is all about those who have made it.   And yes, it makes for good evening entertainment, but it almost gives the wrong message - especially to those struggling musicians who feel that they are being side-lined. I know why the AMA do it, and can understand their motives - obviously they want people talking about Americana Music, they want it covered in the press, and there's no better way of doing that than by bringing in the big shooters, although I draw the line at Billy Bob Thornton's band The Boxsters - there was nothing Americana about them and, yes, they have a fan base, and BBT will bring in an audience, but that was a cop-out.   When we interviewed Marty Stuart for Brand New Country in March Bryan asked him if he now considered himself to be Americana. His reply was "Americana is the place country musicians now go if they want to be credible" - so true.   Country music as a genre has been taken over by pop/rock singers wearing cowboy hats to such an extent that real country has been pushed out and those people need somewhere to go. But again, this is, to some extent then having an effect on those that the Americana Music Association was set up to champion - the independent artists are now finding themselves competing with names such as Alison Krauss and Robert Plant, the big winners at the awards this year.    I suppose it's the same with any organisation or label, once it is recognised and respected everyone wants to join the club.   This isn't to say that I think the AMA is doing a bad job, I do believe it is an organisation made up of people who really do care about the music. They have to do what ever it takes to survive but just so long as they don't end up alienating those they are supposedly out to support.      One thing I love about the americana music community, and this was evident this week, is that people be they musicians, promoters, labels etc are in it because they are passionate about the music. Few are actually doing this for the money - there isn't a lot to be made. Therefore there's an enthusiasm and passion that permeates the AMAs and it's great.    Regardless of my slight concerns, this is an event that I will continue to support and will do my utmost to return next year.

Saturday 27 September - Goodbye Nashville & Hello Austin City Limits

                        <>I said a tearful goodbye to Nashville yesterday and flew to Austin for the City Limits festival.    My last couple of days in Nashville were fairly relaxed. Went to the Bluebird on Tuesday night to see the Rodney Crowell Trio which featured Rodney, Will Kimbrough (acoustic guitar and banjo) and Jenny Scheinman (fiddle and mandolin). I had a seat at the bar which was a pretty good place to be sitting, the band were set up at one side of the room rather than in the middle as is the norm. It was a relaxed affair, Rodney would do a few then invite "Brother" Will and Jenny to perform a song apiece. Rodney began with a selection from his new album Sex and Gasoline (good title given the lack of gas in Nashville) before moving on to songs from the previous three including Fate's Right Hand, The Houston Kid, I Wish It Would Rain and many more.    The trio worked well as a unit although Jenny had only met Rodney and Will a few days earlier - she did some lovely fidde solos. Rodney completely forgot the words to one song and had to take the lyric sheet from Jenny's music stand and ask a member of the audience to hold it up in front of him.    Very enjoyable show, my only problem with it was the length - two and a half hours without a break, which was about half an hour too much.

Oh yes, when Rodney first introduced Will he observed that Will had copied the picture of John Hartford that was on the wall behind him - very true, both had the same hairstyle and outfit - at one point Will even played the banjo.   Excuse the quality of the photo - I forgot my camera so this was taken with my camera phone...



Other than that I went for a short hike round Radnor Lake with my friend Colleen and met my English/Irish friend Eamon for a drink on Wednesday evening.    I was sad to say goodbye to Nashville, I'd made myself so at home at Rod and Amanda's I almost decided to move in!   

I arrived in Austin early evening yesterday, good to see my Aunt, Nora, and cousin, Maggie.   Nora and I went for cocktails (I had a couple of Mango Coconut Mojitos) and I then watched the first episode of the new series of Grey's Anatomy, which reminded me why I don't watch TV over here (I still can never get over quite how many commercial breaks there are).

Today was the first day of the three day Austin City Limits Festival. Now in its Seventh Year it is attended by approx 60,000 people!   Just as well Zilker Park is huge. I was a little concerned about the temperature and sun, but it was a mere 90 degrees, and I stayed in the shade between shows so escaped virtually unburnt.    Festivals like this one aren't my ideal way of seeing music, there is little intimacy, the crowds are huge and not everyone is listening. That said, I saw some good music especially early on in the day.

The first band on the AMD stage were Asleep At The Wheel who apparently open that stage every year.    I'd never seen them live before and it was an enjoyable set featuring everything you'd expect to hear including Route 66 and Miles and Miles of Texas. There were twin fiddles, one of which was played by a very young girl, pedal steel and keyboards.   A very pregnant and almost unrecognisable Elizabeth McQueen was on acoustic and harmony / some lead vocals.   





I then walked to the AT&T stage which was a long long way away, to see Rodney Crowell again.   Rodney sporting a hat, grinned throughout the set and was again joined by Will and Jenny.   They did a great version of Fate's Right Hand, and even with an acoustic guitar Will rocked.   Rodney almost forgot the words to a song again.   Not such an intimate performance as the Bluebird obviously, but enjoyable none the less and considerably shorter!





There was an hour until the next band that interested me, so I sat in the shade of a tree and read some of Levon Helm's autobiography which a number of folk suggested I read after I'd said how good his show at the Ryman had been. Very interesting and easy to read. I then went and watched Jakob Dylan, Bob's son and former singer with the Wallflowers.   He is the spitting image of his father and sounds a little like him. I wasn't familiar with his solo material but it was good, and I'll probably buy the CD.
Oh yes, they had something at the AT&T stage that I've never seen before - someone signing to the music.



It was only when I turned to leave this stage that I realised just how many people were now in the park, and it was to get much busier a bit later. I spent a bit more time camped under a tree in the shade and then went to see Patty Griffin. There was a big crowd here, but I got down to the left hand side of the stage and had an ok view. Patty is very skinny, almost too skinny, but what an amazing voice. This definitely wasn't the best setting in which to see her, but it was good to hear songs such as Heavenly Day, Up High on That Mountain and Chief.    She had a 4 piece band including Doug Lancio on guitar.



I then met up with my friend Ted, who is playing on Sunday with Shooter Jennings. He managed to sneak me backstage for a bit, and we were therefore able to travel around the perimeter on little carts - much more civilised than trying to make my way through all the chairs, blankets and people in the main area!   We watched a bit of Jenny Lewis, which I enjoyed a lot. I only know the single from the new CD, but it all sounded good.



We also watched a little of Ryan Bingham before someone noticed I only had a general entry wristband and was thrown out of the backstage area.   So we had to watch David Byrne from the park - the crowd was huge by this point and we were really far back. Fortunately they do have very clear screens at each side of the major stages. David and his band were all dressed in white - there were dancers and singers galore - quite a show.

Once he'd finished, I called it a day.   It might have been a lot cooller than last year but it had still been too hot for me. So I went home (only a 20 minute walk fortunately) and watched the Presidential Debate - I was impressed by Obama and got a little sick of John McCain talking about himself.

Tomorrow's ACL lineup isn't very exciting, although it ends with Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. Plus Fleet Foxes play.

Sunday 28 September - Austin City Limits

                                

I'm not sure ACL is really for me, there are just too many people and it's too hot for me - not that that came as a surprise!

I got there early because I wanted to see Bonnie Bishop whom I had met in Nashville at the Basement on Saturday, she gave me her new CD which is produced by Will Kimbrough.    She played the BMI stage which is one of the smaller ones, and there was a manageable crowd at this time of the day (11.15). Bonnie has a strong voice, her music is part country, part blues, part soul. I'd say she has a good chance of being very successful and could be embraced by the commercial country market.    Enjoyable.



I then wandered over to the Dell Stage and caught a little of Langhorne Slim. Having listened to a little of his music on myspace earlier that day I expected something a little more singer-songwriterish, but he's actually quite a high-energy showman on stage, jumping about and entertaining the audience.    Not bad.



Fleet Foxes were on at 1.30 at the AMD stage so I headed in that direct at about 1.10 and caught a little of Mugison who is an icelandic singer.   One song was great, but no idea what it's called.    He has an album with the great title of Mugaboogie.

Fleet Foxes were definitely the highlight of the day for me. I've seen them before (ABC, Glasgow) so knew what to expect. They wandered onto the stage on time and rather than go straight into a song started joking with each other about the american economy, the drummer said he'd like to be a bank and how it was good to know that banks weren't any better at managing money than people.    They then burst into a 3-part harmon a-cappella song which was just stunning.    I stood close to the stage for the first couple of songs, but then moved to the back, put down my rug and lay just listening and letting the music wash over me (probably the reason my nose is burnt!). Sounded wonderful.   Aside from their amazing harmonies what endears me most to this band is their attitude, they are just a bunch of ordinary young guys with no pretensions.   Their joking with each other and the audience feels really genuine.    They are definitely a band for whom the hype is justified.





The Fratellis, with the stage draped in Scottish flags were on the neighbouring stage next. There was a large crowd gathered for that one, but I heard the beginning of the first song and decided Scottish or not, they weren't for me so I had some lunch (pulled pork sandwich from the Stubbs stall).    I'm very impressed by how cheap the food and drink is at ACL.   Little costs more that $7 or $8, the burrito I had on Friday was only $4, and beers are $4 for 12oz and $8 for 24oz - in the UK we pay at least the same in pounds.    It's all very well organised too.

I checked out Jose Gonzalez but he was too lo-fi for the crowd and I couldn't hear much - definitely more suited to an intimate listening space.    I sat in the shade until the Band of Heathens, one of Austins most talked about bands. I'd seen them at SXSW a couple of times in 2007 and know Colin Brookes one of the singer/guitarists.   There are in fact three vocalists/song-writers/guitarists and they may not have the killer harmonies of Fleet Foxes but they put on a good show.   



It was only mid-afternoon when they finished, but I was finished too. The park was mobbed, there was nothing that interested me for the next 3 hours and I couldn't face hanging around. I decided to go home for a couple of hours and once I managed to negotiate my way to the exit (a challenge in itself) I was amazed at how many people were still arriving.    I never made it back, Alison and Robert play Hardly Strictly Bluegrass so I'll see them there, and there wasn't anything else I was desperate to see. Caught up with my 13 year old niece Maggie instead.

I'm heading back there now though as the Belleville Outfit play at 12.30 and I think they're great. Plan on staying until 6.30.

Will write more this evening or once I'm settled in in San Francisco where I go tomorrow.

        

Monday 29 September - Austin City Limits

   
                                                                                                                

ACL wasn't quite so busy today. When I've been to festivals in the UK & Ireland the main problem has always been mud. I have never been to a festival where it hasn't rained heavily for the majority of the event, until ACL that is. Here the problem was the exact opposite - dust caused by lack of rain.   There were people with all kinds of solutions to this problem from what almost looked like a gas mask, to surgical masks and bandanas tied over their mouths.   I had none of those things and will probably be coughing up dust for some time to come! Still, better than rain and mud.   Hopefully HSB will have neither of those problems. It definitely won't be so hot.

There weren't very many bands I had an interest in seeing today.   First was the Belleville Outfit. Readers of this blog or listeners to my radio shows will know I'm a huge fan of this young band.   It was early, they were on the smallest stage, the BMI Stage, and the audience was manageable. Great set. They are all good musicians who play off each other well, and are obviously enjoying themselves - as you can see from the photos most of them have huge grins on their faces whilst performing - I like that. The set was comprised of some songs from their debut album "Wanderin'" as well as a number of others. Warren Hood came on for the last couple.   





I remained by the BMI stage when they'd finished as a found a tree to lean on in the shade. I settled down to read a little more of Levon Helm's autobiography which I'm really enjoying. A guy passed and commented on the fact I was at a music festival and reading a book - "did I play guitar in the library?", I responded that at least it was a book about music.    My peace and quiet was rudely interrupted by a horrible noise coming from the Dell Stage - a band called the Octopus Project. Not sure how to describe their sound except that I hated it.    So I bought an Amy's ice cream and went to the WaMu Tent (it's the only stage that is in a tent so it's out of the sun which is great). There were seats there so I settled down and waiting for Mike Farris.

I've talked about Mike on here before. I saw him do Green Green Grass of Home at the Porter Wagoner tribute show at the AMAs last October - a spine-tingling performance. I immediately went to Grimey's and bought his album "Salvation in Lights". I saw a full set at Antone's in March which was great, but this was better, don't know why, maybe it was the heat and the sheer number of people around me, all moved by the performance and music.   He had a full horn section, Eric Holt and the McCrary Sisters on vocals (also on Buddy Miller's Universal United House of Prayer") who have the most powerful voices.   There's something so intense and riveting about Mike's performance, he really lives the music. Now, I'm not religious, and I'm not really into gospel music, however Mike moved me.   Don't know quite why.    There is talk of him coming to the UK, but whether anyone will pay enough for him to bring his band, or if it will be solo is yet to be decided - either way, if you get a chance to see him please go, you won't regret it.





So, I'd seen two of my 2008 favourites, what could follow it? Well, nothing quite like that, that's for sure.    I spent a little time with Ted from Shooter Jenning's band and then stayed at the WaMu stage to see them perform. They started a bit late and some of the audience were getting a bit restless, but they still did an hour.   Shooter has released 3 albums, they each have a mixture of country and rock on them, I like the country stuff, not so keen on the rest.   The band looked like a hard rock outfit with long hair (except Ted and the drummer). At one point the guitarist, temporarily sporting a cowboy had played an orange flying v guitar. It all reminded me of the days (many years ago) when I was a Whitesnake fan although it wasn't quite that heavy. It was ok, although not really my thing.   There was a lot of posturing about the stage doing rock star poses and head shaking. The audience loved it though, especially when Shooter fell out with his keyboards because they weren't working correctly, so he picked them up and threw them across the stage... what can I say...





I said goodbye to Zilker Park at this point and dragged my weary body home. Now I have to pack for San Francisco.    I'm going to be a tourist for a few days which I won't bore you with (probably) and then it's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Fri-Sun (then I have to go home :o( )

oh yes, there are plenty more photos from the AMAs and ACL at Flickr if you're interested.

Saturday 4 October - San Francisco & Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

                                                                                                                

I've now been in San Francisco for a few days, doing the tourist thing.   Went on a day trip to Yosemite which consisted primarily of driving there and back with a mere 3 hours in the park, not enough time to really do it justice, but great to get a taster.   The scenery is quite spectacular. I must go and stay there sometime for a couple of nights to see it properly.





I rented a bike for 3 days partly because it seemed a good way to get around but primarily because after 2 weeks for the most part eating poorly, I desperately needed the exercise.    San Francisco is a perfect size for biking, only slight drawback are the hills – and there are a lot of them!   I struggled up quite a few.   That said, I went over the Golden Gate Bridge, explored both the Presidio and Golden Gate Parks and the waterfront.    I now have legs of steel!

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass began yesterday afternoon. MC Hammer did a kids thing which I didn't attend. I just went along for Alison Krauss and Robert Plant who I had missed in Austin.      HSB is a free festival, set in Golden Gate Park (which is huge), there are 5 stages spread over quite a considerable area.    Unlike ACL there is no alcohol sold in the grounds, but you can bring it in.    I was worried any beer I took might get warm, but, typically, the temperature, which was about 80 has dropped to 60!   (one day I'll go to a festival with perfect conditions…)       Last night they were only using the Banjo Stage. I caught a bus there which conveniently goes from outside my hotel via the Bridge to the park.   I arrived about 15 minutes before A & R were due to play.    I couldn't believe how many people there were.    ACL had 60,000 but they were spread between different stages, here everyone was at the one stage and there can't have been many less than 50,000.    At ACL there were screens to the side of most stages for those at the back, they don't have that here. I got myself close enough so that the band were bigger than ants.    I was impressed by the sound quality and the band were excellent.   I find it hard to take Robert Plant seriously – with his big hair and at times Led Zeppelin voice.   But it was a very enjoyable show.    They did a few together, then Robert introduced Alison who sang a couple. They did a few more, T-Bone Burnett did one and then Alison did a couple more.   Buddy Miller was there too but I couldn't really see him.   (He wasn't wearing his usual uniform of baseball cap and denim shirt though – he had on a brown hat and red jacket).      I left after an hour because I was concerned that too many of the audience would want to catch the same bus as me and I had no idea how else to get back.   



It's quite cool today, but I'm looking forward to some great music.    Initial choice is between Tift Merritt and Carlene Carter.   There's also Three Women and Their Buddy [Miller], Nick Lowe, Mark Olson and Gary Louris and so much more.

Sunday 5 October - HSB

                                                                                                                

Before I tell you who I did see, these are some of the artists I didn't - Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Tift Merritt, Bad Livers, Waco Brothers, Richard Thompson, Mike Farris, Joe Purdy, Desert Rose Band, Laurie Lewis and Peter Rowan.    That should give you some idea of what sort of choices I had to make. It's incredible to think that this festival is free. Today cost me the princely sum of $15 (+ flights from Scotland and hotels....). I am also encouraged by how many people, of all ages turn out to watch the music, most of whom surely haven't heard of many of the musicians.

I woke up to rain (well more like drizzle) this morning and the lowest temperature I've experienced since arriving in the US three weeks ago. Typical I thought. It was still raining when I arrived at the Park and settled down to watch Carlene Carter on the Rooster Stage.    I had so enjoyed her set in Nashville that I was keen to see her play somewhere more suitable than the Country Music Hall of Fame Shop.   She had a full band this time, different musicians from Nashville.   Again, I loved her set.   As I observed before there is something moving about her performance, but at the same time quite uplifting.   When she laughed I couldn't help but laughing with her, and I found myself smiling throughout the 45 minute set.   She performed similar songs to last time, primarily from her most recent release Stronger but also Dixie Darlin' and Ring of Fire. Again she mentioned all her many husbands and noted that husband no 3,Nick Lowe, was on the bill later that day. By the time Carlene finished the rain had gone and the sun was shining.   The temperature for the rest of the day was much higher than forecast and damn near perfect.





Carlene was swiftly followed by Guy Clark and Verlon Thompson. Guy starts by saying that there's no running order and he has no idea what will happen - he say that every time I see him and then does almost exactly the same sequence of songs... That said it's very good.    He's not looking too well though.





The line up on the Rooster Stage was about as good as it gets and I had a great view point close to the front.   Up next were former Jayhawks Mark Olson and Gary Louris who are about to release an album together (it's very good if not quite Jayhawks standard).    They had no band but it didn't really matter because as soon as they opened their mouths and those famous Jayhawks harmonies came out it just felt right. They are two halves of a whole, and their work apart can never compete. They did a few old Jayhawks songs as well as some from the new album. All sounded great except for Blue where Gary's harmonies just didn't come out right.





I had a dilemma during Gary and Mark's set - did I stay where I was, enjoying the show with Nick Lowe coming next, or did I brave the crowds and go see Three Women and their Buddy (the three women were Patty Griffin, Emmylou Harris and Shawn Colvin with Buddy Miller). Given that that was a show I had wanted to see since their US tour was announced the year before, I had to go see it.

(The major bug-bear I have with HSB is chairs and ground sheets.   It's a bit like the joke about Germans and beach towels. Even when I arrived relatively early, the area in front of the rooster stage was strewn with chairs and sheets, but very few people - they'd staked their claim then gone somewhere else leaving little room for those who actually wanted to see the show. In Austin there were no chair zones in front of the stages and this worked well.)

Anyway, I digress.   In order to get reasonably close to the banjo stage for the show I had to weave and jump over people, dogs, children, bikes, pushchairs, as well as trailers containing food and drink.   I made it to the sound desk eventually and was so glad I'd come.   They were sitting in a row on the stage - Patty, Emmylou, Buddy then Shawn, and treated it as an in-the-round taking turns at singing. (I'd love to see this show at The Bluebird) They were obviously very comfortable with each other and, as with all the best in-the-rounds there was chat and jokes between them as well as harmonies on each others songs. Having Buddy to play guitar was a big plus too (he sang his songs as well).   I heard Buddy do Shelter From The Storm and Wide River To Cross, Emmylou did a song her daughter wrote (she was sitting at the side of the stage and came out to give a bow - looks nothing like her mother) and Boy From Tupelo, Patty did a Lefty Frizzel song and ended the show with Mary. I wasn't familiar with Shawn's two but liked them both.   I was slightly distracted for a while when a security guard confiscated someone's video camera and then spent the next 10 minutes trying to figure out with the help of other security people how to delete the contents.



That was quite possibly the best show of the day, but there was much more good music to come. I fought my way back to the Rooster Stage for Nick Lowe.   He was playing solo and has to get top marks for fitting as many songs as possible into his time slot.   He was dressed in a brown cashmere jumper which he admitted had been a really bad idea and that it reminded him of a Jim Lauderdale joke about George W Bush going to a kd lang show (can't remember the punchline, I'm useless with jokes). Brought back memories of jim doing an overlong joke about Nick Lowe.   Nick's a class act, it was the first time I'd ever seen him perform. There were songs from his most recent CD "At My Age" although he forgot the words to one of my favourites, there was also of course "What's So Funny 'Bout Peace Love and Understanding".





I did a bit of wandering about after that, saw a little bit of Jerry Jeff Walker (well strictly speaking I heard a bit, I couldn't see anything). I then went to the Star Stage and caught some of the Del McCoury Band, they kicked into Vincent Black Lightning as I arrived.   I then returned to the Rooster Stage for the las 20 minutes of Dave Alvin and The Guity Women who were doing one of my favourites as I arrived - Ashgrove.   The "Guilty Women" I knew were (unsurprisingly) Cindy Cashdollar on steel, Lisa Pankratz on drums, Susan Brown on Bass plus Amy Farris on fiddle and Laurie Lewis also on fiddle.    They played for 15 minutes after their scheduled time so I caught more of their set than anticipated. I was too far away for decent photos though.

Next up on that stage was Robert Earl Keen, Steve Earle and His Bluegrass Dukes closed out the main stage.   I decided I'd had enough (I'm not a Steve Earle fan) although I did linger at the Porch Stage for a few minutes listening to the quite beautiful sound of the John Jorgenson Quartet - a civilised way to end the day.



So that was Day 2. Very impressive. I'm still not a fan of outdoor festivals, but I can't complain about the quality of the music or the sound. As I said I'm delighted so many people are coming out to hear this music.   Looking forward to tomorrow, my last full day in the US (sob)) Have to start a little later as I need to check in to my flights at 11.30 to secure exit row seats.

                                                      

Monday 6 October - HSB

                                               

I'm sitting at Newark airport, doesn't seem like 3 weeks since I spent a good few hours here, I looked at the Departures board and saw "my" flight to Nashville... oh well, it's been a great few weeks and I suppose I have to go home sometime (I am looking forward to seeing friends and family again and Edinburgh).   I've paid for an hour's internet, so need to type quick!

Sunday started a little slowly as I had to wait until 11.35 for 24-hour check-in to my flights home. Managed to get exit row on the transatlantic leg, so it was semi-successful.    Then headed straight to Golden Gate Park. The sun was shining again.

Missed Kane Welch Kaplin, but I've seen them before, so paused at the Porch stage and caught a little of a band from Scandinavia I think called Red Wine.    Then watched Hazel Dickens briefly on the Banjo Stage.    I then headed to the Rooster Stage for Bonnie Prince Billy. I've seen him do a one song guest spot at Celtic Connections in the past but that's it. For the most part I find his CDs a little odd and inaccessible (with the exception of the magnificent "Agnes, Queen of Sorrow") so I wasn't sure what to expect.   I was pleasantly surprised, this was an accessible set, quite traditional in feel. Will Oldham was quite chatty and although he is quite strange I enjoyed it much more than I had expected. He expressed his amazement at how many quality musicians were taking part in the Festival.





I watched about 30 minutes of his set, then returned to the Banjo stage for Dr Ralph Stanley.   I couldn't see very much as I'd gone down to the front and was to the side of the stage - there was an area in front clear but you were only permitted to go there to take some photos (which I did obviously).   He sang Man of Constant Sorrow and a number of others as well as letting other band members sing. Laurie Lewis was there too. At one point Ralph talked about how he used to play the banjo and brought it out for 1 song.   Good to finally see Dr Ralph play. I'm not a huge fan, but he is a significant figure and held in high regard by so many people.





Again, didn't stay for his whole set, but went to the Star Stage (I think) for Elvis Costello.   Almost everyone else had the same idea, but I managed to hop and weave my way down to about 50 feet from the stage and had a pretty good view.    Elvis' band included Bill Kirchen on guitar and Fats Kaplin on peddle steel and fiddle. After 3 or so songs Jim Lauderdale joined him on harmony vocals and acoustic which of course pleased me.   He sang a Robert Hunter co-write that I wasn't familiar with.    I'm not hugely familiar with Elvis' output but this was a fairy rootsy set without too many of his big hits, there was Radio Sweetheart (first song he wrote apparently), What's So Funny 'Bout Peace Love and Understanding, and a nice version of Love Hurts with Emmylou Harris joining him on stage. The Welsh Male Voice Choir came on with him for the encore. His two little sons were hanging around at the side of the stage too.





This was a long set, over an hour but I thought it great. When it was finished I went back to the Banjo Stage for Ricky Skaggs. Pretty much what you'd expect for Ricky.   



I'm zooming through this now as my hour is almost up.   Closing the Festival on the Banjo Stage, having played at every one of the 8 HSB Festivals was Emmylou Harris. Same band I saw her with in Glasgow a few weeks ago, with the exception that she was joined by Tift Merritt for a song (surprised me a little this).





I again left before the end, and popped to the Rooster Stage for a little of Iris Dement. She was solo, playing the piano, but miles away. So I didn't stick around.   Shame, as I'd liked to have seen more.

Will write my thoughts and trip highlights once I've had time to digest everything. Suffice to say though that I've had a brilliant 3 weeks.

21 Sep 08

I'm back in the US for a three week tour of music festivals - The Americana Music Conference in Nashville, Austin City Limits and finally, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. So I hope you stick around to read my daily(ish) blogs on what I'm doing...

I arrived in Nashville late Monday evening. It was a long but painless journey. Immigration took almost no time which was great, although it didn't really matter as I had 6 hours until my connecting flight. (I heartily recommend the Continental President's Lounges though to kill time in comfort free drink and wifi).

Tuesday was a relatively quiet day. I collected my hire car, navigated to where I was staying caught up with my hosts Rod and Amanda and their other house guest Brenda, and then went to Portland Brew to meet up with my good friend Jim Reilley. Great to be back!   We spent some time catching up and he also procured for me CDs from various customers and staff in the cafe - everybody has a CD!

Tuesday night we all sat in the house, drank wine and shared music. Brenda told me about a young guy called Anthony Da Costa who sounds great (and is only 17) and a band, Red Molly - also good. So I'll try and get hold of their CDs when I have a second.   

Wednesday was AMA registration day, but I never feel as though I'm back in Nashville until I've had a burrito at Fido.   Brenda had never been, so I suggested we head there for lunch.   She liked it, I love it. I now felt complete (and very full)!

I'd arranged to interview The Belleville Outfit at 3. If you read my SXSW blog entries from March you'd have heard me speaking of them. They played Threadgills one afternoon. I'd gone to see Bruce Robison and Eliza Gilkyson, but the sun was shining and I had a little time to kill before the next show on my schedule so stuck around. I loved their set. They are a young band of 6 whose music is a mixture of country, western-swing, jazz, pop and much more.   I've been playing their CD a lot over the past 6 months both on my radio shows and for pleasure.   Anyway, I met Pheobe Hunt and Rob Teter from the band at the Convention Centre and we recorded a half hour interview which I'll package together and put out on TMTHT and CMR Nashville on my return.   They are interesting, enthusiastic, intelligent people who clearly love what they do and know a lot about the music they play.   Check them out if you haven't had a listen.

The main event on Wednesday was the Levon Helm Ramble on the Road show at the Ryman Auditorium. Although this was billed as part of the AMAs it wasn't a free event, but I had decided it was worth the money as he is one of the surviving members of The Band.   It took an age for the show to start as it was being filmed for a DVD, so the audience were all asked to clap and give standing ovations to provide footage to edit into the concert.   Eventually Levon and his band took to the stage introduced by Billy Bob Thornton. Levon on drums. I have no idea who much of the core band were (there were 9 of them), but the band leader was Larry Campbell. There was also keyboards/piano/accordion and 4 part brass section, 2 female singers/guitarists and double bass.   Levon didn't look great, he's very skinny and looks older than his 68 or so years.   His singing voice, as a result of cancer of the vocal chords, wasn't great but it didn't really matter.   He sang a couple then Larry began inviting various guests onto the stage.   First up to perform 2 songs was Little Sammy Davis (not the rat pack Sammy Davis but a blues harpist). Then we had Buddy Miller who sang Wide River To Cross, a song Levon covers on his Dirt Farmer CD, and Sam Bush. The two of them remained on the stage for much of the concert.    Surprise guests Alison Krauss and Robert Plant were next - Alison is so skinny, but looked great.   Over the next hour or so Levon was also joined by Sheryl Crow, Delbert McClinton, Billy Bob Thornton and John Hiatt. For the encore - The Weight - Levon invited Steve Earle and Allison Moorer to join in. Allison looked stunning, dressed in black with her blond hair shoulder-length and straightened. Steve on the other hand...

It was an excellent night's entertainment. I suppose you could compare it in style to The Last Waltz, but with different contributors and fewer Band songs. Levon smiled throughout, switching between drums and mandolin. There were a few Band songs and some from Dirt Farmer, which definitely sounded better live than on the album.    There were numerous standing ovations, but that may have been as much a reaction to the hard Ryman seating as anything else.

They were being really strict about photos, so I only managed a couple before I was told off and they're not very good. But I'd definitely recommend watching the DVD when it's finally released.








The show finished at 10ish and I bumped into some Irish friends. We all went to The Station Inn where the Steeldrivers were playing at Midnight. The Randy Kohrs band performed in the 11pm slot and were great, not what I had expected. My only knowledge of Randy is that he produced and performed dobro on Jim Lauderdale's two bluegrass albums, so I was expecting something more in line with that. However his set was much more edgy than that, tougher I suppose would be a good word. 6 piece band - double bass, banjo, fiddle, dobro, fiddle and drums (the latter aren't very bluegrass), and it worked very well.   

The Steeldrivers took to the stage at midnight. It wasn't the most auspicious of starts because they didn't bother to sound-check. They do the performing around one mic thing, but the mic didn't work properly and they gave up after a short burst of the first song.   Once a new mic had been sourced they began again and it was a very enjoyable set. The band is comprised of a bunch of long-time Nashville session players including Mike Henderson, Tammy Rogers and Chris Stapleton who takes lead vocal duties.    I can't quite describe their music, it's country, it's bluegrass, it's bluesy in places, but it's great to listen to. They did all my favourites from the CD so it was a nice way to end the day.

So... things have started well.   Today I plan to go listen to some of the panels, hear some music at the Convention Centre and go to the Compass Records party to see The Bittersweets. Then it's back to the unforgiving seats at The Ryman for the Awards show and finally a Jerry Garcia Tribute show at the Cannery.    I'm exhausted just thinking about it!

Thursday

I'm currently sitting at Audio Productions on Music Row listening to Kathy Mattea and Bill Cooley sound-check for a live insert into the Ricky Ross Another Country show on Radio Scotland - I'm the other guest on the show, but I'm not singing!    Next door Bob Harris has just interviewed Chris Knight and Suzy Bogguss - Suzy and I stood looking at each other trying to remember when we'd met (it was Celtic Connections in January).   

But that's today... lots to get through from yesterday yet.   I had an early start because I wanted to get to the seminar on radio promotion hosted by Jenni Finlay who is an Austin based promoter who works with artists like Sam Baker and Rachel Harrington. Really interesting panel and I definitely learned some things. I'm planning to do some radio promotion so it was useful.

Next I went down to the Listening Lounge for Freedom Songs. This is a multimedia presentation hosted by the First Amendment Centre and featured Bill Lloyd, Don Henry, Jonell Mosser, Jackie Patterson, Jason White and Craig Kampf. They performed songs that had at one time been banned, censored or served as social anthems in America to tell the story of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment. It was really good. The artists had all toured with Freedom Songs so were familiar with the songs.   We heard them do all kinds of songs including a poem written about 4 girls killed at Sunday School put to music which was very moving.   Jason White did Red Ragtop which caused a fuss when covered by Tim McGraw for mentioning abortion.    Good show - entertaining but informative.



I met a friend for lunch - went to Jacks barbeque on Broadway, Buddy Miller was in the queue ahead of us. I had pulled pork with 2 sides.   Good. You don't get that at home.

Next it was back to the Listening Room for an in the round hosted by Peter Cooper and also featuring Tift Merritt, Julie Lee and Casey Driessen. I really like these in-the-round shows, they are so relaxed and all the artists seem to enjoy themselves and are quite chatty and open with the audience and each other. Tift did some songs from Another Country including Broken, Peter did one I wasn't familiar with, but also performed 715 (For Hank Aaron). Casey accompanied Julie Lee on her songs, and he did a beautiful very sad sounding fiddle instrumental.   Again - great show.





I took a little time out after that before going to the Compass Record Party where The Bittersweets and The Waybacks performed on the 4th Floor patio of a high-rise bank.    I've played songs from The Bittersweet's first album on TMTHT, and from what I've heard from the new one it's going to be great - their songs are rootsy but very accessible.   I was talking to the keyboard/song-writer in the band after their set and again, we looked at each other and tried to figure out where we'd met before - it was at The Basement here in Nashville at the AMAs last year when we sat with mutual friends and had a couple of beers - I'd completely forgotten about that!



I've mentioned The Waybacks before, I saw them at SXSW last year and loved their set - it was during the St Patrick's Day festivities at Mother Egans. They now have Warren Hood - singer, Song-writer, fiddle and mandolin player in the band and he, combined with the guitar and singing skills of James Nash are a killer combination. Doesn't quite translate onto CD, although the most recent is pretty good. They played here too for about half an hour, and it was another impressive set from them.






I'm back in Fido for dinner - pulled smoked turkey with corncakes (which were small pancakes with sweetcorn in them), nice, filled a gap.   I've also added photos to the two earlier blogs. I have about an hour's battery life left so I'll press on with the rewards...

I was a little late arriving as I met various folk in the Lobby, including a nice american couple I'd met last year who are huge Greencards fans.   I was delighted to find that my seat was in row 4, so right down the front, and entered as the original line-up of Jason and The Scorchers performed Lost Highway and Harvest Moon. They were given the lifetime achievement award for Performance (but I missed that).





John Hiatt was presented with the Lifetime Achievement for Song-writing by Joe Ely.   He said he never knew what to say and preferred performing to receiving awards, however he managed to talk for a good few minutes and thanked pretty much everyone he's ever met and/or worked with.   (very dull)

Ryan Bingham, as one of the Emerging Artist Nominees performed next and was (as always) joined by Joe Ely, Jim Lauderdale wandered on stage with his banjo too.





Sam Bush, an instrumentalist nominee performed with a band including Byron House on bass and Kane Welch Kaplin did Monkey Jump.



I'm still not sure I like Kevin's facial hair, and noticed that Fats is also sporting a beard these days... music was good though.

The Steeldrivers were up next, such a good band. They were not plagued by the technical problems of the nigh before.



I'd have liked them to win the Duo/Group of the Year but when the winners were announced after they'd played it was no surprise to hear the names Alison Krauss and Robert Plant.

[at this point I was asked not to take photos, so had to stop for a while]

The audience were up and down like yoyos for the first half of the awards - probably to stop their bums getting sore! So obviously Robert and Alison had a standing ovation.   They were quite sweet together. Alison looks lovely, Robert is a little like a lion, lots of hair! Robert joked that he'd never been in a band with another singer, but that he liked it. Alison didn't really have anything to say.

More music followed from Tift Merritt (Broken, nominated for song of the year) and Chris Thile (nominated for instrumentalist) with Edgar Meyer.   Darrell Scott and Kathy Mattea announced the song of the year (Darrell won last year). The winner wasn't Robert and Alison which was good, but the somewhat controversial song by Hayes Carll and Brian Keane "She Left Me For Jesus".    Good choice but I was a little surprised.

John Hiatt gave us a solo acoustic performance at the piano of Have A Little Faith in Me which lasted less time than his acceptance speech earlier, then Steve Earle presented Joan Baez with the Free Speech Award, he'd won it a few years ago and also produced her last CD. You could tell that he held her in high esteem and she mentioned that she'd only just found out that two of the three Steve Earle covers on her new album were actually written about her.    She didn't sing either of those though, but did the Tom Waits track The Day After Tomorrow.



Tony Brown presented a surprised Nanci Griffith with the Trailblazer Award. She was the second recipient of this, last year it was Lyle Lovett.    She was totally taken aback and said she thought she was only there to give Tony Brown an Award - which he had known nothing about (for Achievement in Production). It was a nice moment.

Justin Townes Earle, looking more like Hank Williams than his father performed next followed by Jim Lauderdale who did Hittin' It Hard from the Honey Songs album, he dedicated it to the memory of Chris Gaffney.

Cross Canadian Ragweed, one of the most talked about bands here in Nashville right now gave out the Emerging Artist Award. Given that only one nominee hadn't yet performed I was unsurprised when Mike Farris won. He deserved it though, his performance at the Porter Tribute last year of Green Green Grass was amazing and I woud imagine every AMA member who was at that would have given him the vote - I did. He looked quite different though, dressed in a suit.

James McMurtry sang next then Buddy did a duet with Robert Plant which they recorded backstage one day inbetween sound-check and show.   It'll be on Buddy's next CD due out in March. Sounded great.

Alison Krauss and Robert then presented Buddy with the Instrumentalist of the Year Award which I think he also won last year.   

Steve Earle and Allison Moorer performed Days Aren't Long Enough. Again, Allison looked stunning, Steve less so...



Levon Helm presented multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell (once a member of Buddy's band apparently) with the Lifetime Achievement as Instrumentalist.   Then Mike Farris returned to do a powerful version of Mary Don't You Weep.

Billy Bob Thornton who had introduced Levon Helm on stage the night before and Nanci Griffith, gave him the award for Artist of the Year. Levon then performed and then, about half an hour behind schedule we had the finale - a version of Tennesse Jed with Levon on drums joined by a few of the artists who had stuck around.









Good show, really enjoyed it. No real surprises and the award winners were somewhat predicatable. I was surprised that Alison and Robert didn't do a song. Buddy was great as band leader and Jim was a star as always as host.

There's a fuel crisis in Nashville. I haven't quite figured out why, but apparently the last hurricane damaged an oil refinery in Texas, however, quite why this has only affected Nashville I just don't know! I think there was a rumour on Friday that fuel was running low so everyone who heard it immediately filled their cars and anything else that would hold fuel, until there was none left.   Most "gas stations" still have no fuel at all, and there are cars running out of petrol all over town. I had 1/4 tank left, and it's a tiny tank so I was worried that for my last few days here I'd be stuck out at Rod's house. Fortunately, after a 30 minute wait today I managed to part-fill the tank (only part-fill because I had to pay in advance and had no idea how much a tank would cost).   

Again, I'm getting ahead of myself. Now I have fuel I've been able to come home for a couple of hours before tonight's musical entertainment and I'm sitting with a cold beer whilst Amanda cooks pasta and there's a wonderful smell of garlic pervading the house.   So time to write about yesterday if I can remember that far back!

Actually, I didn't quite finish Thursday. After the Award show I went to the Cannery where there was a tribute to Jerry Garcia. Sounded like it would be great but they took so long to set-up that it was after Midnight before the show actually began. By this time I was bored and tired, so, even although the contributors included Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale I called it a night after 15 minutes.





Friday began very nicely with an in-the-round at the Convention Centre hosted by Jim Lauderdale with Grace Potter, Robert Earl Keen and surprise contributor Buddy Miller.   Great way to start the day. I missed the beginning but there was much banter from Jim about how Robert Earl Keen had promised to cover one of his songs on his next CD.   Buddy and Jim did Hole in my Head together and Cry Baby Cry which is apparently a song they used to do together many years earlier. Neither were 100% sure of the words but it all worked out. Grace Potter was good, never come across her before.

I then went to the Second Fiddle for lunch where the entertainment was Jim Cuddy (Blue Rodeo), Luke Doucet, Melissa McLelland and Justin Rutledge. They shared the stage and took turns at performing songs.    Amazing to think in the space of 2 hours I'd seen 4 of my absolute favourite singer/songwriters (Jim/Buddy/Jim/Justin).











As you'll have read in my first entry yesterday, I spent much of the afternoon at Audio Productions contributing to BBC Radio Scotland's Another Country show where I was interviewed twice about the AMAs.   I think it all went well and Kathy Mattea, the live guest I'd sourced was brilliant - great songs and lovely, funny person.   Everyone was happy.



Then I had a tough choice to make - both Kevin Welch and Jim Lauderdale (my idea of a dream gig) in-the-round or Carlene Carter at the Country Music Hall of Fame.   Given that Kevin and Jim's show had started at 3.30 and I couldn't be there until after 4, I chose Carlene and I'm so pleased I did. It wasn't the best location for a live show - the shop in the CMHoF, but once Carlene started it didn't really matter. She was joined by a guitarist and a pedal steel player (John McFee - the producer of her recent CD Stronger).   She played acoustic. It was a wonderful performance, one of my favourites of the week being both funny and moving all at the same time. She talked a lot about "Big John" and her sister Rosie, as well as the Carter Family, with some great stories.   She made a joke about all her divorces and the hard times she'd been through, and had a smokey laugh which was really infectious. She did some songs from Stronger, closing with the title track, she also did Wildwood Flower.    I am so pleased that I chose this show over Kevin and Jim, much as I'd have loved that too.








I headed home for a bit and had numerous arguments with myself about my evening's schedule.   The Station Inn had a great line-up: Chatham County Line, Bruce Robison, Kathy Mattea, Dave Peterson and Jim Lauderdale, but, with the exception of Dave Peterson (with whom I was unfamiliar) I had seen them all before.   Alternatively the Mercy Lounge and Cannery had Girls, Guns and Glory (sounded good on myspace), Paul Thorn, The Boxsters, Cross Canadian Ragweed, James McMurtry and The Gougers. So I went there instead.

I enjoyed Girls Guns and Glory and bought their album. They are a relatively young band from Boston, the vocalist, at times, sounds a little like Chris Isaak although their sound is different from that. They did a great version of Folsom Prison.    Paul Thorn was pretty good too, although a little too much in love with himself.   Still very enjoyable set, but I wouldn't necessarily buy the album. He reminded me a little of James Hunter.





Oh, forgot to say that I'd initially popped into the Cannery to check out The Boxsters which is Billy Bob Thornton's band. Horrible. 3 guitarists, loud rocky sound reminiscent of Drive By Truckers.   Billy Bob looks like a cross between Dale Watson, Billy Idol and Laura Palmer's father from Twin Peaks.





I lasted about 5 minutes. I didn't last much longer for Cross Canadian Ragweed. This is a band that there's a buzz about right now even although they've been playing the Texas circuit for years.   I can't really tell you if they were any good as it was so loud I just couldn't bear it.   The sound at the Cannery is never great but at least they could have turned the volume down a little bit. (That makes me sound really old, but others said the same thing!)

I checked out James McMurtry for a minute or two whilst trying to decide what to do next - hang in there until the Gougers at Midnight, go home, or try the Station Inn which apparently had been completely full earlier.    I drove passed it and there was no queue so I parked and went in. What a relief - The Dave Peterson Country Band were doing Miss The Mississippi and You, sounded lovely, and just a nice volume. There were seats too!   Things were obviously behind schedule as I saw about 5 or 6 songs which was probably enough much as I enjoyed it.



Jim with his band were up next.   Still prefer the country band, but it was good.



Nice to catch-up with John Fraser who had also played Mandolin for Jim in Scotland in January. Saw a few other folk too, and it was so much nicer than the Cannery/Mercy. Got home at 2.30.

Time to go out and do it all again, and it means going back to the Cannery/Mercy. The Glen Campbell Tribute will have just started and Buddy Miller is upstairs and it all ends with the Chicken and Waffle party which was great last year.

Late start yesterday. Met Leslie Rouffe for lunch (burger), talked about UK radio promotion and she gave me a tonne of CDs to listen to including the new Bruce Robison, Peter Bradley Adams and Kate Campbell albums (Bruce & Peter are great, yet to get to Kate).

I then headed to The Basement for the Americanarama II afternoon. Sadly I missed Mando Saenz which is exactly what happened last year too. Did see Korby Lenker with a rocking set, Amanda Shires (really enjoyed this), Seth Walker a white blues guy, again a little reminiscent of James Hunter and Paul Thorn and lots more, the names of whom I can't remember.    I thought I was going to have to stay out for the duration of the day/evening but as I started to drive to Portland Brew for a coffee I noticed a gas station with a queue of cars - they had fuel, so I joined the line. Took half an hour and when I got to the front I couldn't figure out how to open the petrol cap on the car - had to go ask someone. Then the machine didn't accept my card as it wasn't american so I had to go inside to pay in advance of filling the tank. I had no idea what it would cost to fill so estimated and asked for $15, unfortunately this only got me up to 3/4 full but it was much better than it had been. As I drove off, I realised I couldn't see out the back window - I'd accidentally opened the trunk as I was figuring out the petrol cap! Noticed before the interstate fortunately otherwise my laptop might have been in pieces on the I65!    Having gas meant I could revise my plans and go back to Rod and Amanda's for a bit. Amanda was cooking dinner so it was nice to spend a little time with them before they flew to Italy in the morning.

I was having such a nice time that I managed to miss the first half of the Glen Campbell tribute at the Cannery. I drove up and found one of the only remaining spaces in the parking lot, passing poor Buddy Miller struggling with his many guitars - obviously musicians don't get priority parking! I would have helped but I hadn't parked yet.

I've never seen The Cannery so busy, and fortunately the volume was lower than the previous night. I'd missed Jason Ringenberg and Jim Lauderdale, but caught a large and shaven-headed Raul Malo doing Wichita Lineman.



Glen himself was up next, he started with a couple of songs from his new covers CD, the Travis song "Sing" and one from Green Day apologising that he'd never performed these songs live before and wasn't so good at remembering lyrics anymore (not that he forgot any). Then he did Rhinestone Cowboy which had the audience really excited.    All the contributors returned to the stage for a rendition of Southern Nights. They all looked so thrilled to be on the stage with him which was nice to see.   I'm not what you'd call a Glen Campbell fan, and I have seen him before at the Midlands Festival in Ireland, but I loved what I saw and wished I'd left home a little bit earlier.











The rumour had been that Alison Krauss and Robert Plant were to be the special guests at 9.45 - but the band setting up definitely wasn't theirs, so I had my doubts. It was infact James Inveldt - not quite so exciting...   He was ok, but I'm sure in a town like Nashville they could have found someone a little better for the last night in the biggest venue.



Buddy was on upstairs at The Mercy Lounge at 10pm, his show there last year was one of the highlights for me, but Peter Cooper was also playing, at The Station Inn. So friends and I decided to see him too. I'd got my times mixed up and thought he was on at 11 and suggested we walk (it's not far). En route we stopped at the Listening Room and saw a couple of songs from an ensemble including Colleen McFarland. Nice comfortable room and on any other night I'd love to have stayed and heard more.   Sitting in those seats sipping some red wine and listening to the music sounded like a great idea, but too much to do!

Peter was playing when we arrived, although we must have caught about half his set. He had an impressive band with him including Jen Gunnerman (Jayhawks), Pete Finney on pedal steel (busy man as he was also the steel player at the Glen show and later at the Chicken and Waffles party) and Bill Lloyd was on bass.    Peter was joined on harmony vocals by Eric Brace (Last Train Home) on a couple of songs including a lovely version of the title track from his CD "Mission Door".   Peter and Eric have just recorded a CD together which I'm really looking forward to hearing.

Much as I would have quite liked to have returned to the Mercy Lounge for Gary Louris and Mark Olson, I chose to stay at The Station Inn for the duration. It's such a pleasant room to listen to music in, especially when it's not full. There were a number of musicians in the room, many of whom I knew - Nels Andrews, Eric Brace, Stephen Simmons and Rachel Harrington.   All seemed to enjoy Justin Rutledge who played next.   His CD Man Descending is one of my current favourites - I love it.   He was accompanied by a guitarist, and as he joked all his songs are slow or slower.   It worked though. We heard Too Sober To Sleep, St Peter, Is This War, Penny for the Band and a few more (they are all long so there weren't too many of them).

The Inn was freezing cold by this point - I almost went outside to warm up. Kept me awake though! Last up were The Wrights. They are a married couple - celebrating their 6th anniversary that day.   I've played songs from their most recent CD, In The Summertime, an album of cover versions (reinterpreted by them), so great to see them live.



I'd left my car at The Cannery, so said goodbye to everyone and jumped on the Americana bus which was conveniently waiting at the door. I was knackered but forced myself into the Cannery to check out the Chicken and Waffles Party. I had had a great time there last year, but on this occasion just didn't have the stamina. When I arrived most folk were queueing for food. I wasn't hungry so had a look to see who was playing. David Macias introduced a girl band, didn't catch their name. Not bad but I didn't know them so slipped away after 15 minutes.   Had Jim and Buddy been on stage I'm sure I'd have lasted a little longer.

Again, enjoyable night. Wish I had more energy!   Today I'm doing laundry, writing this blog, putting my new TMTHT show live and posting photos on Flickr whilst listening to some of the many CDs I've been given (or bought) this week. And I'm having a great day! Will sort out the rest of the week in a little bit. Only plan right now is Rodney Crowell with Will Kimbrough at The Bluebird on Tuesday night - so I need to conserve fuel to get there!

17 Mar 08

Phew!   This will be my last US entry I think.

Traditionally when I come to Austin I help my uncle with computer issues and having had little time all week I had to "pay" my rent this morning with MySpace for Beginners.    We then had a family outing to East Austin for a mexican brunch - very expensive (not!). For 4 people it came to $20.   Amazing. So I offered to pay!

For the past couple of years at least a place called The Oaks, about 30 minutes outside of downtown Austin hosts a party on SXSW Sunday. I'd always looked at the line-up and thought it looked like a good way to end my trip but could never persuade any of the drivers I knew to go.   This time my uncle kindly volunteered so we drove out there in the afternoon. It was a fairly impressive place in the middle of nowhere with a small indoor venue as well as a much larger one outside with stage, bleachers, an outside but covered bar and a large area used for dancing.    We'd brought chairs with us so bought a couple of beers and made ourselves at home. The chairs were pretty low so I spent most of the afternoon indulging my cowboy boot fetish - there were a lot of them about.

However that's not why I'd come, enjoyable though it may have been. The line-up from 4-7 outside featured James Intveld, James Hand and Carrie Rodriguez. Had I ventured indoors I'd have seen Gurf Morlix and Rosie Flores.   James Intveld primarily played songs from his new CD which he mentioned between every track. It's good, if not brilliant country/honky-tonk played very abley by musicians such as Rick Shea on pedal steel and Billy Dee on bass.

James is a good-looking guy and I think he knows it, but his set had a large number of people up dancing. Wish I could dance the Texas Two Step but I just can't so I watched, impressed.

James Hand was next on stage, his band looked a lot more weathered shall we say than James Intveld's.   He's a strange man who has a warble in his voice similar to that of Hank Williams. However he sings self-penned traditional country and it's great. It's hard to work out if he's a parody of Hank or if he's the genuine article, but we were assured by someone who knew him that it was all genuine.   Didn't like his cowboy boots much.

Last up before we headed home was Carrie Rodriguez with full band. She has apparently been signed to EMI and has a new CD out later in the year from which she sang a number of songs. Sounded pretty good although I preferred to hear the tracks from "Seven Angels on a Bicycle" my favourite of which was Never Gonna Be Your Bride.    She's come a long way from the shy girl who performed with Chip Taylor and is now very confident, but personable young lady.

That was it, I came home, had a healthy dinner which made a change from the burgers and mexican food I've eaten all week. I'm now working up to packing my case. It's been a brilliant two weeks although I couldn't keep this up for much longer - I need a holiday!    Nashville and Austin were two very different experiences but both enjoyable. I didn't see anything absolutely amazing here in Austin but the best new (to me) band were The Belleville Outfit, and it was great to see Amy Lavere, Mike Farris and Sarah Borges for the first time.

17 Mar 08

It's now Sunday evening, the night before I head back to Edinburgh. My brain is so frazzled (in a good way) that I'm finding it hard to remember what I did only yesterday!   Actually, I do remember - I walked a lot, a whole lot. But saw some of the best music of the week too.

My relatives all left early in the morning so I thought I'd be walking downtown, fortunately I saw a dillo, jumped on and soon found myself on 5th and Congress, however I needed to get to Jovitas on Ist S for Twangfest.    So I walked, took half an hour or so and it was getting pretty hot, but that was fine and I arrived in time to see the second half of Kevin Gordon's set inside. He had a band with him and performed songs from all his albums.   

I then went outside for Tim Easton. He's been playing all week with The Whipsaws. I've played the more melodic songs from their new album on my show, but much of it is a little rocky for me, and the same was the case with Tim, much as I've really enjoyed all his CDs.

I had planned to stick around for Chuck Prophet but inisde was becoming pretty busy and I remembered that Eliza Gilkyson and Bruce Robison were both on at Threadgills that afternoon.   My friend Phil and I managed to jump in a cab that was dropping someone off, so we were down at Threadgill's before Eliza took to the stage.    She was joined again by John Inman on guitar and had her son Cisco Ryder on drums.   The set was a nice mix of new songs and the familiar including Beauty Way and Think About You.    She ended on a brand new song called Runaway Train.   There was a nice moment during the set when Eliza asked if anyone had a kleenex as she had some suncream in her eye - "an upper-middle class request".

Bruce Robison came next and proved just what a successful songwriter he is performing songs he's written that have been covered by the Dixie Chicks (Travelling Soldier) and George Strait (Wrapped) amongst others. I was delighted to catch his set after the disappointment of Wednesday evening when I couldn't get into Pangaea in time to see more than the last two songs.

I'd never heard of the next band - The Belleville Outfit, but stuck around anyway as I had a nice seat in the sun.    They were very impressive. I was reminded a little bit of the Hot Club of Cowtown with vocals shared by a male and female, she also played pretty good fiddle. The band had piano and stand-up bass too.   Really liked them and there seems to have been a bit of a buzz about them this week which is good to hear.

I heard a little bit of the South Austin Jug Band, but although I like their album the live show didn't sound so good especially after the Belleville Outfit. Therefore I thought I'd walk up South Congress, see if there was anything interesting to hear, and then catch a cab up to the Opal Divine's Penn Field.   I wandered round all the South Congress shops, managed to buy nothing even although there were a few pairs of cowboy boots calling my name. By this point I was fairly far up the road so decided I'd walk up to the Magnolia Cafe South for a cup of coffee and some nachos before the Penn Field. All very well but could I find a cab to take me to Opal Divine's? Nope. So I walked, and kept walking. It was a fair distance, but I got there in the end and found my uncle already there.    The band who had been playing when I left this venue on Friday, Dave Insley and the Careless Smokers were on stage so it was as though I'd never been away!

Next up were Jesse Dayton and Brennen Leigh who have released a duets album of fairly traditional, although mainly self-penned country.   When I've seen Jesse in the past it's been with his band and has been a high-energy set, this was much more laid-back with Jesse remaining seated throughout.   Good songs, well sung, but I thought they lacked chemistry and rarely looked at each other when singing.

Talking of high-energy that was what came next to round off the evening. John Conquest certainly made the right decision when booking Sarah Borges to close his mini-festival. I have the most recent CD and it did nothing for me, I couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. However, live she is something else - full of personality and a great performer. This was one of the best shows I've seen this week.

Sarah Borges

I could have gone into town at this point but it was 10pm and I'd seen some pretty good music, plus all the walking in 85 degree temperatures had worn me out.

16 Mar 08

My first Friday in the US there was snow in Nashville, my second Friday temperatures reached a record-breaking 95 degrees in Austin. Too hot for me but factor 50 suncream and staying out the sun helped a lot.

I had a relatively early start in order to catch Rod Picott and Amanda Shires opening proceedings at Opal Divine's Penn Fields at 11am.   Not a huge crowd but those that had made the effort stayed quiet throughout which was good. Lovely set from the two of them featuring a few of Rod's songs (Down to the Bone, Angels and Acrobats, Tiger Tom Dixon's Blues) as well as a couple of songs from their forthcoming duets CD - if the whole album is as good as those two tracks it'll be excellent. I do have a 3 track EP so will play something on the next show.

Seeing as I'd come all this way I stuck around for a few hours.   Next up was a woman called Mary Battiata also known as Little Pink.    The name "Little Pink" rings a bell, so maybe I have one of the CDs, but the music was unfamiliar. She got better as the set progressed and it was enjoyable if not earth-shattering.

Ronnie Elliott did his talking folk/blues thing next including his song about SXSW, as he pointed out so many of the reference points are out of date now what with the demise of No Depression and Hightone Records amongst other things mentioned in the song.

Troy Campbell did a relatively short set beginning with Killing Time in Texas, the stand-out track from his last album. Gurf Morlix was to perform his version of this a little later.

Englishman Michael Weston King came next and was joined by his wife for a few songs. I enjoyed his set more than his albums but his songs don't really move me.

Sam Baker and Gurf Morlix were next and they took turns performing songs. Sam did Baseball, Pretty World and Juarez from his albums and Townes' If I Needed You.   Gurf also did a Townes cover.   I've always preferred Gurf as a side-man, but this was the best I'd seen him. He did some nice guitar on Sam's songs too. Much as I'd enjoyed Sam with Walt Wilkins and his band on Wednesday, this was better as I think Sam's songs work best in an acoustic setting. They were joined by Syd Straw for their final number.

Dave Insley and The Careless Smokers were up next, I only caught a couple of songs but again, sounded good, and very like their albums.

I left at this point and headed to Mother Egans for the tail end of the Red House Records showcase. I missed a strong line-up including Eilen Jewell, Meg Hutchinson, The Pines, Storyhill and Jimmy Lafave and in fact arrived just as Ray Bonneville took the stage. He only did 3 songs then invited Eliza Gilkyson, Jimmy LaFave and Oh Susanna onto the stage for an in-the-round. Eliza only did 2 songs as she had to go play elsewhere, but one of them was from her forthcoming album Beautiful World which sounded great. They were accompanied by Steve Dawson on lap steel and John Inman on electric guitar. Both excellent players that added a huge amount to all the songs. Jimmy did "Revival" one of my favourites and "Catch the Wind". Susie did Greyhound Bus and an excellent version of "Down to the Quarry" where the guitar playing was quite brilliant.   However her son was the star of the show for me, he was dressed as a cowboy complete with boots, hat and guitar. During the set he and a little girl, who couldn't be more than 2 years old, danced incredibly well including underarm spins - much better than my attempt at dancing with Sam Baker!

I then walked to the Convention Centre for the Blaze TV live performance from Deana Carter. Good set but I didn't like the sound. She stuck primarily to her hit songs including "I Didn't Shave My Legs for This".

It was the back up the road to Opal Divines for a new (to me) band called the Tennessee Bolt Smokers who kicked off the Memphis showcase at Opal Divines. They are a bluegrass/country band and sounded pretty good. No CDs to purchase though otherwise I'd have bought one.

After dinner at Whole Foods (again) I went to the Cedar Street Courtyard and saw Buddy Miller again. This time he only had one drummer (Bryan Owens was playing with Shelby Lynne) . The voice sounded a bit less hoarse and to his credit Buddy played an almost entirely different set from the night before including one of my favourites "Hole in My Head". He invited Bonnie Bramlett to join him for one number, her voice wasn't quite so reverb-heavy as on Wednesday night but I still didn't like her much.

I'd really come to the Cedar Street Courtyard to see Jimmie Vaughan - he won out in my 11pm dilemma as he was the only one of my choices I'd never seen before.   I didn't regret my decision, it was an excellent set. Jimmie sang three including Crossroads and was then joined by Lou Ann Barton who took over vocals for the rest of the set. Jimmie is a great guitar player but vocally he's pretty weak so Lou Ann was a welcome addition and so much better than Bonnie Bramlett.    There was some searing guitar and at one point Jimmie played his guitar behind his head.   Great set, pleased I saw it although I was told today that Mando Saenz and Blue Rodeo were both excellent too. Oh well...

I started to walk toward the Waterloo Ice House to see the Band of Heathens, but saw a taxi with my name on it so hopped in and went home. Another really good day though.

15 Mar 08

It's Saturday morning and I'm going to try and remember what I did on Thursday!

In an ideal world I'd have started at 11am at Opal Divine Penn Fields for Chip Taylor, but that was too early, so I met my friends Trevor and Malcolm at Mother Egans then Trevor and I went to the New West Party. This is one of the events I go to every year, admittedly primarily because the free food is good. In years gone by the line-up has been pretty impressive too and it's a chance to see big artists in a small venue - Kris Kristofferson, Flatlanders, Joe Ely etc.    This year there weren't many artists on the bill that excited me and I missed Tim Easton because that was feeding time!   I did however want to see Buddy Miller. He had 2 drummers (slightly excessive that), but they were 2 of the best - Brady Blade (who is, apparently, a different person from Brian Blade, they are brothers) and Bryan Owen.   There was also a stand up bass. Buddy performed Don't Wait and Shelter Me, during the latter a second guitarist appeared. Afterwards Buddy introduced him as Johnny Rivers - the rock 'n' roller. Not someone I'm hugely familiar with but his wikipedia entry is impressive.   He then took over the rest of Buddy's slot with classic rock 'n' roll/blues numbers and great guitar playing. Buddy played along with a huge grin on his face.    I really enjoyed it, but others were disappointed not to see more from Buddy himself.

Next up were the Old 97s. They were very loud and I only liked bits of it - the older slightly more countrified numbers.

I had been disappointed not to see The Felice Brothers the night before at Pangaea, but after a fairly mediocre night there I hadn't had the energy to stay. They were playing at 5pm at Opal Divines so we all headed there next.   They are, with one exception, a scrawny bunch of young guys (3 brothers + 2 others) who played an energetic set featuring songs from their 2 albums. The main spokesman for the band was the drummer, he and 2 of the others shared lead vocals.    I enjoyed it, but I knew the albums. My friends were less impressed.

After some shopping at Waterloo Records and dinner at Wholefoods I went to the Americana Music Showcase at Antones. This is always guaranteed to be a good evening and the line-up this year was strong - Amy LaVere, Mike Farris, Joe Ely, Buddy Miller, James McMurtry and Marcia Ball.

I'd been especially looking forward to catching sets by Amy and Mike both of whom had been the buzz artists at the AMAs in November. Mike's version of Green Green Grass of Home at the Porter Wagoner tribute was spine-tingling.    Neither disappointed. Amy plays double bass as well as singing which is unusual, but worked. She almost used the bass as a dance partner.   Her music is hard to define but she's definitely got something going. She'll be in the UK in the summer, worth seeing.   

Mike Farris had a huge band which included a horn section and backing singers. He's a skinny white guy who looks a little like Johnny Depp, but boy can he sing. I have the CD so pretty much knew what to expect - southern gospel soul but it's hard to imagine this guy singing these songs the way he does. Mike ran about the stage and gave it absolutely everything.   Impressive set.

Joe Ely has a new album out. It's a CD recorded with Joel Guzman, a reknowned accordion player who also features on Tom Russell's albums. The two of them performed together playing songs from the album which sounds like the best thing Joe has done for a long time.   He invited Ryan Bingham onto the stage, he did one of his own songs then they finished with "White Freightliner Blues" - which made me chuckle as one of the songs on Ryan's album "Mescalito" is identical to this song but with different lyrics.

Buddy Miller was up next, introduced by Tift Merritt and it soon became apparent why he'd given over much of his New West set to Johnny Rivers - he obviously had throat problems. However that didn't stop him giving the audience a great set including the new Julie Miller song, Shelter Me, Don't Wait, Price of Love plus a duet with Brady Blade on "I'm Pretending". Again he had the two drummers and joked that he'd booked them both just to make sure 1 turned up. He may have been struggling vocally but it was still a really enjoyable set.

My friend Phil and I then left Antones, not because we didn't want to see either McMurtry or Marcia Ball, but because standing there for 4 hours is more than enough, my feet were killing me.   So went to the Driskill where the Red House Records showcase was taking place.   There were no available seats but there was a soft carpet to sit on. I stayed for Ray Bonneville. Nice set, but his music is a little repetitive.   Again, would have liked to have seen Jimmy LaFave but decided to call it a night - a much better one than Wednesday.

13 Mar 08

It's Thursday morning, and I'm now a day in to SXSW here in Austin. No major flight delays getting here which made a pleasant change, and I was probably the only person on the Houston/Austin flight who didn't have a guitar with me.

Had a family night on Tuesday before hitting the streets/bars/parking-lots for a day of music on Wednesday. There was a fair amount to choose from during the day and I decided to split my time between Opal Divines and Mother Egans.   Good to see Andy, Malcolm and Trevor at Opals where Mark Jungers was playing. I've really enjoyed his most recent album "Smokestack and Silos" and the live show was just as good.

Malcolm and Trevor departed but Andy and I stuck around for some lunch. Jimmy Baldwin played next but did little for me, and I only saw a couple of songs from Jason Eady. If memory serves me correctly we've exchanged a few emails, and I liked what I heard on myspace, however solo-acoustic didn't really work at Opals what with traffic noise, competition from bands across the road and folk chatting.    So we crossed the street and saw James McMurtry who was excellent as always throwing in the odd wry political observation. He has a new CD out pretty soon but there were some older songs like "Red Dress" thrown into his set.

Chris Stamey was up next but after one song we decided it wasn't our thing, so went to the Convention Centre where Andy lived up to his original nickname "Wristband Andy" (because in the early years he used to be kind enough to buy wristbands for myself and my friends) and gave me the wristband his laminate entitled him to.   I had planned to come this year without either wristband or badge, but when the opportunity arose I took it.

Back at Mother Egans I caught the last 2 or 3 songs from Tom Freund and had my first beer of the day. His set was mixed, some was good some less so.    I was actually looking forward to Shawn Mullins who I haven't seen do a solo set for many years (that was London after Souls Core came out).   He has a new CD out which wasn't on sale or I'd have bought it. Sounds more rootsy than the last few. Other than new music he also played Lullaby and Beautiful Mistake.    Good to see him again.

The Guitartown/Conqueroo party at Mother Egans was in memory of Drew Glackin the mult-instrumentalist who had played with bands such as The Silos and Tandy. He died early this year still in his early 40s and had always been a major presence at SXSW playing with all sorts of people. There was a photo of him pinned to the back of the stage and I found myself coming back to it many times during Shawn's set, he looked so alive and happy and it was so sad to think he's no longer with us. I didn't know him well, only enough to say hello to, although he and Tandy did stay in my flat once but he always came across as a really friendly and nice guy.

Across the road Sam Baker and Walt Wilkins were scheduled to start at 4pm. They were a little late which was good and I heard a little of Steve Poltz. He sounded good enough that I'd be keen to catch him again this week.    I'd only ever seen Sam perform solo and was interested to hear what it would be like with a band (3 acoustics, fiddle and drums).   It was different, less intense, but worked. He and Walt are obviously good friends and familiar with each others material.   Walt was great as well - I've always been told good things about him but the albums didn't do it for me.   They took turns at singing. Sam did Sweetly Undone, Juarez amongst others (no Broken Fingers, but it wasn't really the right setting for that) and Walt did a couple he wrote with the late Walter Hyatt (for whom there are a couple of tributes this week).    Enjoyable set.      

Afterwards I got chatting to Sam and had a couple of drinks with him and his friends old and new (he befriended some Germans at the same table).   I then joined them at Walt's own show at the Waterloo Ice House for 15 minutes or so before officially starting my evening.   Sam even had me dancing (badly).

The evening options weren't great so I decided the best thing to do was to spend the night at the No Depression showcase at Pangaea. It's a new venue and I'd not heard anything positive about it. This appeared justified when I joined a long queue at 8.45, apparently no-one was inside yet. The queue moved slowly and we were told that anyone with a bag larger than a handbag wouldn't get it, and if male then any bag might be an issue.   I had a pretty big bag but it was given the ok although it was searched.   By the time we got inside Bruce Robison, who I was most keen to see was winding up, and all I saw were Angry All The Time and Wrapped. The place was still half empty which was really annoying.    I found some friends and we managed to get seats, albeit facing in the opposite direction to the stage, so we stayed put.   Bonnie Bramlett was next. Didn't like her at all and the vocal sound was horrible, way too much reverb.   Then it was Daniel Lanois who I was quite looking forward to. Didn't like that much either. He only had a drummer accompanying him - Brian Blade, who I presume (because he looked the same) was Brady Blade the guy who plays with Emmylou Harris and Buddy Miller.    Daniel did a long instrumental followed by The Maker, more guitar, then another song and The Messenger (I think).   After that he did a pedal steel instrumental inspired by the composer Samuel Barber - give me Samuel any day even although I love pedal steel -and finished with another instrumental.   Folk seemed to like it, but I didn't.   

Next up were Blue Mountain. They've been around a while, but had broken up.    I let out a sigh of relief when they began - finally something I could enjoy. It wasn't brilliant, but after what had come before I wasn't going to complain.    I had thought they were a bluegrass band, but apparently not - it was drums, guitar and bass, roots music.       I won't be rushing out to buy the new CD when it's released in June, but they were ok.   I really wanted to see The Felice Brothers, but it had been a long day and I was ready to call it a night.

13 Mar 08

I’m sitting at the gate at Nashville airport. It’s a beautiful day, no “weather” to deal with and no mention of missing crew, but flights are delayed because George Bush is coming to town – flying in around about 11am so all flights are grounded until he’s arrived.    The earlier flight to Houston hasn’t left yet so I’m concerned mine might be delayed too…    The TV here is showing some showbiz news – coming soon “the transformation of Katie Holmes” – fascinating.

I had an enjoyable last day in Nashville. Met Rod Picott for lunch in Fido, saw a bloke sitting at the next table who looked like Will Kimbrough, turns out it was. I don’t think we’d ever met before.   I then relocated to Portland Brew which had moved into the next door premises whilst they expand and remodel.    Here I spent an hour with Jim Reilley plotting how I could get to Nashville permanently. Mando Saenz was at a table so I said hello to him, and later Shawn Byrne who I had met at Eric’s party came in and said Hi. I never see so many familiar people in coffee shops at home! Talking of Mando, once Jim had left I spent an hour or so trying to make sense of the SXSW/not SXSW schedules.   I realised that there are not 2, not 3 but 4 places I want to be at 11pm on Friday, and 3 of the 4 artists are only appearing at that time. They are Mando Saenz, Jimmie Vaughan, Blue Rodeo & Friends and Chuck Prophet. I can ignore Chuck as I’ll see him elsewhere but the other 3 – how on earth do I choose???

I went home and packed and then headed downtown. When I’d been chatting with David Spicher at the Kathy Mattea show (he plays stand-up bass) he had mentioned that he played in a band – John England and the Western Swingers who performed on Monday nights at Robert’s. There wasn’t much else on, plus I really like Western Swing so I went to that show and really enjoyed it. 4 of the 5 musicians shared vocal duties and the drummer did a short stand-up set with some dodgy jokes.   Good show, featuring covers of everyone you’d expect, great to hear some good old-fashioned country music.

After this I popped into The Tap Room where Dave Pomeroy and friends were playing. I’d met Dave years ago through the Jamie Hartford Band and then Jon Randall, so I said hello to him.

So that’s it. Nashville is over although no sign of my flight on the board yet! Still, I’m learning about Katie Holmes, who will always be Joey Potter to me.

More from Austin….

10 Mar 08

I'm having a night "at home". Quiet day today, had mexican for lunch, a quite massive plate of chicken fajitas which I made no impression on. Good though. I'd been trying to meet up with Jim Lauderdale all week and we eventually liaised in a car park in Hillsboro Village for a couple of minutes - good to see him if albeit briefly - he's flying to Australia tonight. He gave me a finished copy of "Honey Songs" which I immediately put in the car CD player and instantly felt right at home (a copy of the album has lived in my own car CD player since last November).

I hadn't really been Downtown at all this trip so decided it was time to rectify that. Not that there was a great deal to do, but I wanted to visit the CMHofF shop and the Ernest Tubb record store. I spent a good half hour browsing through the CDs, books and DVDs at Tubbs, picking albums up, then deciding I didn't really need them, but I couldn't resist a book, partly because it was significantly reduced, but also because it was "a book of words and photographs" by Marty Stuart entitled "Pigrims". It was published in 1999 and I hadn't been aware of its existence. (I know he's currently working on a book of photography which should be out soon). It was a mere $13, reduced from $30, and it would have been foolish to leave it on the shelf. After a quick coffee stop in Fido (no muffin, but I bought two "emergency ration" cookies) I headed home and have spent the past couple of hours reading the book & looking at the photographs from cover to cover. If I hadn't already been certain that Marty Stuart was the man I most wanted an interview with, I would have been convinced by the time I finished the introduction to this book. It was so refreshing to read something so filled with love and enthusiasm about country music and the musicians who play it and there are some great photos in there too, especially of Johnny Cash. Marty is such an important figure himself, even then, by the turn of the century, but the awe, respect and excitement he so obviously feels when talking about the many great people he's had the good fortune to spend time with is evident on every page & it really felt genuine. This came across in Bryan's interview with him too. In this day and age when so much about the country music industry isn't really about country music any more, it gave me hope reading this book. It's just sad that so many people he talks about have since passed away. There are some humourous stories too.

I don't know how easy it is to find, although Tubbs had 1 more copy - go get it.

I think this week in Nashville, more so than any other, has made me realise just how passionate I am about the music and keeping it alive.

09 Mar 08

You'll be delighted to know I cheered up considerably as Saturday progressed.    I didn't go to a coffee shop for a latte and muffin (my parents emailed to ask if that was all I'd eaten this trip) but had some barbeque at a place called Neelys which was great, very tasty and not something I do very often.

I had booked a seat at the Grand Ole Opry early show so headed to Opry Mills a little earlier to check out the shops - bought nothing.   The show that day featured a fairly impressive line-up and much as it is somewhat cheesey, I love the chance to see the old country legends performing - they won't be around for too much longer so best to make the most of it whilst we can. Talking of which, the last time I'd been to the Opry was for Porter Wagoner's funeral and walking up to the entrance reminded me of that occasion.

The first section of the show was hosted by Little Jimmy Dickens. He's very sweet although I think his jokes were the same ones he cracked when I came a few years ago ("Mighty Mouse in his pyjamas").   He does have some beautiful outfits though.

First guest was Jeannie Seely. She's not someone I'm hugely familiar with, but I remember seeing her on my last GOO show - close up she's a little scary to behold (see below). She was married to Hank Cochran but was a bit of an outsider in Nashville due to her sexy image and raunchy songs (even now she looks a little foxy (from a distance any way). Obviously she's back in the fold now though, and sang a Willie Nelson song!

The first 2 guests in each segment generally just perform 1 song, so it wasn't long before Jeannie left and was replaced by Mel McDaniel. He did an apparently rousing and patriotic number which had everyone on their feet. Not really my thing, but this is the Opry and there was more of that to come later...

The final guest in section 1 was Sunny Sweeney looking very glamorous. She now has Casper Rawls playing guitar for her (he was in Buck Owens band). She did "Next Big Nothing" from her CD and then "Honky Tonk Angels". Went down very well, and as always had a great big smile on her face throughout.

Little Jimmy Dickens returned clutching his rag doll (yes, really!), Raggedy Ann, for one last number which he sang to it.

Section 2 was hosted by Hal Ketchum sporting a tassled jacket (I have to admit I have one just like it, but it's never ventured out of my wardrobe). I've never seen him live before, but did buy a CD many years ago for his version of "Past The Point of Rescue". Good looking guy.

Hi guests were Bobby Osbourne & The Rocky Rop X-Press...

Jim Ed Brown, who again I'm not familiar with but he's had a number of hits over the years...

...and finally Lee Greenwood. He was discovered my Mel Tillis' road manager and had a number of hits in the 80s.   He performed 2 songs the second of which was his signature track "God Bless The U.S.A." he was joined on stage for this by a Golden Eagle - yup, that's right, a Golden Eagle. Everybody was on their feet again for this one.    Words fail me here...

Ricky Skaggs hosted part 3 and did comment that he wasn't sure how to follow a golden eagle! He performed with his band Kentucky Thunder which sounded great. Every time I see him though he's a little stouter.   

Jack Greene was up next and his suit was the runner up to that of Little Jimmy.   Last time I saw him was in Roberts Western World in October when he came in after a show at the Ryman and performed a couple of songs.    He started out as a vocalist in the Ernest Tubbs band and also had a few hits with the aforementioned Jeannie Seely.

Jean Shepard followed Jack in a gold outfit, looking spookily like the late Queen Mother.    We've played are quite a bit on BNC. She was discovered by Hank Thompson and was married to Hawkshaw Hawkins who died in the same plane crash as Patsy Cline. "I'll Take The Dog" from the late 60s is probably the song we've played the most.

The final guests were The Whites featuring Ricky's wife Sharon White and her sister Cheryl (the father used to be in the band too). They've just recorded an album together "Salt of the Earth" which won the Grammy for Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel Album.

I was most looking forward to Marty Stuart, who hosted part 4 of the evening's entertainment.   He didn't have the Fabulous Superlatives with him though which was a shame, but performed with the Tennessee Mafia Jug Band - an interesting looking bunch of guys...

First guest was Jimmy C Newman - the "C" stands for Cajun and he was apparently a forerunner in the country-cajun sound. Marty joined him on mandolin.

A very nervous Tift Merritt was up next making her Opry debut. She performed one song "Broken" on guitar and then the title track of the new album "Another Country" solo on piano. Sounded lovely but you could tell she was slightly over-whelmed by the experience. Marty took her under his wing though (and she was probably the only person on stage smaller than Marty!) and had her stay on stage to jam with the band whilst the Opry Square Dancers did their thing...

Marty did one more with his jug band and then it was time for Whispering Bill Anderson.   Bryan and I met him when we were over for the AMAs in Sept. 06, we went backstage at the Opry (a real thrill) to interview him for the show. He was charming, and a master of the sound-bite.   His stage performance is similar. Even when the adverts are on he's walking along the front of the stage asking members of the audience how they are and always on the look out for a camera so that he can (not very subtley) pose for a photo whilst still chatting.   

There were only 2 guests in this segment: Mel Tillis and The Statesiders and The Charlie Daniels Band. Mel, looking a lot more dapper than when I saw him at The Stage in October, did 2 songs and then Charlie (a funny looking man - very santa-esque) did 3 with his band culminating of course with The Devil Came To Georgia.      

Bill Anderson closed proceedings with a very naff song about his mother and the music she'd introduced him to.

Very enjoyable evening. I don't enjoy every act, but it's all interesting and entertaining and the breadth of artists who take to the stage in an evening is quite amazing. It's definitely something I will keep returning to when I'm in town.

I then had a few options. Will Kimbrough and Tommy Womack were playing a roadhouse cafe called "Norms", that would have been great, but I looked it up on Google Earth and it was a long way from where I was and in the middle of nowhere and I probably wouldn't have got there before it finished anyway, so instead I went to The Mercy Lounge. I had had no idea until the afternoon that The Bees (US) were playing there that night partly because they are now called The Silver Seas and I keep forgetting that.   But Eric Brace had emailed to tell me and as I love both the albums I was keen to check them out. I arrived just as the first band too to the stage. They were a six-piece called the Explorers Club and were similar in many ways to The Silver Seas - melodic country pop with some nice harmonies. They don't have an album out yet but will do so in May so I'll keep an eye out for it, they are also in Austin next week.   

I did think as I sat waiting for The Silver Seas that I was, without a doubt, the only person in the room who had just come from The Opry - there was quite a contrast between Whispering Bill and that audience and what I was seeing here. But I like them both!    The Silver Seas is Daniel Tashian's band, they are masters of the max- 3 minute pop song all of which just end and are very catchy. I knew most of them but there were a couple of new tracks thrown in too. Great to see them play but the set just wasn't long enough.    I met Daniel afterwards and he told me that Belle and Sebastian were a big influence on him.

So that was my evening. Apologies for the long blog, but I need to write all this down for my benefit.      It's a beautiful sunny day here in Nashville although there's still some snow.   No plans for today so who knows where I'll be this evening.   Oh, I've just put a new show up recorded a couple of weeks ago.

08 Mar 08

I have nothing new to report - but I'm sitting having breakfast, listening to Friday's Brand New Country (see even when away from home I care about the show!) looking out at a snowy back-yard and toying with the idea of driving downtown.   I leave here on Tuesday and that's already depressing me which is stupid as I'm going to Austin for SXSW which until recently was my favourite week of the year (AMA week trumped it last year).

Last night, after I'd crawled home in the snow I was talking to the friend who has kindly put a roof over my head this week. He's a session guitarist who has lived in this town for 12 years, however for the most part we know different people here. I invited him to come with me to the Bluebird on Tuesday night and the Kathy Mattea show at the Station Inn on Wednesday.    He hasn't stopped talking about how great these were since, which is good but I found myself becoming a little annoyed (maybe because it was Friday night in Nashville and I was home by 10pm).   As I'm sure any reader to this has gathered, I'd give an arm and a leg to live in this town and to have daily access to all this amazing music and talent. Yet neither of those two shows were sold out and I'm sure there are many many people here, who had they been to either would have loved them just as much.    Chris told me that he needs me to live here to keep introducing him to this music and the musicians playing it, and I told him he didn't need me - it's on his doorstep and he (and others) should be going out and supporting it. I think it's maybe easy in this town, given the extensive commercial aspect of the country music industry, to forget that there is still a grass roots movement where real music is performed on a nightly basis by people who are in it because they love it.   Maybe I really am needed here to remind folk about this!    Take the other night at Eric's house party - I still can't quite believe I saw all those people, many of whom I've played on the radio and seen live - were all gathered together just jamming and enjoying playing for each other.    I'd like to think that if I ever did live here I wouldn't lose that enthusiasm, passion and love for the music, both live and recorded and it was great to spend an evening with people who still love what they do.

... even as I write this I know the main reason I am so irritated, is only because I'm jealous of everyone who lives here.   We get a lot of musicians I love coming through Scotland (and yes most only play to a handful of people there too), and I go see them but it's just nothing like being here living amongst it, even for such a short period of time. And I'm sure there are many negative aspects about living here, or anywhere else in the US, but all the same, I'd move here tomorrow if it wasn't so darned difficult to do so as I feel so completely at home in this town.

Enough! - I promise to be less grumpy in my next entry - I still have three days here, so god only knows how grumpy I'll be by Tuesday.   Watch out for a down-beat entry I'm sure I'll write whilst sitting at the airport in Houston on Tuesday waiting for my connection to Austin.   

I know that I am fortunate to have so many friends here that make me welcome any time I come to town (although that just makes it all the harder to leave)

I'm going to the Opry later where Marty Stuart, Mel Tillis, Tift Merritt, Sunny Sweeney, Lee Greenwood and Hal Ketchum are all performing which will be great I'm sure. I know it's cheesy, but you can't criticise the quality and depth of the performers.

08 Mar 08

Here are a couple of pictures from the Bluebird - as you can see Robert was entertaining everyone...

08 Mar 08

Nashville is experiencing "weather" - I came out the Bluebird this evening and my car was covered in a couple of inches of snow. I had spoken to a friend in the morning and he'd warned me not to go out later, but being a tough Scot, I ignored him!    The thing is, driving in snow doesn't really bother me at home, but here my car wasn't 100% happy, it was impossible to see the road-markings (which on a 5 lane interstate isn't ideal) and every other driver was panicking and stopping or slowing down randomly.   It's forecast to be 0 centigrade tomorrow which is pretty cold and I hope the roads are ok because I don't want to be house-bound.

But that was this evening...   Today, after a fairly late start I popped into Portland Brew for a coffee and muffin before finally venturing downtown to meet Brigid Coady from CMR Nashville. She was in town covering the Country Radio Seminar, an annual event where record labels schmooze the country radio industry. Folk kept asking me this week if I was attending any of their events and I had no idea what they were talking about so had to go and look it up - it's very commercial country and not really my thing so I gave it a miss. Still, CMR Nashville plays a lot of that and it was good that we had someone there, it's good for our profile, but give me the AMAs any day. Anyway, I digress. It was lovely to meet Brigid, we're the same age and both began life as Duran Duran fans. After a drink in Robert's I took her to Fido as she'd never ventured that far from Downtown before.

After dropping her back at her hotel I headed to the Bluebird for the early evening show hosted by Lance Cowan who was joined by female Texan Robin English, Dan Cohen and Robert Reynolds. I'd gone primarily to see Robert who has been so busy this week I haven't managed to catch up with him.   He arrived about 20 minutes late having run out of fuel en route. He had plenty of entertaining stories to tell though. I have to say I was most impressed by Dan Cohen who must have been a replacement for Scotty Huff who had been advertised as playing. Dan has just released a CD produced by Matt King and is also about to release one under the band name The Levees with Adam Jones (who joined Dan for a couple of songs including one entitled Preacher's Daughter which was possibly my favourite of the evening.)   The theme of the evening seemed to be songs written about or for family members. Robert did "dittys" and "lullabies" (his words) about his ex-wife Trisha Yearwood, his late mother (Mama's Dogs) and grandmother (Pretty Like You). Lance did one about his Dad and Robin, her mother.

I had hoped to meet up with Elizabeth Cook and Tim Carroll afterwards who had told me their friend Donna Beasely who I've played on my shows was performng in a coffee shop downtown.   I made my way slowly down there through the snow and stupid drivers only to find a light on but nobody there. Maybe there was another room I didn't know about, but given the weather it made sense to head for home.

07 Mar 08

Another day dawns (quite a few hours ago actually) and yet more to share with you. As I've said before, I write all this down so that I can remember what I did!

After my Marty Stuart experience yesterday I set up office in Fido and met up with a couple of friends - an Englishman who lives here in Nashville - Eamon from The Greencards (they had a sold out show at The Belcourt that evening) and a Scot who lives in Australia, Karl Broadie who is in town writing.   Lovely to see them both.   Karl and I have never actually managed to meet up in either of our home towns. Last time I saw him was at the Tartan Heart Festival at Belladrum many years ago.

At 5.30 I dropped Karl off at The Station Inn for the industry version of the Kathy Mattea show. I would have popped in myself but parking around there is virtually impossible (at least it is for me!) Plus, there are some crazy drivers over here who talk on the phone whilst manouvering their beast of a car and paying no attention to other drivers.

Anyway, I digress, I put the radio on (Nashville is the only place in the world where I can willingly listen to "country" radio and actually quite enjoy it), and headed to East Nashville to Eric Brace from Last Train Home's house.    I'm not very familiar with East Nashville but have always been amazed/amused by how passionate residents of this part of town are about where the live. It seems like a great, close-knit community of like-minded people - my kind of people.   Eric has a large garage attached to his house which has been transformed into a living space and music room - it was beautiful and a perfect place to host house concerts. His house concert however, was very different from the solo-acoustic shows we've recorded for BNC.   The wealth of talent that appeared throughout the evening was quite amazing. The only thing I can compare it to is a gathering of folk musicians in Scotland - where people play fiddles, accordions and acoustic guitars and perform jigs, reels and old folk song - that's not really my kind of music, but this was the country/rock alternative.    Singers last night included Eric Brace, Peter Cooper, Kevin Gordon, Jon Byrd, Shawn Byrne, Mike Horn, Korby Lenker and more.    But this wasn't just solo acoustic performances, they were joined by such luminaries as Pete Finney on pedal steel and Lorne Rall on electric and stand-up bass.    One of the drummers played with the Dixie Chicks, the pianist most recently with The Wreckers. And there were many others there as you'll see from the pictures below. Everyone was lovely and I was touched that Eric should choose to host such a party because I was coming to town.

It was a great evening, and did nothing to help dissuade me that I should be living in Nashville.

06 Mar 08

Quick one this. Here's the photo of me & Marty...

06 Mar 08

Today I finally achieved something I've been working towards for almost 2 years now. It's a good day.   But more of that later.

I spent yesterday afternoon between Portland Brew and Fido (where I am again now enjoying a latte and chocolate chip/pecan cookie) and in the evening went to the Station Inn for the first of a 2 night run of shows from Kathy Mattea billed as album preview gigs. Her new CD "Coal" is released at the beginning of April. I thought the show would have been sold out, but surprisingly it wasn't. I walked in the door and the first person I saw was David Spicher who played upright bass for Jim Lauderdale when he came to Glasgow in Jan for Celtic Connections. Good to see him and it reminded me I needed to contact the other members of Jim's band. Anyway, David was here because he was the bass player in Kathy's band. She also had Bill Cooly on acoustic guitar and Eamon O'Rourke on fiddle - she called it her "bandlet" but regardless, they were a great bunch of musicians (as one would expect in this town at an event like this).   Kathy's 2 sets featured songs from "Coal" punctuated by songs from her career including "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses", "Love at the Five and Dime". "Walk the Way The Wind Blows", "Never Take Harlan Alive".    She was funny, personable and very enjoyable to watch even although I am not hugely familiar with her output.    The album wasn't available but I did pick up a 3 track preview copy.

Yesterday morning I got some fairly exciting news - only "fairly" because I wasn't going to believe it until it actually happened - that finally, after almost 2 unfruitful years of trying, we finally had an interview with Marty Stuart scheduled for this morning, in a studio for an hour.   I was so sure it would fall through again and I even dreamed that it was cancelled last night, but amazingly it happened and was well worth all my efforts.    I've been a fan of Marty's music for many years and his live performance with the Fabulous Superlatives at Antones two years ago blew my mind. I have never seen or heard anything better and don't think I ever will.   For me, he is the man who will keep alive "real" country music and who is absolutely essential for the survival of the Opry.    He is such an important figure not only as a musician but as an historian and collector of country music and memorabilia.   So to have Bryan interview him for Brand New Country has been my top priority for a long time, although I had resigned myself to failure.    So, did it live up to my expectations? Absolutely. He was everything I had hoped for, interesting, funny, intelligent, knowledgable with lots of stories to tell.   It'll make an excellent hour long special which is what I had hoped for.   Obviously all credit to Bryan for asking all the right questions (as always).

So I'm happy. And tonight should be great too - a party at Eric Brace from Last Train Home's house where some of my favourite Nashvillians will come and play - Elizabeth Cook, Tim Carroll, Peter Cooper, Korby Lenker, Kevin Gordon, Eric and more.   There was a lot a wanted to do tonight but that will trump it all, and it's lovely of Eric to do this given as I've never met him (although I've been a fan of LTH for many years).

Pic of Marty and I coming in the next installment....

05 Mar 08

Hello

It only seems like yesterday that I was last here, but I'm back in Nashville for 10 days before heading to Austin for SXSW.   When considering where else to go I decided it would be nice to return to Nashville for a holiday so that I could catch up with friends rather than spend my time working.    It's so good to be back even if I'm so tired from a very busy 2008 and really feel like sleeping all the time!    I'm currently sitting in my second favourite coffee shop in town - Portland Brew on 12th S, enjoying a double latte and blueberry muffin and listening to Van Morrison playing (the shop's choice not mine, but I'll take it).

I arrived on Saturday. The transatlantic flight from Edin to Newark was fine and when I turned the corner into the hall used for immigration I was delighted to note that there was a really short queue this time around (in October it was massive).   However, as luck would have it I was directed to the queue for an immigration officer who took at least 10 minutes to process every person and that's no exaggeration. After 30 minutes when she was only on the 3rd person, and I still had three people ahead of me (by this time the main queue had grown and emptied again) I eventually switched queue and was still seen before the original officer had finished with person no 3!   I was one of the first off the plane but there were only 3 cases left for collection on the carousel - just as well I wasn't in a hurry!

Anyway according to the departure screens the flight to Nashville was on time. Yeah right!   I went to the gate and for the next 2 hours watched the dept. time grow later and later in increments of 10 minutes. It was a beautiful sunny day, the plane was there, the pilot was there but there was no flight attendant.    Eventually a girl who was supposed to be on another flight (which had no pilot) suggested she work this flight. We were about to take off when it started to snow heavily so we had to de-ice (by which time the sun was out again) and I eventually reached Nashville 3 hours later than advertised.

But I'm here now!   I collected my hire car from Dollar @ the airport on Sunday. The same guy as before served me, again I was offered a convertible (I'd booked the smallest/cheapest car) but I turned it down and was given an equally large car which is very basic and has horrible site lines - wish I'd taken the convertible...   I am however getting the hang of driving here now and, to be honest, after 2 beautiful summery (by Scottish standards) days it's now really cold here so I wouldn't have had the roof down anyway).

I've taken it fairly easy since I arrived. On Monday I had lunch with a friend, David Macias who gave me a copy of the Amy Lavere album which is great (she'll be in the UK over the summer) & then drinks with Rod Picott (at a lovely wine bar called Rumors) that evening - it was great to catch up with him.   

Last night I went to the Bluebird Cafe for the first time. This is my 5th visit to Nashville, but until recently, to make reservations you had to phone, and I never got around to it. Now, with the Cafe under new ownership, it's possible to book online and even to select your table.    It's a small place with the stage (which is basically just a space on the floor) in the middle of the room. There are tables of various sizes and the walls are plastered in photos of artists performing there. Really nice vibe to it.   Apparently there is talk of relocating to a larger venue, but that would be a real shame. Anyway.. I came to see Jason White whose 2 albums I've enjoyed for many years, I love his songwriting, he's a clever, funny yet dark lyricist.   The round was hosted by Bill Lloyd, formerly one half of Foster & Lloyd (with Radney Foster) and the other musicians were Don Henry and the duo Swan Dive.   I wasn't familiar with Don Henry although when I mentioned I was going to the Bluebird that night to Jim Reilley he reminded me that Don had produced his excellent CD "The Return of Buddy Cruel" and, on listening to Don, he reminded me of Jim in his phrasing although his songs have much more of a humourous element. It was a really strong group of performers, they've done this together before and all contributed harmonies and guitar to each others music.   The woman from Swan Dive had a lovely voice and apparently they are huge in Korea.   They played for almost two and a half hours and it was an excellent introduction to the Bluebird.    I introduced myself to Don afterwards and he gave me a copy of his CD which I'll play on the next show I record.

Today I've spent a couple of hours with Jim Reilley and hope to meet up with Karl Broadie who is in town for a few weeks from Australia writing.   Tonight is the Kathy Mattea album launch gig at the Station Inn. I haven't heard anything from the CD "Coal" yet but it sounds interesting and is produced by Marty Stuart so I have high hopes for it.

And talking of Marty, I think, at least I hope, I've finally managed to secure an interview with him for Brand New Country. It's only taken 2 years... It's scheduled for tomorrow morning so fingers crossed it takes place. I truly believe he is one, if not the, most important figure in country (real country) music in his generation.

Right, that's it. My coffee is almost finished so it's time to hit the road and move on to another coffee shop!

28 Jan 08

Hello, Happy (belated) New Year!

Apologies for the lack of new shows over the past few weeks, I was actually organised and recorded a couple of shows over the Xmas/New Year hols, knowing that I'd be too busy with Celtic Connections to record them later on, but as it turns out I've been too busy to actually put live!   However, I am taking a break this afternoon, so show 226 is finally available. The quality of the links isn't as good as it could be, but my laptop had a problem with the fan so it sounded like I had a hairdryer on in the room. I have a new laptop now so that problem will be resolved from show 228.

As I mentioned I've been busy with Celtic Connections. I had a day free a week so volunteered my services for the festival and spent November/December playing at being a travel agent, booking all the transatlantic flights and accommodation for visiting artists.   I'm now an expert on how to get to Scotland cheaply!   

Since the Festival began I've also been acting as artist rep. for some of the Americans. I'm really the only person working for Celtic who knows anything about Americana music, everyone else is in to the folk scene (of which I know little and like only some).   I've so far worked with Diana Jones & Paul Burch, Jim Lauderdale's Bluegrass Band, Laura McGhee, Steve Forbert, The Boston Tea Party (Tim Gearan, Kris Delmhorst, Rose Polenzani and Alasdair Moock), The Packway Handle Band, Kane Welch Kaplin and Mindy Smith.   All have been a pleasure to work with and I'm currently collecting contacts for my visit to Nashville in March!    Every show has been of a high standard, The Boston Tea Party, with all 4 artists performing in the round on the Tall Ship in Glasgow was wonderful. I have CDs by all of them but they are so much better live. Great to meet Tim and Alasdair finally too.   

I had planned to write updates here about the shows, but I can't see that happening.    However you can see a few photos at my flickr site.

We've also recorded a tonne of interviews for Brand New Country - Diana Jones, Allison Moorer. Kane Welch Kaplin, Chris Thile & The Punch Brothers, The Cherryholmes and Suzy Bogguss.

I'm having my first afternoon/evening off since the 12th Jan which is great. Tomorrow I'm working with Suzy Bogguss and Elizabeth Cook, then there's the return of Mindy Smith followed by Transatlantic Sessions & The Greencards. Then it's all over...   It's been very enjoyable, but boy is it hard work!

Normal service will resume shortly on TMTHT (until I head for Nashville/Austin in March at least!)

05 Nov 07

Friday

I’m sitting at Newark airport awaiting my flight to Edinburgh, wishing I wasn’t on the way home!   It’s depressing writing about what a great time I’ve had, knowing it’s over. Still, shouldn’t really complain!

Friday was a day spent primarily at Audio Productions recording material for Brand New Country. We recorded a piece with Jim Lauderdale and Peter Cooper talking about the Awards and Porter Wagoner. Jim had just collected the master of his TCB band album, and I took it off him before he had a chance to object and imported it into itunes (good album, although not out until sometime next year). We then recorded an interview/session with Eilen Jewell and her band. She sound great. In the afternoon Elizabeth Cook and Tim Carroll came in and performed live on the evening’s show. She was brilliant, a great interviewee and performer.   It was good to finally meet Tim Carroll too, as I’ve been playing his music since the early days of The Miller Tells Her Tale. He gave me a copy of his new CD.

I had a short, but good evening at The Mercy Lounge.   Buddy Miller and band were on at 8pm, and what an excellent show he put on. He was back to his usual “uniform’ of shirt and black baseball cap and had a full band including Brady Blade on drums and Phil Madeira on accordian and keyboards.   Brady joined Buddy (handing over the drums to Gurf Morlix) for a duet on “I’m Pretending”, Lee Ann Womack came up and dueted on another song and Gurf joined on guitar and vocals for a couple. Buddy also sang the new Julie Miller song that he and Patty Griffin had performed at the Award show the other night – he mentioned that singing with Patty had been distracting! Great set, one of the best I’ve ever seen from him.   

I felt sorry for Tift Merritt who came up next playing solo. Not only did she have to follow Buddy but the Mercy Lounge is not the best venue for solo acoustic performances. People talk – loudly and the poor girl was somewhat drowned out. It didn’t help that the majority of her set was comprised of unfamiliar songs from her forthcoming album (out Feb 08). Buddy joined her on harmonies for the title track, and then she did something that I can’t decide was stupid or brave – she unplugged her guitar and clambered onto a speaker or something similar, at the edge of the stage and sang totally unplugged. I couldn’t hear anything over the din of the audience talking, but it did quieten them down temporarily.

That was all I saw on Friday. It had been a really long few days and I needed an early night before what I predicted would be a late one on Saturday.

Saturday

I had a relaxed start before heading down to the Country Music Hall of Fame where Ray Wylie Hubbard was performing, talking & previewing his short film.   He was great, very entertaining and informative. He talked a lot, partly about songwriting saying how inspiration is important, but so is craft, as it can lead to inspiration.   He also told us how, in the early 1970s he had participated in what I presume was the US version of Blind Date, and drank too much champagne. He wasn’t selected…   He sang a few songs including Name Dropping, and then showed a short film he wrote. However, I had to leave after the first couple of minutes.

I met friends for lunch – one of them knew how to put the roof down on the Mustang, so finally I had a chance to drive open-topped. Felt great!! It was my last meal at Fido before heading home (sob).

There was an afternoon barbeque at the Basement with bands including The Bittersweets, Felice Brothers, Corb Lund Band, Mando Saenz and others performing. Unfortunately I missed Mando, I was too busy meeting people outside, but I was impressed by a band called Romantica. They gave me their CD, which doesn’t sound much like the live show, but it’s really good, so I’ll play that on my next show.   I also took the opportunity to pop upstairs to Grimey’s where I bought Mike Farris’ CD. I’d seen him at the Porter Tribute and he’d been amazing. That’s all I knew about him, but I decided it was worth a chance. I’m listening right now – it’s gospel/country/soul and, on this, my second listen, it’s really good, he has a very soulful voice – its’ called Salvation in Lights. Slightly reminiscent of Ray Lamontagne but rawer. I think he’ll go down as my find of the week.

Before seeing any music in the evening, and after, reluctantly, packing, I met singer-songwriter Korby Lenker for dinner. We’d only ever met briefly before although we’d been in touch for years, so it was lovely to spend some time with him. He took me to an incredibly cheap Mexican where burritos cost $3.99 – that’s only £2, which seems so under-priced. Good food.

Korby dropped me off at The Station Inn where Elizabeth Cook and Jim Lauderdale were both due to do sets. I had to wait a while to get in, but finally got through the door a couple of songs into Elizabeth’s show. She had a full band this time including Tim on guitar and Paul Slivka on bass. Donna Beasely (who I’ve played on TMTHT) did some harmony vocals.   Great set, I love Elizabeth’s music and attitude.   Looking forward to seeing her in Glasgow on Friday.   

There was a long break before Jim took to the stage, but I suppose it’s not a quick job to set up an 8-piece bluegrass band. I thought I spotted Raul Malo at the bar, but decided I must be mistaken.    I didn’t stick around for all of the set, but it featured bluegrass songs from the Ralph Stanley albums and the 2 most recent bluegrass CDs including Who’s Leavin’ Who, Chances and Can We Find Forgiveness.   Good, but I still much prefer the country band.

The final event of the AMAs was the Sin City/Thirty Tigers Chicken and Waffles party at The Cannery. The show was fronted by the Sin City band which included Jesse Dayton on electric guitar and others I didn’t recognise. Various musicians came up to perform a song apiece – Mike Stinson was one of the first, and I then realised I’d been correct when I thought I’d spotted Raul as he came on and sang harmony vocals (actually I’m not sure he knew the words but still…).   

Elizabeth Cook, Laura Cantrell with Dallas Wayne and others I didn’t know all took turns doing one song.

The guitar pool was expanded when Eddi Perez joined in midway through proceedings. Good to see him play again.   Jim Lauderdale and Buddy Miller did about 6 songs including some covers and then a brilliant version of Hole in My Head. Sadly the sound during this section wasn’t great, especially on the vocal mics, and it was really loud, but nonetheless, it was very enjoyable. Jim ended his section with King of Broken Hearts.   

There was a short break and I was about to leave, but stuck around for Sunny Sweeney to do a song as I’d managed to miss her all week, and then went home.

So that’s it. It’s been an amazingly good week, and I can’t believe it’s over.   The most frustrating thing for me was that there’s only 1 of me. Because I was working for much of Thursday and Friday I missed the bulk of the conference, therefore didn’t meet as many people as I should have. I’d also liked to have seen a few more panels, other than the one I participated on.    That said, I was lucky to have an all-expenses trip over, so I really can’t complain.   I did meet lots of people who I’d been in touch with beforehand which was great.   

And as for the music, well where to start. I loved pretty much everything I saw from the Mel Tillis show right through to the Cannery on Saturday night. What I love about this festival is all the collaborations and surprise guests. I can’t believe that in the space of less than a week I’ve seen, if only briefly in some cases – Mel Tillis, Pam Tillis, Toby Keith, Radney Foster, Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Rodney Crowell, Lyle Lovett, Jim Lauderdale, Buddy Miller, Guy Clark, Joe Ely, Darrell Scott, Elizabeth Cook, Uncle Earl, Avett Brothers, Jack Greene, Dolly Parton, Vince Gill, Ricky Skagg, Patty Loveless, Marty Stuart, Lee Ann Womack, Tift Merritt, Raul Malo and more.    Wow – how do you beat that? I don’t think it’s possible.

I’d like to think that this festival does help move Americana music forward. It does seem as though most of the main players in the industry attend and personally I think it’s an invaluable week and one that I have to make an annual commitment to (somehow!).   Question now is, do I forgo SXSW in order to come to Nashville next September. There are tough decisions to make over the next few weeks…

03 Nov 07

Apologies for some of the poor grammar in the last couple of entries, I've had so little time to write these diary entries that I never checked them over before submitting.    Oh, and I should also mention that there are tonnes more photos at my flickr page.

So much more has happened since I last wrote.    I should tell you a bit more about Thursday daytime first though.   When Bryan and I were here last year we spent a day with Robert Reynolds and Jim Reilley who gave us an insiders guide to Nashville. It was an enjoyable day and it was great to see things such as the Johnny Cash house (which of course no longer exists).    Jim and Robert were keen to do something with us again this year, so they booked a studio in East Nashville for Thursday morning and invited some of their favourite up-and-coming musicians along to play some songs and talk about their music.   This included Casey Kessel, Jon Roniger, Amelia White and Phil Lee. (ok so he's been around a while).    Unfortunately, Thursday morning was also when Porter's funeral was scheduled, and there was absolutely no way I could miss that. So, I met Jim at Portland Brew and he led me to the studio which was basically a barn at the back of a house. I heard the start of the Casey Kessel section (sounded great) then had to jump in the Mustang and get to the Grand Ole Opry for 11.00.    I did manage to get back in time to hear Jon Roniger's last couple of songs though. What amused me most was that when I left there were two untouched tubs of candy on the table, when I returned the table was strewn with wrappers as you can see from these two photos!

What I heard sounded great and I wish I could have cloned myself and been able to stay for the whole thing. Haven't got the disc of the session yet though.

Robert then had to dash of to a funeral, and I was scheduled to appear on a panel about the State of Americana Radio at 2pm at the Convention Centre. I was a little nervous about this as it was the first time I'd had to do anything like it, but it seemed to go ok, and a lot of people since have come up to me to say how much they enjoyed what I said.   I was thrown however when Brad Paul asked me about HD radio in the UK - I had no idea what it was, never mind if we had it!

Thursday evening was AMA Award night.   Given that almost everything (except Porter's funeral) had started later than scheduled this week I turned up a little later than 7.30, only to find it had started on time and I'd missed Sunny Sweeney and Elizabeth Cook.    I took my seat as Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell sang a duet (if you remember my last entry I said how disappointed I was that they hadn't sung together at the Salute to Porter) accompanied by the House Band who included Buddy Miller (in same outfit as day before), Phil Madeira and Fats Kaplin.

The Avett Brothers performed next, getting big cheers before and after their song. They seemed ok live, but I was surprised at the enthusiasm of the audience. They were nominated for 3 Awards and went on to win 2 of them - New & Emerging Artist of the Year and Duo/Group of the Year.

Todd Snider sang a song in commemoration of a female DJ from KPig who died earlier this year, then Buddy Miller and Patty Griffin dueted on a brand new, as yet unnamed, Julie Miller song which was lovely. Patty remained on stage to sing harmonies for Gurf Morlix on "Killing Time in Texas".

After Darrell Scott, in the most hideous "lounge pants" had sung "Hank William's Ghost" with Suzy Ragsdale and John Cowan (which went on to win Song of the Year), Willie Nelson was awarded the Lifetime Achievement for Songwriting Award which was collected by his daughter and Lyle Lovett presented Joe Ely with the Award for Performing.

Uncle Earl sang "The Last Goodbye" and then Tamara Saviano accompanied by Joe Ely and Rodney Crowell gave the President's Award to Townes Van Zandt.   Surprise guest Guy Clark then appeared to sing "To Live Is To Fly" to a standing ovation.

It was good to see the Hacienda Brothers do "What's Wrong With Right' with Dan Penn who produced their CD, and then Buddy Miller won the Instrumentalist of the Year and was presented with a Gibson Guitar by his sister.

The Old Crow Medicine Show were up next, joined by Emmlou on harmony vocals

After another couple of awards, Patty Griffin returned to the stage to sing "Trapeze" with Emmylou Harris which was lovely then Jim Lauderdale and Randy Kohrs did "Can We Find Forgiveness" from his Bluegrass Diaries CD.

Patty Griffin went on to win 2 awards - Album of the Year and Artist of the Year, JD Souther presented Darrell Scott with Song of the Year.

Joe Ely then sang "Slow You Down" before Tony Brown gave Lyle Lovett the inaugural Trailblazer Award. Lyle remained on stage to sing "If I Had A Boat".

And that was pretty much it, other than a finale of "A Satisfied Mind" in tribute to Porter Wagoner which was great.   

Personally I thought the Award show much better than 2006. It was tighter, the performers were stronger, and there were more collaborations. Jim was, as always, a great host holding the whole thing together.   I wasn't convinced by some of the winners, but there again I wasn't convinced by the nominees, so that wasn't surprising. My only other criticism is that, at over 3 hours, it's a little on the long side, especially as the wooden pews in the Ryman start to hurt after about 2 hours. However, very enjoyable evening.

That said, the evening wasn't over even although, having had a busy day, I was knackered.    I jumped on a shuttle bus to The Cannery for Blue Rodeo and Friends. This was my dream gig - one of my favourite bands performing their songs and backing some of my other favourites - Justin Rutledge, Oh Susanna, Luke Doucet and Ron Sexsmith.

Blue Rodeo did a half hour set featuring primarily songs from their new album (which I don't have yet). Oh Susanna and Luke Doucet joined them, with Susie singing 3 songs including Grey Hound Bus and River Blue. Justin Rutledge was next up and then after another Blue Rodeo song Luke Doucet returned with Justin, and Oh Susanna on harmonies.   After another short set from Blue Rodeo, Ron Sexsmith came on stage. He began by singing Bad Timing, the Blue Rodeo song, before doing Imaginary Friend and Secret Heart.   At this point I was so tired I had to go home.   However it was an excellent couple of hours of entertainmant. The 6-Piece Blue Rodeo are all great musicians, so to have them back the others worked very well. I couldn't really have picked a better mix of performers, and Blue Rodeo's new songs all sounded really good.

So Thursday was a great day.

01 Nov 07

Salute to Porter Wagoner

The opening event at this year’s Americana Music Festival was a Salute to Porter Wagoner. I believe this was decided upon and organised before it was known he was on his last legs, and I was slightly concerned that a fancy dress party on Halloween was slightly inappropriate given that he’d only died on Sunday. But I suppose the fact that he was dead rather than dying was probably a good thing and made it a little easier. Anyway, I turned up at 5.20, as it was advertised to start at 5.30, but I’m coming to the realisation that advertised times aren’t actually start times. However it did mean I wasn’t too far from the front of the queue and managed to get myself a really good seat with a couple from Texas at one of the few tables in front of the stage. In front of me was Janet Reno, in front of her members of Porter’s family and then it was the stage.   So I was lucky, and it was perfect for pictures as well as watching/listening.

The advertised contributors to the show were Jim Lauderdale, Buddy Miller and Rodney Crowell, but I suspected Emmylou might make an appearance when I saw her guitar guy on stage setting stuff up.   I clocked Jim Lauderdale mingling in the room pretty quickly – he was wearing a suit that I’m sure Porter would have been proud to wear – a red suit with rhinestones, looked great.

I was then surprised to see Buddy Miller had swapped his usual uniform of baseball cap and denim shirt for a blue nudie coat and cowboy style hat – he looked pretty good too.   

Can’t say Rodney had made so much of an effort but still.   Most of the audience had decided against fancy dress but there was the odd pirate and person in a mask there.

Jim Lauderdale acted as host for the evening and performed the first song (sorry can’t remember what it was), he then introduced Chris Gaffney from the Hacienda Brothers who did Cold Hard Facts of Life (I believe he had an album or band called this).

Next up was Mike Farris who I have to admit I know nothing about but there seems to be a bit of a buzz about him this week.   He did a very moving version of Green Green Grass of Home which afforded him a standing ovation but much of the audience.

Porter’s daughter then came to the stage where Jim and Jed Hilly from the AMA presented her with an AMA lifetime achievement award which she passed on to two of Porter’s grand daiughters (they looked quite upset).

Rodney Crowell then did two songs – one of Porter’s and then his own Love is All You Need which he said he wrote after his parents died.

There was an amusing section after this when Jim showed the cover of a recent No Depression which had Porter on the cover. His daughter jumped up and said that she had organised that, and it was Porter’s last ever interview, as he’d decided he’d said all he had to already. She told Jim that Porter had said to her that “Jim wants to be me” so she told Jim he was her new Daddy.   

I was proved right in my suspicion about Emmylou when she and Buddy came on stage and sang three of Porter and Dolly songs including Someone I Used To Know and Burning The Midnight Oil.

The final song was Emmylou and Jim singing A Satisfied Mind.   

It was a shame Rodney never sang with Emmylou, and that neither Marty Stuart or Dolly Parton were there, but still it was a good hour’s worth of entertainment. And will certainly go down as one of the best things I’ll see this week.

Once they left the stage we were all invited to have a look round the Marty Stuart exhibition which is currently on at the TN State Museum. And wow, what a lot of stuff he’s collected.   There were suits. Boots and guitars belonging to all the country greats from Hank Williams to Johnny Cash. Marty’s own clothes, boot and guitars were quite something too.

So all in all it was a great couple of hours.   I spent the rest of the evening catching up with a friend and didn’t see anymore music, but that would have been hard to beat!

Porter Wagoner's funeral at the Grand Ole Opry

Stage empty apart from wreaths and a floral decoration which included a rhinestone coat and guitar plus the lifetime achievement his family were given the night before from the AMA. There were 3 screens showing shots of Porter throughout his life.

Front row of the audience included Dolly and Marty.   Family sat behind the coffin.   Which was decorated by a tasteful bouquet of flowers.

I arrived just as Marty Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives, all dressed in black with just a few rhinestones sang Precious Lord Take My Hand. Marty had his mandolin but the others just sang. After that they left, Marty remained on stage and played an instrumental on his mandolin.   Sounded lovely.

3 Wagonmasters took to the stage next, 2 of them had been with Porter for the best part of 20 years. (Danny Davis, Rick LD Money and Fred Newell. They sang/played Rank Stranger.

Next on stage were Ricky Skaggs (on acoustic guitar) and The Whites who did He Took Your Place. The Carol Lee Singers did Precious Memories. The singer said she’s been lucky enough to pray with Porter a few times in hospital and that he had “gone home”.

Duane Allan then did When I Sing For Him, and then the Senior Pastor from Porter’s church got up for a “message” which began talking about Porter but neatly segued into him trying to convert the audience to believing in Jesus – “there’s only 1 door to heaven and only those who have welcomed Jesus to their heart can go through, the rest are lost…”   We had to pray to this effect. Not really my think, but this is the South I suppose.

My favourite bit of the whole ceremony came next. Vince Gill, Patty Loveless and Ricky Skaggs performed Go Rest High On That Mountain – it was lovely, and apparently the last song Porter heard.    Porter singing Drifting too Far From The Shore with Dolly was played over the speakers next and the finally musical number featured members of the Grand Ole Opry who, it has to be said, struggled up the stairs to the stage. Led by Dolly Parton (in a very short black dress) they sang I Saw the Light.    It was hard to recognise many of them as I was too far away, but I did see Trisha and Garth, standing slightly away from everyone else at the back.    Dolly said before she sang that she’d wanted to do another song on her own but didn’t think she could make it though it.

Once they had finished, they all remained on stage and watched as Porter’s coffin was carried out, followed by his family. This was quite a moving moment.

I’m not hugely familiar with the music of Porter Wagoner, although, over the past 2 days at the Salute to Porter and the Funeral I did recognise a lot of the songs, but I’m pleased I could be a part of his “journey across the river” and also glad that I had a chance to catch him live at the Grand Ole Opry a couple of years back.

31 Oct 07

I love Nashville.   

I realise I say this everytime I come here (this is my 4th visit and second AMA event).   But it's true. I love the music, the people, the coffee shops, the bars, the weather and pretty much everything else.    The biggest problem I'm having this week is that there's only 1 of me, and too many things to do and people to see. I need to clone myself - or just not sleep until the flight home on Sunday.

I arrived Saturday night after two delayed flights and what seemed like hours in various queues justifying me desire to visit.   Sunday was relatively quiet although I did have to go and collect my hire car from the airport. I'd requested the smallest economy car because I have a mini cooper back home plus I've never driven outside of the UK.   However, I drove away in a red mustang convertible. It's a little bigger than I'm used to, and I'm having a bit of trouble with the width but I'm getting there.   My challenge for today is to figure out how to put the roof down, no point having a convertible otherwise!

Monday I made it to the mall then spent the rest of the day with a friend. Had a nice evening meal in a cajun restaurant, recently relocated from New Orleans, called Chappys. Tried my first fried green tomatoes.    The 3 bottles of wine we consumed weren't such a good idea though... I won't be doing that again this trip.

Tuesday started slowly (the red wine's fault) but I managed to get to our BNC interview with David Macias about the Song of America project (excellent 3 CD set charting the history of America through song).   Later in the afternoon I met singer-songwriters Jon Roniger and Robert Reynolds for a chat and drink (water!), before going to The Stage on Broadway for an industry event celebrating Mel Tillis and his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame.   There was a public show on the Monday night featuring Mel and fellow inductee Vince Gill. Apparently at that show Mel fell off the stage having taken one step too far... Nothing like that happened on Tuesday though!   I was surprised to note that I knew nobody in the room, yet they all seemed to know each other and it was primarily an audience of industry people and young glamorous wannabes. But there again it wasn't an Americana event.    The house band were Mel's band, The Statesiders, a 10-piece outfit who were very good.   The evening kicked off with Pam Tillis and two of her siblings

They were followed by, for the most part, new, up and coming Nashville country artists, who, with the exception of Radney Foster (not so new or upcoming) I was unfamiliar with.    They included a couple of members of Trick Pony - Ira Dean and Heidi Newfield, Blaine Larsen and others. All were decent singers but the only one who knew any of the lyrics was Blaine. He looks about 15 but he's a confident performer!   

Mel sat up on the balcony throughout, generally with his back to the stage chatting to friends, but I think he appreciated it.    After about an hour he took to the stage and the whole show went up a notch.   

After 2 songs he was joined on stage by Toby Keith and it was amusing to notice that the audience all pushed a little closer to the stage at this point.   Now, I'm no Toby Keith fan, but to his credit he knew the lyrics to all the songs unlike the earlier artists (including Pam Tillis).   They did about 8 or 9 songs together (including Detriot City and Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town) and it was obvious how much they respected and liked each other.   

I'm not familiar with much of Mel's musical output other than a handful of songs but the hour he was on the stage was really good. And it was nice to see an industry audience who were all enjoying the show, not chatting to each other and ignoring the music.

Once this finished I met up with Eamon from The Greencards and we went to Robert's Western World for burgers and beer.   Jack Greene walked in, in his rhinestone suit, presumably having just performed at the Tuesday night Opry at the Ryman, and performed a couple of songs.   The band were pretty good.

So that was Tuesday. Today I'm over-seeing an interview/session with Justin Rutledge followed by AMA registration then the Porter Wagoner Halloween Party (seems a little odd that now, given that he died of lung cancer on Sunday) with Jim Lauderdale, Buddy Miller and Rodney Crowell.   Tomorrow there's now a high chance I might find myself at Porter's funeral at the Grand Ole Opry which will be quite an experience.   

Did I mention, I love this town...

08 Oct 07

iTunes seems to be having difficulty picking up my shows right now, don't know why as my subscription to the show still works... If you normally get manually from iTunes each week you can subscribe using this: http://www.tapecircle.co.uk/spydaradio/tmtht.xml, in iTunes go to advanced/subscribe to podcast, and paste that link. Alternatively you can download from this site.
I'm having so many problems with itunes/ipods right now that it's really p*ssing me off! Much as I love the look of apple products, I'm definitely jinxed when it comes to using them!

I went to a couple of gigs at the weekend. On Saturday Mary Gauthier returned to Edinburgh for a very busy solo show at The Pleasance, supported by Emily Barker. Emily was fine, nice songs but after half a dozen I'd had enough. Mary had to compete with the MacDonald Brothers playing upstairs, but approached the challenge in good spirits. She was entertaining as always which was a nice balance to the songs of misery and hard-ship that she writes.   My one bug-bear with the evening had nothing to do with Mary, but with the audience. A large minority of whom were gay woman. Nothing wrong with that, but it annoys me that they only come to a show because the artist shares their sexuality. You can say the same for people how go to see "christian" singers too and other minorities.   Surely if someone likes Mary's music they'd also enjoy many other artists and that would help to boost audience sizes. Just my opinion...

Last night was something completely different - Capercaillie supported by Roddy Hart, at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre.   I work for the record label of both these artists (Vertical Records), and have had a significant role in booking & marketing the band's UK tour (full dates in the gig guide) which has been, let's say, an experience.   Suffice to say, tour-booking is not an area I want to be involved in, so if you're an artist don't ask me!    That said, it was an enjoyable evening. Roddy, joined by a guitarist, kicked things off, with an ever-so-slightly one-paced set, however he's very likeable on stage and the songs are good so I think he went down pretty well.    Capercaillie then played for 90 minutes including in their set songs from their forthcoming new CD (out soon, I promise). For me, Capercaillie is all about Karen Matheson's voice - she is my favourite vocalist - I have no idea what she's singing about most of the time because I don't speak any gaelic, but it doesn't matter. The other two band-members who I love listening to are Mike McGoldrick on pipes and flutes (who missed this gig sadly) and Charlie McKerron on fiddle. But they are all accomplished musicians, and it's a pleasure to listen to them. The audience took a while to warm up, but that's Edinburgh for you, plus I do feel the band work best at Festivals or standing venues where people can dance if they want to. (not me though!)

Lots more gigs on the horizon, I'm obviously most excited about Justin Currie next Tuesday. I've been raving about his new CD for over a year now, and it's finally released today with a different title (What Is Love For). Brilliant CD, and he's amazing live.   There's also the Richard Thompson Band supported by Diana Jones, Dale Watson with Redd Volkaert and Mark Olson supported by Dolly Varden to come before I head to Nashville for even more music!

13 Sep 07

I'm at work, but my work iMac keeps over-heating and putting itself to sleep (I have no luck with apple computers or ipods other than my powerbook!) so I figure I might as well write a wee blog while it cools down.

We've recently recorded 2 more house concerts for BBC Radio Scotland's Brand New Country show.   In late August Devon Sproule made a special trip to Scotland to perform at a house concert near Linlithgow. She'd been on the show before and Bryan Burnett loved her so much he invited her back live on air.   The concert went down very well. Devon is a lovely, quirky person who's personality shone through during the set.    I enjoyed it so much I went to her Edinburgh gig at Cabaret Voltaire the following week where she had a full band including the legendary BJ Cole on pedal steel.   

Last Monday we recorded another house concert, this time in Glasgow, with Rod Picott accompanied by guitar player Chris Cottros (he's a Nashville session guitarist who has played with artists such as Lee Ann Womack, Lorrie Morgan, Steve Holy and Engleburt Humperdink). The concert took place in a beautiful flat in Pollockshields in Glasgow. Again, the audience loved it.   I really enjoy these house concerts, it's one of my favourite things we've done on BNC in the three years since I started work on the show.   The artists have all had a great time, made some new fans and sold CDs. The hosts have been amazing, very friendly and hospitable; and the audiences most of whom have had no prior knowledge of the singers, have been enthusiastic and excited to see music in this setting.    I'm almost tempted to host some myself, but most of my friends wouldn't want to attend (musical heathens!)

I saw Rod again with his full band at The Bein Inn on Tuesday night.   I was ever-so-slightly trepidatious about the band as I'd only ever seen Rod play with one supporting musician (I missed the last tour).   But I needn't have worried, the band were all good players who were sympathetic to the songs and the venue.    It was good to hear the music as it sounds on the albums and Rod really looked as though he was enjoying himself, he was on a complete high!

(more pictures of Rod and Devon at my flickr account.)

There are lots more gigs on the horizon for me including Jace Everett on Sunday, Chuck Prophet, Dale Watson (with Redd Volkaert which I'm really looking forward to), Mark Olson supported by Dolly Varden, Justin Townes Earle and more.   

I'm returning to Nashville in late October for the Americana Music Festival and Awards. I went last year with Bryan Burnett for Brand New Country and loved it. It was a completely different experience from SXSW, much more focused and I met many people with whom I had been in contact over email, as well as recording some brilliant interviews and sessions for BNC and seeing some good music.    This year Bryan can't make it, so the BBC are sending me to gather material. It'll be hard work, but good work!   We're going to do a live show from Nashville on Friday 2nd Oct where one of the guests will be Elizabeth Cook (with husband Tim Carroll).   I'm trying desperately hard to get an interview with Marty Stuart too, but that's not progressing very well at the moment.       I've been asked to go on a panel on the Saturday too, about breaking the rules of radio. This is the first time I've participated in something like that but I'm looking forward to giving an international view point.   I don't think I've ever followed any rules other than self-imposed ones.

I think that's everything. Hopefully my computer will switch on now... I'm currently organising a tour for the Scottish Celtic/Gaelic band Capercaillie (I work for their record label) - a scary prospect given that I have no experience & I'm being asked all kinds of questions I can't answer!

19 Aug 07

Facebook - what's it all about?   I have no idea, but I'm on there, so if you are too, come find me - email address I use is karen.miller -at- btconnect.com

TMTHT is now going out on Radio Six International. Came as a bit of a surprise, but a good one. The show is going out at 11pm on Fridays, repeated 8.30am on Saturdays (UK time). Good station, reminds me of SpydaRadio in it's eclecticism and attempt to champion the unsigned bands out there.

I'm also on CMR Nashville of course. Thursdays 4pm, repeated through the night and Sundays.

Loomer are still in the country (the UK that is), go and see them if you can. 7 of them this time around.

31 Jul 07

I spent last weekend in Ireland at the Midlands Music Festival held at the Belvedere Estate near Mullingar. This was my second visit to the festival, I went last year too and saw artists such as Dwight Yoakam, Emmylou Harris, Nanci Griffith, Van Morrison, Kenny Rogers and more.   This year the names weren't quite so uniformly "big" but it actually suited my musical tastes better.    The artists I didn't manage to see included Richmond Fontaine, Glen Campbell, Mundy, Christy Moore, Paul Brady, The Be Good Tanyas and Steve Earle – there was just so much to choose from.

My festival began with one of my favourite artists – Jim Lauderdale. He only had a 30 minute set on the main stage which wasn't really long enough but he filled it with a selection of songs from his career including Halfway Down, Love in the Ruins, King of Broken Hearts. Sporting his electric blue suit he looked very dapper. Nice to get a name-check from him too.



Allison Moorer was on at the same time on stage 2 in the tent. Given that the rain had started to fall (surprise surprise) I went there next, but only managed to catch a couple of songs. The tent was packed so the view wasn't great, but Allison was joined for one song by partner Steve Earle, who could take some style lessons from Jim Lauderdale!   With his thinning hair, growing long, bushy beard and rain coat you have to think that it's not his looks that Allison is going for! She looked great though & very relaxed.   




Next on the main stage was Aimee Mann. I'd been looking forward to her set, but although the music sounded good and she played lots of songs I recognised, I didn't really connect. She doesn't give a lot on stage and I could have been listening to the CDs.   




So after 30 minutes or so I returned to the tent where Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder were receiving a justifiably more positive response.   Again, I was a long way back, but there were a lot of them on stage performing a mixture of instrumentals and vocal numbers which were going down very well with the audience. Excellent musicians and I wish I'd ditched Aimee a little earlier.

I had a tea break during Steve Earle's (solo) set so can't comment on that, although I did hear him singing a few of his classic hits from a distance.    He's playing in Glasgow in January so I might catch him then.

Richard Thompson was in the tent at 6pm playing to a mid-sized audience. He was solo and seated but the sound was full and obviously his guitar-playing was great. Again, the set you'd expect including a few songs from the new album, Bathsheba Smiles and other classics, the names of which have completely escaped me!

I did catch a little of The Waterboys who were on at the same time, they sounded ok.   I am not too familiar with their music other than the tracks "Whole of the Moon" and "Fisherman's Blues" both of which they performed.

Kris Kristofferson was next up on the main stage, dressed as always in black and armed with guitar and harmonica.   Now I think Kris is an amazing performer, but I've seen him twice very close-up in Austin (Continental Club & the New West Party) which are two musical highlights, and in front of a large crowd I don't connect quite so well as his on stage persona is further away (if that makes sense).    This kind of brings attention to the fact he can't sing at all anymore.   But nonetheless the audience enjoyed his set of old and new songs. I just entertained myself by taking lots of mediocre photos (too far away).




The two final acts of the first night were Christy Moore on the main stage and the Hillbilly All-Stars in the tent. Much as I'd like to have seen Christy I chose the latter figuring that they'd be an entertaining and lively band to round off the evening with.   They were at the festival last year but only had a half hour set. At that time the line-up included Mark Collie on guitar/vocals and Al Perkins on steel. This time around Mark was replaced by Chris Scruggs and Al by Jimmy C Clark on both pedal steel and fiddle. The band also includes Chuck Mead (BR5-49) and Robert Reynolds and Paul Deakin, both formerly of the Mavericks.   My problem with Mark Collie on both occasions I'd seen him with the band was that he was just a little too in love with himself. There were lots of "look at me" poses that detracted from the music.   Chris Scruggs on the other hand, might only be 24, but he's a great musician and singer so his addition was a welcome one for me. Amusingly Chuck Mead had on a Chris Scruggs t-shirt.





Chris, Chuck and Robert took turns at lead vocals on a set that was comprised primarily of country covers including Ooh Las Vegas, The Shape I'm In and a maverick's song (can't remember which though). Jim Lauderdale joined them for 2 songs including Honky Tonk Mood Again from my album of 2006 – Country Super Hits Vol 1.    Great way to end the evening.




Sunday morning the sun was shining, and my friend and travel companion Emma was optimistic enough to put her shorts on (I wasn't).    The sun actually shone most of the day and although it was cloudy it was considerably better than the Saturday which was a relief.

Musically Sunday began the way Saturday had ended, with the Hillbilly All-Stars, this time on the main stage. It was exactly the same set as in the evening, although the band were a bit tighter this time around (having had "a full rehearsal the night before") Jim Lauderdale joined them again for 2 songs.   




Once he left the stage I went across to the tent for Sunny Sweeney. I'd seen her play in Austin in March and really like her CD. She's obviously a fan of country music and has such fun playing. You can't help but like her.   She performed much of her album "Heart Breakers Hall of Fame" as well as a couple of covers including Folsom Prison.   




Jim Lauderdale appeared again to duet on Lavendar Blue. Sunny looked like she was in heaven…    Sadly she didn't get the best of audiences, probably because the majority of the audience were enjoying the sunshine.




The Hothouse Flowers were next up on the main stage. A lot of people I'd talked to were excited about seeing them play, but my interested waned after they kicked off with a very long (and ever-so-slightly dull) version of "Don't Go" followed by "I Can See Clearly Now" – those were the only two songs I knew and aside from being briefly entertained by how they looked (like extras from Life on Mars or Starsky and Hutch)




I wasn't that interested so I relocated to the tent to catch some of Ben Taylor.   All I really knew about him was that his Dad's James Taylor. To look at you wouldn't think that, he's tall, sinewy and very "American" looking, but when he opened his mouth it could have been his father singing – their voices are spookily similar.   I enjoyed his music a lot – melodic, generally down-beat singer-songwriter fare and I'll be investigating his music further.




I then managed to completely miss Richmond Fontaine who I'd been keen to see because I started chatting to friends, and I also missed most of the Blind Boys of Alabama, although I did catch the tail-end of their set when Jimmy Carter was carried into the audience to sing their final song. He was lovely.   I wish I'd seen more as they sounded really good.




The last artist I saw play this year was Gillian Welch, with, of course, Dave Rawlings. Big crowd for this one, and they too looked very smiley and happy to be there. All the songs you'd expect – Orphan Girl, I Want To Play That Rock 'n' Roll, Time (The Revelator), Elvis Presley Blues etc.




I'm not a Be Good Tanyas fan, and had seen Glen Campbell last year, so went back to friends' hotel and proceeded to drink more pints of Budweiser than I should have – it's all a little hazey…

Highlights? I really enjoyed most of what I saw – Hillbilly All-Stars, Jim Lauderdale, Gillian Welch, Sunny Sweeney, Richard Thompson, Ben Taylor.   It was possibly a slightly better festival location this year with good views of the main stage from pretty much everywhere. It felt busy too which was good – last year, until the main acts at the tail-end it seemed quiet. I think the music was well-balanced, not too many solo singer-songwriters and enough variety to keep it interesting.      I definitely think it's a better country music festival than anything held in the UK and I'd recommend it to fans of the genre.

There are plenty more pictures at www.flickr.com/photos/tmtht

26 Jun 07

I spent my weekend at the first of two summer festivals I plan to attend this year - although truth be told "summery" is not a word I'd use to describe The Outsider Festival. I don't think I've ever been outside in June before at 1.30pm and seen my breath when I breath. Incredible! It didn't bode well for the weekends weather though...   It was a weekend of cold weather and rain which although it lessened every so often rarely stopped. This of course dented the size of the audience and was a real shame as the festival was supposed to celebrate all things outside, and also had runs, mountain biking, walks, archery, climbing etc organised to take place during the days.   These went ahead but I'd predict the turn-out wasn't as expected. The conditions and lack of music for the best part of Saturday afternoon did mean that Kirsty Wark's debates about issues such as the environment and global warming were packed.

The festival began on the Friday but I arrived on Saturday in time for Capercaillie's set on the main, outdoor, stage. The rain was falling heavily but a decent crowd braved the weather to hear the band's 75 minute set which was a mixture of instrumentals and vocal tracks featuring the beautiful voice of Karen Matheson.   Capercaillie are very much a live band and their set went down well with an encore of my favourite of their songs (if not the most cheery) Fear a Bhata followed by some reels.   

There was then a long lull in the music so I caught the second half of the environmental/global warming talk hosted by Kirsty Wark which was interesting but didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know. That said, it was out of the rain.

The next musical event of interest was Roddy Hart and his band in the music tent The Planet.   Unfortunately the organisers had decided to bring his set forward by 30 minutes so I missed all but the last three songs which was a shame as I'd never seen Roddy with his full band before.

Idlewild played the outdoor stage, again in the rain, and it was enjoyable although I don't know much of their music. I was actually looking forward to catching Roddy's solo set the following day.

Headline on the mainstage on Saturday was KT Tunstall. I stuck around for the first few songs up until the end of the big hit (the Cherry Tree song) and then went to shelter in the comedy tent when Karen Dunbar was quite amusing (or maybe I'd had too much to drink!)

That was Saturday. The organisers changed the times for most of the musical acts on the Sunday, after complaints that there was too long a gap after Capercaillie on the main stage the day before. This meant I didn't need to be at the site until 2.30. (I wasn't camping).   

Roddy Woomble was on in the tent, and joined by his Idlewild guitarist as well as John McCusker (who also played with Eddi Reader and Julie Fowlis that day) and Eddi Reader's accordion player Alan Kelly for a couple of songs. Heidi Talbot sang with Roddy on Waverly Steps from his solo album. Good set, mainly songs from the aforementioned solo CD (My Secret is My Silence) and a couple of Idlewild tracks plus the Woody Guthrie song Way Over Yonder In A Minor Key.

Eddi Reader then took to the main stage, and guess what, torrential rain again.   It was getting very muddy and I had by this time invested in a pair of wellies. The stall selling them was doing great business.   

Eddi had her full band with her including John McCusker, Boo Hewerdine, Alan Kelly and Kevin McGuire. The rain didn't stop either Eddi or the audience from enjoying themselves and she danced around the stage (maybe to keep warm!)   Her set featured some of the more upbeat songs from Peacetime, Songs of Burn and a couple of Fairground Attraction hits (Perfect, For My Love).   

As soon as she finished I headed back to the tent for what I was most looking forward to - Justin Currie (Del Amitri). This was the 2nd time I'd seen him play solo (Celtic Connections was the other one), and as always he was brilliant. He had a full band including Stuart Nesbitt on guitar/pedal steel, keyboards, drums and bass.   The set was a good mixture of Del Amitri favourites and songs from his forthcoming solo album "Rebound" (out October on Rykodisc), incuding the wonderful What Is Love For and No Surrender.   Del Amitri songs included Be My Downfall, Driving With The Brakes On, Here and Now, This Side of the Morning and Tell Her This, and his encore, with Eddi Reader, was an acoustic rendition of Nothing Ever Happens. He got the loudest and most rapturous applause of the festival and it was well-deserved.

I caught a tiny bit of Julie Fowlis on the main stage as I made a bee-line for hospitality and some dinner.   Sounded good, but it was just too wet to stand around.   

Final band of the night on the main stage were the recently reformed Crowded House. I was fortunate to have an artist pass which meant I was able to sit on the back of the crowd barriers between the audience and the band, therefore avoiding the mud and crush plus getting a great view - the rain even stopped!   They were great and obviously really enjoying playing together again, Neil Finn didn't stop smiling and there was a lot of banter with the audience.   They played many of their classic songs including Weather With You, Four Seasons in One Day, Distant Sun, Pineapple Head and Fall At Your Feet, plus the new single and a couple of other new songs.

It was a perfect end to a weekend filled with great music and entertainment and only let down by the weather. I don't know if this festival will become an annual affair. I think the organisers would have lost a lot of money, but I hope it does.

More pictures at flickr

30 May 07

Hello

Seeing as I've reached my 200th show (eventually!), I thought it time to redesign the website, hope you like it. There will be some more enhancements coming soon. Pretty much everything from the old site is still available.

I was involved in a recording of a Robbie Fulks house concert for broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland's Brand New Country show. Brilliant evening. The man's a real star. He has a new CD out, a double live album called "Revenge". It's on Yep-Roc records and is highly recommended. The concert will go out on the 22nd June.

I've also been to a few other gigs recently - Eliza Gilkyson with Robert McEntee, Oh Susanna and Diana Jones.   All three were excellent. Eliza was much cheerier than when I saw her at SXSW, she played 2 sets with Robert McEntee on guitar.   She too has a new live CD out which she recorded with a band at the Cactus Cafe in Austin last year.

It's good to have a new CD from Oh Susanna.   She came over to the UK for a very short tour which included the Tron in Glasgow. Good turn-out which I was pleased to see. She's slightly rusty when it comes to performing, but it was a nice set featuring lots of songs from the new album as well as some older tracks such as Sleepy Little Sailor, Back Dirt Road and Kings Road.    She was wearing the most gorgeous pair of cowboy boots. I asked her about them afterwards and went straight home to look them up, but they're way over my budget sadly.

I'm off to the Outsider Festival in Aviemore later this month. Good line-up including Justin Currie (who's album will finally be released in October on Rykodisc), Crowded House, Capercaillie and Eddi Reader. Here's hoping the temperature rises by then... In July I return to the Midland Music Festival in Ireland. Last year's line-up was impressive, if a little too big country for me. This year, for me at least, it's even better. So I'm really looking forward to that.

That's about all my news for now...

21 Mar 07

Wednesday 14 March 2007

Great to be back in Austin for SXSW and to meet up with family and friends I only ever see here. I had a great week in Chicago, not much music but it was nice to relax and play the tourist. I did see a good double bill featuring Chuck Prophet and Alejandro Escovedo (with half his string quartet) at the Old Town School of Folk Music - a lovely venue. I had to rush out after Chuck's set to introduce Dolly Varden on stage at their album launch gig at Martyrs. A nerve-wracking experience but i was honoured to have been asked.

I arrived in Austin after a long delay sitting on a plane on the ground in Dallas due to "weather" in both cities. Admittedly there was torrential rain and lightning, but I could have driven between the cities quicker! My poor uncle was left sitting at the airport waiting for me for three hours, but he took it very well.

There was more rain on Wednesday, but more of a light drizzle this time, and it wasn't cold by any means. I started early when Ed (my uncle) took my cousin Maggie and I along to KUT where he presents Folkways. John Ayling was interviewing Carrie Rodriguez and Eliza Carthy, so we stood in the cubicle and watched. Both performed a few songs too and sounded great.

Looking forward to seeing more of Carrie sometime this week.

Then I registered, a dull process, and found out I'd been given the wrong badge - a platinum one instead of music. I think this means I can get into films as well but I don't suppose I'll make use of that aspect unless the weather gets worse again.

I ate at Whole Foods and then caught a couple of dillo's to South Congress to see some of Laura's ComboPlatter party at Guero's. Sadly missed Nels Andrews but saw some good music and caught up with some friends. I then popped into Opal Divine's where I sadly only caught the tail end of Stephen Simmons set. I really like his song "Drink Ring Jesus" and the two songs I heard sounded pretty good too. I must give the CD another listen.

Across the road at Mother Egan's there was a really strong line-up. I missed a lot of it, but did see Pam Tillis who sounded a little "Nashville" but I enjoyed her set

, and James McMurtry, playing solo. He was great as always and the large crowd obviously all supported his politics. To be honest having no band behind him made little difference to his sound.

In the evening I spent 3 hours in the Parish, the venue where I had an excellent evening last year watching Al Anderson, Tom Russell, Eliza Gilkyson, Rodney Crowell and Lyle Lovett, all one bill. This year the Americana Music Org. event was held here as opposed to Antones and it was a pretty decent bill although I only stayed for the first 3 artists. The Evening began with Charlie Louvin, one half of the legendary Louvin Brothers (the other, Ira died many years ago). Charlie doesn't have the voice he used to, but he's a professional and had a decent band behind him including a female on rythmn guitars and vocals. He sang a number of Louvin classics which really just proved how shot to pieces his voice is now, but, that said, I did enjoy his set and if was good to see him live.

Next up was a lady I was really looking forward to - Sunny Sweeney. I heard clips from her CD, Heartbreaker's Hall of Fame, on Miles of Music last year and instantly decided to buy the album. She was in Nashville at the AMAs in September but I was never able to see her perform and it was good to rectify that last night.

She must have performed every song from her album and was joined by Jim Lauderdale for the song on which he featured - Lavendar Blue. I spoke to her today and she told me that his appearance last night was a huge surprise to her, but a good one.

The biggest surprise of the evening for me came next in the form of the Holmes Brothers. I've heard a little of their music, and infact they were played on KUT yesterday morning doing a version of the Nick Lowe song "What's So Funny About Peace Love and Understanding", however I had always thought, erroneously maybe, that they would fall more into the soul and gospel categories as opposed to Americana. In fact they rocked. They all took turns at lead vocals. The drummer brother had the most soulful voice, the other two were gruffer and I thought the lead guitarist sounded a little like John Hiatt. He was a great guitar player. It was a high energy set but very accomplished and I must pick up a copy of their new CD whilst I'm here.

I left the Parish after their set, missing Ruthie Foster (everyone who remained said she was excellent), Marc Broussard and Ray Wylie Hubbard (who had Gurf Morlix. Buddy Miller and Ray Bonneville with him). Instead I went to a new (to me) venue The Rio where I saw a guy who's song on the SXSW website had impressed me, Joe Purdy. We had to wait a while for them to sound check but it was a decent set. Joe appeared in a peaked cap wearing fingerless gloves and sporting a bushy beard. He began accompanied only by Brian Wright on lap steel but was joined by a full band for the rest of the set. I enjoyed the music, especially the slower numbers, and I particularly liked Brian Wright who has his own band Brian Wright and the Waco Tragedies.

Thursday 15th March

Today began at the Convention Centre with my very first keynote speech in seven years! The artist in question was Emmylou Harris who was interviewed by film director Jonathan Demmy who, to be honest, should stick to the day job. His interview skills were lacking, he was completely incapable of articulating what he wanted to ask. However, that said, Emmylou knew him well so was relaxed and gave good answers to poor questions. She had some interesting things to say about Gram Parsons, a couple of facts I didn't know, for example it was her babysitter who got her together with Gram (Chris Hillman and seen her and been impressed but had no idea how to contact her, her babysitter Tina was there when Chris and Gram were having the conversation to put them in touch. - common knowledge to some I suppose, but not me). Emmylou also performed 4 songs with Buddy Miller on guitar. It was an interesting hour and Emmylou came over very well.

After that I popped into the day stage at the Convention Centre and bumped into Jeff Finlin who is here for the first time in 10 years, then I walked up to Jovitas, which is quite a hike, to catch some of the Twangfest showcase. I was interested in 3 artists - Elizabeth Cook, Jim Lauderdale and Dolly Varden. I've really loved both of Elizabeth's CDs and it was great to see her live with husband Tim Carroll on guitar (he also sang one of his songs about the TGV whilst Elizabeth did some clog dancing). I thought Sunny Sweeney (who was in fact in the audience) was good, but Elizabeth blew her out the water. Great set. I'll hopefully be given a copy of her forthcoming CD Balls (out 1st May) tonight.

Next up was the great Jim Lauderdale. Listeners to my shows or readers of this blog will know what a huge fan of Jim I am so it was obviously a delight to see him play. It was a solo set beginning with Hummingbird and including Honky Tonk Mood Again, Right Where You Want Me (my favourite from the Country Super Hits CD), Who's Leaving Who, Whisper, Halfway Down and more. Plus the usual entertaining stories and bad jokes. Good set. He's playing with a band tonight at the Continental Club, and obviously I'll be there - I saw him there many years ago and it was my favourite gig of that SXSW.

Dolly Varden were up next, and again I didn't see their whole set, but enjoyed what I did catch. There were more songs from the new CD and all sounded good. I'm looking forward to hearing it.

My uncle had appeared by this point, sparing me the long treck back into town. We went up to John Conquest's Third Coast Music showcase at Opal Divine's playing fields where he had a stellar line-up playing. I only saw Eilen Jewell, another new name I'd been keen to catch and she didn't disappoint. Her CD should be in the post.

I then popped home for a breather, but unfortunately in the process managed to drop my camera and I think I killed it... So I ordered a new one on Amazon, but sadly there'll be no more pictures until it arrives sometime tomorrow.

I popped into The Parish to see a band called Buddy from LA. I'd enjoyed their song on the SXSW website. They sounded pretty good, especially the quieter moments.

The majority of the evening however was spent at the Creekside EMC at the Hilton, a nice room, with comfy seats and great sound, perfect as a setting for the acoustic sets of Kris Delmhorst and Chris Smither. I missed the beginning of Kris' set but she played a selection of songs from her last CD Strange Conversation as well as some new songs, so I presume she must be working on a new album. Chris Smither followed her. I've never seen him play before, he always seems to miss Scotland off his UK tours and his set was a real pleasure. He's a skilled guitar player with good songs and a dry sense of humour and I think a real musician's musician. Eilen Jewell and band were next up. It was a similar set to the one she performed in the afternoon, but equally as enjoyable. She's got good songs and a nice band with double bass, drums and guitar/pedal steel. She is the most recent signing to Signature Sounds and has a new CD out in June (the last one was Boundary County).

I didn't stick around for her whole set but left to get to the Continental Club in time for Jim Lauderdale at the Yep-Roc showcase. It was running late so I heard about half of Doyle Bramhall's set which I really enjoyed. I know little about him, although having just looked at his website he's been around a long time and has played in bands with the likes of Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan. It was just what I needed to wake up - a mixture of country, rock and blues primarily it seems from his forthcoming CD. He plays drums and had (I think I heard this right) CC Adcock with him and one other musician, all sitting down so it was hard to see.

There was a short wait while the stage was set up for Jim and I managed to find a nice spot near the front, although my view was temporarily obscured by a girl with a press pass who stood in front of me and took photos on a camera with a huge and very bright flash which blinded me everytime she took a photo (this is one of my SXSW bugbears - people with press passes push their way to the front and obscure the views of people who have been there for a while, and often when finished taking photos stay there for the whole set, grr). Anyway, this didn't lessen my enjoyment too much as there's very little better than a Jim Lauderdale country band show. He was sporting his purple suit last night with red leaves up the legs of the trousers and sequins - very nice. Tom Detamore was on steel, Tom Lewis on drums plus a guitarist and bass player. The set focused on Country Super Hits Vol 1 including Honky Tonk Mood Again, Right Where You Want Me, Eastern Standard Time, Cautious, and You Can't Stop Her. He also played Love in the Ruins and was joined by his co-writer on that track, Buddy Miller, for Hole in My Head. Great set, over too soon. I noticed Sunny Sweeney in the audience and I get the feeling she's as much of a fan as I am! I also managed to pick up a copy of the forthcoming Elizabeth Cook CD from her/Jim's manager which I'm listening to right now.

Friday 16th March

Now that Saturday is also over, I think I can say that Friday was quite probably my favourite day of this year's festival. I began at Mother Egans where the Signature Sound/Red House Records showcase was being held all afternoon. Chris Smither was playing and although he was very good again, it was pretty much the same set/jokes etc as the night before.

Next door at the Molotov Lounge Fat Caddy Records were having their showcase. I had met Jon, the label owner at Maria's Taco House a couple of years earlier and he'd given me the Austin Collins CD "Something Better". I'd never seen him live, having arrived at last year's party just in time for the last song of the last artist, so this time I made the effort to get there on time! He was pretty good, but didn't perform my favourite song from the CD "Leave Me For Dead". He was followed by Brit Bex Marshall, she plays solo with a metal guitar, a kind of slide, blues, rock thing but it wasn't really to my taste. I was very interested in the next band having spoken to band member Colin Brooks the day before who was really enthusiastic about them. They were the Band of Heathens who had just won the accolade of Best New Band at the Austin Music Awards. There were some sound problems to begin with, but once sorted they sounded good. There are three vocalists/guitar players and they take turns at lead, which added a little variety. Speaking to Colin afterwards he thought this was the worst set they'd done at the Festival so I decided I'd try to see them again on Saturday (which I did, but more about that later).

It was then back to Mother Egan's for Ray Bonneville. I saw him at the very same venue at my first SXSW and his set this time was fairly similar sounding. He's good though and is supposed to be coming to the UK in May although I'll be working. He plays country blues, in a similar vein to, I suppose, Chris Smither.

I popped out for some food at Whole Foods and returned in time to catch the end of The Winterpills. Not really my kind of band although the quieter moments were nice. They were followed by Eliza Gilkyson, Kris Delmhorst and Lynn Miles in the round, something I'd been looking forward to since I saw the party line-up. They took turns at performing their songs, beginning with Eliza, the remaining two would join in on harmonies when they could. All three are quite different, but similar enough to make it work. They obviously all had a lot of respect for each other. The final song was "Peace Call", the Woody Guthrie song which Eliza had recorded because apparently it was the only thing they all knew, except that it transpired only Eliza really knew all the lyrics! They also had to compete with noise from a building site which was the cause of a few jokes throughout. Good set, really enjoyed it.

There was just time for a couple of friends and I to enjoy a bottle of red wine before Chip Taylor and his Train Wreck review took to the stage at my favourite venue of 2007 the Creekside EMC, he was joined by the new Carrie Rodriguez, Kendal Carson, who is also an attractive fiddle player with a nice voice and a CD where all the songs were written by Chip. John Platania was on guitar as always and there was also bass and drums. Chip sang many of his classic hits but let Kendal sing a few, and also performed a couple of tracks from an forthcoming CD he's releasing with John Platania which he said would be instrumentals although both the songs they performed had vocals. Still, sounded really good and is out in April.

When at the Creekside on Thursday evening I'd bumped into Jim Bryson who was playing there on Friday, when I told him I was planning to go he told me I should come early and see Jill Barber, another Canadian who was playing before him. So I did as I was told and really enjoyed her. She was accompanied by an acoustic guitar player and sang self-penned songs which fell loosely into the country/folk/singer-songwriter category. I really should have spoken to her afterwards but I was enjoying sitting down!

Jim Bryson came next and I think this was the best I've seen him. He's definitely improved as a solo performer, he doesn't go mad on the guitar the way he used to do. He played songs from his forthcoming album, which is very good by the way, as well as some from the last album. Jill Barber joined him for Somewhere Else. He's a very personable and entertaining performer.

I then got my times a little confused and went to Bourbon Rocks for Ron Sexsmith. I realised as soon as I walked in and saw the stage set-up that I was an hour early. It really wasn't my kind of venue so I returned to the Creekside for Danny Schmidt. He's an intense singer-songwriter with some good strong songs. Seems he's had about 4 albums out but nothing recently. I would have stayed for his entire set because it was very enjoyable, but I developed a tickly cough and decided it was only fair to everyone if I made a quick exit.

I was keen to see Justin Rutledge at 1am, and, although it was only 11.30, headed to the Light Bar where he was to play. When I walked into the bar I thought I'd come to the wrong place as there was loud hip hop music blaring out and an audience who really didn't look like fans of americana (or in this case Canadiana music). However it transpired the SXSW venue was upstairs on the roof and the bands were even higher up on a section of the roof about 6 feet above. I caught the end of Melissa McLelland accompanied by husband Luke Doucet. She sounded pretty good. Luke was next up supported by Melissa. I kinda like him but I found the drums a little loud and his guitar playing a bit busy.

I first saw Justin Rutledge two years ago when he supported Neal Casal at King Tuts. His first album "Sleepless in Vancouver" had only just been released and he was unknown to the majority of the audience, however he had them eating out of his hands by the end of his short solo set. This time around, he had a full band including pedal steel, guitar, bass and drums and it was a completely different experience. I admit I only stuck around for 3 songs, but that was because it was freezing cold on the roof. He played Robin's Tune; I'm Your Man, Your My Radio; and 1855 before I left. All sounded great and a lot more lively than I'd heard before - there were even people dancing to 1855, something I'd never have expected to see at a Justin Riutledge gig!

Friday was a good day. Quite possibly my favourite overall experience of the week. I'm taking a more relaxed approach this year, not running around anymore than is necessary and cherry-picking venues which is working for me.

Saturday 17th March

Even although SXSW officially ends on Sunday I always consider Saturday to be the final day of the event. This year's Saturday schedules failed to excite me but I made the most of the day and actually saw some really good music.

Not only was it SXSW but also St Patrick's Day plus there was a Musicians For Peace march and concert. I began at Mother Egans which had 2 dedicated St Patrick's Day stages, one indoors the other outside. My Uncle, Ed, who had 5 shows that day, did one on each of the two stages and I caught the whole of the second, outdoor set, where he was accompanied by Jeff Moore. He sang to a fairly sober audience a selection of both Scots and Irish tunes and tried, with little success to get people to sing a long. Not that I can talk, I never really join in, but that's because I can't sing! He also pointed me out from the stage so a few folk came and said hello to me afterwards and one couple bedecked in St Patrick's Day regalia asked to have their photo taken with me!

A lady standing next to me had the day's schedule and I noticed that the Waybacks were playing indoors. They were the band who were subjected to the wrath of Paul Fenn at the AMA International Panel when he said that they were exactly the kind of band that were causing the problem in the UK (too many bands coming over). There was a fairly substantial crowd of people but I battled my way (nicely of course) to the front and was more than a little impressed with their show. They have been joined by Austin local Warren Hood on fiddle, and although I've never seen them play before I would presume that he has added that extra something to their performance. He is an excellent fiddle player with a nice voice too. I saw him play at my very first SXSW at about 2 in the morning. He looked about 15 then (and might actually have been), and doesn't look any older now (he's actually 23). However he has talent. I only saw about 3 or 4 songs but I enjoyed it so much that I decided to make an effort to see them again that evening at the Continental Club. (not a hard decision to make as there really wasn't much to choose from).

After my daily trip to Whole Foods for lunch I went up to Threadgill's to see some of the post Musician's For Peace concert. Ponty Bone and the Squeezetones were on stage when I arrived and they were pretty good.

By this time the sun was out and it was a lovely day for sitting outside with a cold beer listening to some quality music and people watching & trust me, there were lots of people there worth watching...

...many were bedecked in t-shirts, badges or stickers condemning the Bush administration and Michelle Shocked was selling t-shirts with a slogan along the lines of "Bush pull out like your Daddy should have done". Michelle did a couple of songs, although they were a little shouty and very political, which I suppose was unsurprising!
Guy Forsyth joined her for one, then did a song of his own, followed by a couple from Gurf Morlix including "God on my Side" which really does go on a little too long,

The artist I'd actually come to see was Bill Kirchen and he eventually took to the stage accompanied by bass and drums. He's an amazingly good guitar player and the songs from his new CD sounded much better live than on the album. He was joined by his daughter for the title track "Hammer of the Honky Tonks" and for a song that someone had to play that afternoon "What's So Funny (Bout Peace Love and Understanding)".

The Band of Heathens were playing at Gueros at 6, so I headed in that direction as I planned to spend the first couple of hours in the evening at the Contintental Club opposite. There was a huge crowd in the outside area of Gueros to see the band, whether this was because they're local favourites or because of their success at the Austin Music Awards, I don't know. This was a better show than the one at the Molotov Lounge the day before. The stage was bigger, the sound better and the audience more enthusiastic. They are definitely a good live band.

After a pulled pork sandwich (has to be done) at Jo's coffee shop and a very short stop to watch Amy Cook, I headed to the Continental Club for Uncle Earl. I've been trying to see them live ever since we interviewed them in Nashville, but this was the first time I actually succeeded. I did see them at SXSW last year (I think) at Antone's but it was completely the wrong venue for them, the Continental Club worked well and it was an almost capacity crowd including Carrie Rodriguez. What I liked the most about their set was the obvious enjoyment they got out of it, they all grinned throughout as they performed songs from their new CD "Waterloo, Tennessee". Only irritating thing (yet again) was someone taking photos with a powerful flash that blinded me every time.

Next up was the band I saw earlier, The Waybacks, again playing to a large and enthusiastic audience. As before, I was really impressed with their performance especially that of Warren Hood and the guitar/mandolin player James Nash. However they are the kind of band whose music doesn't translate well to CD sadly although I do have higher hopes for the next album.

I stuck around for the beginning of the next set - the Red City Ramblers. They were slightly rockabilly with 2 fiddles, double bass, guitar and drums. However lots of folk started dancing at the front, which is fine, except they kept bumping in to me, so I decided enough was enough and took a leisurely stroll down to the Hilton Garden Inn where Graham Parker and Eliza Gilkyson were playing at 11 and 12 respectively. I arrived about 10 minutes before Graham Parker (escorted to the stage by 2 policemen) went on, and was taken aback by how many people were there. Someone behind me in the queue for the bar asked if I knew what Graham's biggest hit was, but I didn't. I have one CD by him (Your Country), quite a recent one, but aside from that my knowledge is a little sketchy. He played a very short set but I did quite enjoy it. He's quite funny in a cockney kind of way.

An ever-so-slightly grumpy Eliza Gilkyson followed accompanied very nicely by Mike Hardwick on guitar. She took ages to get the sound in her monitors how she wanted it ("crispy") and just didn't really give the impression that she wanted to be there. However she did a very short set and it was lovely. It included Thinkin' About You, Paradise Hotel and Man of God. She must have been finished before 12.30 as it took me a while to find a cab home and I was back by 1am.

Thoughts on SXSW

SXSW is over for another year and I wanted to take the time, now the daily diary is done, to put down both my thoughts on the festival and what I like and dislike about it.

First of all I want to make it clear that SXSW is what you make it. If you want to go and see the buzz bands and queue for hours to get into venues then you can. If you want to do the corporate thing, go to all the label parties, hang around the conference centre and read peoples name tags, then you can. However, if you want to see some great music, in relaxed and friendly settings, more often than not at events with nothing to do with the official festival, then there are more than enough locations to choose from. I've been coming to SXSW now for seven years, and my enjoyment of the festival has not diminished in that time. Sure, there are more people now, and definitely a lot more brits, although the BBC presence has fallen dramatically. It's hard to find a cab to take me home at the end of the night, and walking down 6th Street is nigh on impossible with the mass of people milling around. However, I've easily made it in to see every band I've wanted to see both day and night. For fans of Americana, I don't think you'll find a better week to see favourite bands and discover new music. I spend a lot of time at NotSXSW events, sitting outside in the sun (well sometimes!) a cold beer in hand, watching some of my favourite artists, often playing with their bands, something they can't afford to do if they come to the UK. Maybe I'm just not going to the same venues or shows as the corporate lot, but I certainly don't think of SXSW as a corporate event. In fact in my opinion it's becoming less corporate, at least in the genres of music I'm interested in. Every show I go to I see as many music fans as industry professionals. People are there because they love to see good music, not to network. The festival is growing in numbers because people like me go on and on about how good it is. And I think the growth area is fans not industry people. More are probably registering for a badge because it's becoming increasingly difficult to purchase wristbands. Truth be told, I found the Americana Music Awards to be much more corporate, but that was fine and I went there to work. My recommendation to anyone planning to attend, is do so. But do your research, find out about the other events taking place during the week and you won't be disappointed. All you have to do is read my blog to see how much fun it can be. I also spoke to a number of Austin residents, including my relatives here and no-one dislikes SXSW week, but appreciate the business it brings into the town. I've been to Austin outwith the Festival and I wouldn't do so again, there's very little to do during the day even if there's always a choice of quality music in the evenings.

The only people I would tell not to come to SXSW are the bands themselves. I admit I don't go and see the UK bands, I don't see the point (and to be honest I don't really go and see them in the UK either!), but speaking to those who do they tell me that the vast majority of the small audiences are Brits who feel they should support other Brits. Bands must lose a huge amount of money here and I would be surprised if anyone, unless there's already a lot of hype about them (ie KT Tunstall, Amy Winehouse etc), gets noticed by labels etc. They might have a good time but it's not going to help their career much unless they do a lot of networking whilst in town.

As for "my" SXSW this year, my favourite venue was the Creekside EMC at the Hilton Garden Inn, good sound, an intimate setting, seats and wine. Best place to eat has to be the Whole Foods store. As for gigs well I could have told you what my favourite would be before I even left Edinburgh – Jim Lauderdale with band at the Continental Club – he's good solo but so much better when he has support. There were no "Marty Stuart" moments this year sadly, but all the music I saw was of a high quality. Other than Jim, the artists who impressed me the most were The Waybacks with Austin local Warren Hood on fiddle, The Holmes Brothers, Eilen Jewell and Elizabeth Cook. New names who were pretty good were Joe Purdy, Buddy and Danny Schmidt. My biggest regrets are missing Kelly Willis w/ Chuck Prophet, Buddy Miller at the New West party, Dale Watson at Chicken Sh*t Sunday & Billy Joe Shaver, but you just can't be everywhere at once, especially when on foot.

Will I be back next year? Quite probably, although I would like to go to try a different festival (Kerrville maybe) and I can't afford to do both, so who knows.

So there you go. Final word, in summary, don't listen to the SXSW cynics who say it's too big and corporate – it doesn't have to be!

16 Mar 07

my sxsw is temporarily only at my myspace page www.myspace.com/themillertellshertale. It will appear here on my return to Scotland.

04 Feb 07

Celtic Connections is over, and Donald Shaw, the new Artistic Director can pat himself on the back for putting together the best CC I've experienced. I can't think of anything I haven't enjoyed and it's hard to pick highlights although Justin Currie, Karen Matheson and Hands Across The Water all deserve a special mention.

The best event of the entire festival however took place this evening. Transatlantic Sessions traditionally ends the festival and brings together artists from both sides of the atlantic. This year it was hosted by Scottish fiddler Aly Bain and the undisputed king of the dobro Jerry Douglas. They were joined on stage by Donald Shaw, Bruce Molsky, Mike McGoldrick, John Doyle, Phil Cunningham, James Macintosh, Karen Matheson, The Wailin Jennys, Darrell Scott and Rosanne Cash. The playing was amazing and for me at least it was hard to believe that they didn't all play together every night of the week. All took turns at leading the band, or singing. Karen sang the beautiful and very sad (apparently - I don't speak Gaelic) Crucan Na Bpaiste and some mouth music, Rosanne did God Is In The Roses and Tennessee Flat Top Box (which worked very well with the fiddles, dobro, accordion and pipes) as well as My Love is Like A Red Red Rose. Darrell Scott performed the Stuart Adamson song from his most recent album - Shattered Cross, plus a couple of others. His last song was one of the highlights when the instrumental break turned into a jam session featuring him on acoustic and Jerry Douglas. Amazing interplay between the two of them. The Wailin Jennys again impressed me with their beautiful harmonies performing 3 songs each with one lead vocal - Glory Bound, Begin and The Devil's Paint Brush.

All in all it was 2 hours of excellent, top class music. My favourite musician was Mike McGoldrick who added that extra something to pretty much every piece with his pipes, flutes and whistle but there were no weak performances and it was the perfect end to a great festival.

04 Feb 07

I received some sad news today, Billy Kelly, Glasgow's foremost promoter of americana music (and world music) has passed away from cancer. Billy was responsible for the annual Big Big Country music festival and brought many wonderful artists to Glasgow over the last few years. He was also a great help to us at Brand New Country. He'll be missed by musicians and music fans.

Today is the final day of Celtic Connections, and I'll be going to Transatlantic Sessions this evening which sounds like it'll be great this year, but more on that in my next entry.
Over the past week I've seen Eddi Reader, Karen Matheson, The Wailin Jennys and a number of supports and other artists at the Festival Club last night.

Eddi played to a sold out Concert Hall audience last Tuesday. She was supported by Declan O'Rourke a young singer-songwriter from Dublin who Eddi had met in a bar after a gig a few years ago. He sang her his song "Galileo" which she loved so much she recorded it for her new album Peacetime. It's my favourite song on her CD so I was looking forward to hearing it's creator. Declan was ok, he played solo and his songs were long and his guitar playing a little unsubtle. He is a good songwriter though and might have been better with a band.   

Eddi came on stage for her set and began by introducing the band before performing the entire Peacetime album. Her band included John McCusker, Boo Hewerdine, Ian Carr, & Kevin McGuire as well as guests John Douglas and her song Charlie. It was a decent show, but Eddi kept sitting down during instrumental breaks which seemed a little odd. It might have been better if she'd mixed things up a little, with a few of her older numbers interspersed with the new ones. Given that her CD had only been released the day before, the songs wouldn't be familiar to many in the audience. It did pick up in pace once she moved on to "oldies". Good show but I've enjoyed her more in the past.

Karen Matheson's gig began an hour late due to a delayed sound check. The support was a pianist accompanied by bass and drums. Sounds like a strange combination but it worked although the 30 minutes he played were enough for me.   Karen was joined by a large cast of musicians including husband and festival director (and my boss) Donald Shaw on piana and accordion, Ewen Vernal on bass, James Mac (drums), James Grant guitar & vocal, Anna Massie mandolin plus appearances from Mike McGoldrick and Fraser Speirs as well as a string section. The sound was great, it was my first visit to the City Halls, and I liked the room a lot. Karen has the most beautiful voice and it's a pleasure to listen to her even when I have no idea what she's singing. She's also very personable and likeable on stage. This was one of my favourite CC shows. Very old audience though.

On Friday evening we were joined on BNC by CMA musicians Jace Everett and Julie Roberts + entourage. Both performed a couple of acoustic numbers. Jace is releasing an acoustic CD later this year which I think I'll like more than his nashville major label release. He has decent songs and a good voice which work best for me in that setting. Julie was very sweet with an amazingly powerful voice. Not really my thing though.

I had the option to go to their show on the Saturday night, but stuck to my original choice of the Wailin' Jennys at the Strathclyde Suite of the concert hall. They were supported by Mary Ann Kennedy on harp/vocals and Bruce Molsky on fiddle/guitar/vocals. I wasn't familiar with either of their music which was a mixture of gaelic reels and mouth music plus some US folk. I enjoyed their set though and saw them again later at the Festival Club.

The Wailin' Jennys were great. They placed an amazing array of instruments including guitars, mandolin, ukelele, accordion, harmonica, banjo,fiddle and bodhran. They also have the most beautiful harmonies.   All three took turns at singing lead and they performed their own songs plus some covers including one by Jane Siberry. I had to leave a litte before the end which was a real shame.

I then went down to the Festival Club for the final time this year. After the usual start 2 young female harpists took the stage. It was the first time I've ever really been aware of the complexities of the instrument and it was fascinating to watch.

They were followed by Mary Ann Kennedy and Bruce Molsky who proved popular with the ever-increasing audience. After that it was the support from the Jerry Douglas gig, the Klezmatics from New York who are apparently nominated for a Grammy. They weren't my thing at all, except for one song in the middle of their set, but again the audience greeted them enthusiastically and there was some very entertaining, if a little scary, dancing going on in front of the stage from men old enough to know better!

Next up was the fiddle player from Jerry's band with Nickel Creek member Sara Watkins. The two of them began with an intricate fiddle duet and then he sang a Jim Lauderdale song. They were joined on stage by John Doyle and John-Joe Kelly for their final two numbers. The fiddle player who I believe might be Gabe Witcher looked like a science post grad student with a beard and diamond jumper but he's a great player.

The final band I saw was John Doyle with John-Joe Kelly, Eamon Coyne and Mike McGoldrick. Interestingly the moment they appeared the area in front of the stage filled with a group of young girls & guys who danced enthusiastically throughout.

It was a good evening. I had hoped to see Jerry Douglas or the Wailin Jennys at the club, but maybe I left too early (2am). however both will be at Transatlantic Sessions this evening.

26 Jan 07

Celtic Connections continues and although I haven't made it to the Festival Club this week I have been to see more excellent gigs.

My friend Gerry is in town and he persuaded me to go to the Radio Ballads show at the Royal Concert Hall on Monday night. We arrived halfway through the 4th themed ballad in the first half but what we did see was very enjoyable. The show was hosted by John Tams and featured Karine Polwart, Kate Rusby, Bob Fox, Jez Lowe and John McCusker amongst others. There was a backdrop showing relevant images and clips from the radio shows. The 2nd half was the whole of the 6th ballad on shipbuilding which was apt for Glasgow.    Good show, and you wouldn't have known that some of these artists had only met for the first time the day before.   The Concert Hall was far from full though sadly.

Tuesday evening I took a well earned break from all things music related, but Wednesday I was again at the Concert Hall for Kate Rusby supported by Roddy Woomble (Idlewild). The venue was sold out this time which was good to see.   Roddy's set was very good, he was joined by much of Kate's band, including Kate herself for a couple of songs. All were taken from his solo, folky, album My Secret Is My Silence with the exception of the closing number.   Kate was very good too as were her band which featured the hardest working musician at the Festival John McCusker on a variety of instruments, Ian Carr on guitar and a couple of Andys on accordion and double bass.   There was also a string quartet and/or horns on some of the songs.   Kate is very personable and entertaining between songs, if a little girly at times. She does have a lovely voice though and John McCusker is an excellent player of every instrument he picks up. I had planned to go to the Fruitmarket afterwards for Uncle Earl and Bela Fleck, but Kate finished too late for Uncle Earl and I wasn't desperate to see Bela so I gave it a miss. I'll see Uncle Earl in Chicago in March if all goes to plan.

Yesterday we recorded an interview and session with Crooked Still, a band that are hard to describe, but they play old-timey songs in a contemporary fashion and have a line-up of vocals, cello, double bass and banjo. The singer has a great voice and they are competent players. I then went to ABC to see their full set in the evening. They were supported by a woman from the Faro Islands who is described as the new Bjork - not really a selling point for me! And although she did get a very positive response from the audience it wasn't my thing. She was a little too theatrical for my liking although the musician with her on fiddle, lap steel and something resembling an electric mandolin was good.

I enjoyed Crooked Still. Almost all the songs they do are oldies, some of which I recognised. The Celloist, Rushad, was dressed in an interesting outfit, he's the eccentric in the band. The banjo player was part of Bruce Springsteen's touring band for the Seeger Sessions. Good set. Our interview with them goes out on Brand New Country on the 9th Feb.