James McMurtry at St Lukes

 

Those of you of a certain age will recognise what the above picture is. Yes it's an actual printed concert ticket and not a bloody QR code! It has found a new home in my Ticket Tin

On Wednesday we went to see James McMurtry play at St Lukes. It was thoughtful for him to play to acknowledge our 18th wedding anniversary.

Put on by Kevin Morris' legendary Fallen Angels Club, who have been putting on Americana concerts in Edinburgh and more often Glasgow for about 20 years, it was pretty much a sell out .

It was a mature audience. I don't think I've ever seen so many bald men in the same place!

He was accompanied by Betty Soo. She opened the show with a set of song. Then James came on and played a couple. After the interval they primarily played as a duo.

They rattled of a number of his classic songs and yes they did include Choctaw Bingo. Unfortunately I only have the Ray Wylie Hubbard cover. They also performed a jaw dropping cover of Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos) It became clear fairly quickly that they were no fans of the Orange Idiot something which met with the approval of the Glasgow audience.

For a variety of reasons I've hardly been at any gigs this year, indeed this was just my third. Fortunately they have all been terrific

It was a privilege to see him live although I was a bit surprised to find out that he is younger than me!

James McMurtry -Painting By Numbers

James McMurtry - Canola Fields

James McMurtry -South Dakota

James McMurtry - I'm Not From Here

Saturday Shuffle 164

 

Welcome to Saturday Shuffle 164 with three songs from three different genres

Let's start with some fuzzy Blues and who better to provide something along these lines than The Black Keys. Mellow Peaches is a song taken from their 2021 album Delta Kream.

The next one is for Brian. From their 1983 debut studio album The Crossing here are Big Country, led by the late great Stuart Adamson, with the the classic anthem In A Big Country.

On the subject of classics Sanctified Soul from 2000 on the legendary Kent label remains one of the great Soul compilation albums. Here are Ben & Spence with Get It Over.

Hope you get over this one before the next Shuffle next Saturday

The Black Keys - Mellow Peaches

Big Country -In A Big Country

Ben & Spence -Get It Over

Ayrshire Real Ale Festival

 Today I off to the Ayrshire Beer Festival in Troon Town Hall to sample some Real Ale and Killie Pies. It's a tough job but somebody's got to do it.

I'll try to remember to take home my souvenir glass. Last time I got as far as the train station before realising that I'd left it behind. I texted my pals and my mate Pete said he would get it for me. I'm still waiting.

It doesn't take a genius to work out that today's tunes will all be Beer related although Beer for Breakfast is perhaps a bit ambitious.

Cheers

The Replacements -Beer For Breakfast

Todd Snider - Beer Run

Stray Cats - Lookin' Better Every Beer

The Handsome Family - Beer On The Roof

The Dubliners - A Pub With No Beer

Autumn

 

The first song that came on my MP3 player at the gym yesterday was Autumn  by The Umbrellas. That's tomorrow's post sorted I thought as I plodded away on the bike.

It also coincided with the latest theme from John Medd's photo challenge posted yesterday.

As per usual there were some superb submissions capturing the turn of the seasons. Regrettably I didn't get my act together  in time.

I should probably clarify that the above image is from Google Images rather than my phone but I'm sure that comes as no surprise to you.

An Autumnal Quartet I think.

The Umbrellas - Autumn

The Kinks -Autumn Almanac

Francoise Hardy - Autumn Rendez-Vous

Paolo Nutini - Autumn

Blog Country 150 - North Macedonia

 

It's been a wee while since we went for a wander. Last up was Mali which was relatively easy. We have moved North West to the Balkans and North Macedonia, or the Republic of North Macedonia to be precise, which has proven to be considerably harder.

It was previously ruled by Bulgaria and Serbia and was part of Yugoslavia prior to its secession in 1991 and United Nations recognition in 1993. Scotland have played them 4 times at football, with 2 wins for Scotland, a win for North Macedonia and a draw. We are scheduled to play them away on 3rd October with the return leg at Hampden on 13th November.

To the music!  We start with Zarina Prasevda  a Macedonian singer, composer, and cultural educator dedicated to preserving and reimagining the musical traditions of the Balkans. Here she is with Blaze tebe fidan Velo.

Next up is Leb i Sol which translates as Bread and Salt They are a Macedonian and Yugoslav rock group founded in the 1970s.They split in 1995 with the inevitable reunion in 2008.Today's offering is Cuvam Noc Od Budnih

Kaliopi Bukle, known professionally as Kaliopi, is a Macedonian singer-songwriter. In her career, Kaliopi has progressed from singing lead vocal with her eponymous band in 1980s Yugoslavia to being an established vocalist and composer working in North Macedonia and across former Yugoslavia. She is 59.Her song today is Zasto.

Esma Redžepova-Teodosievska was a Macedonian Romani vocalist, songwriter and humanitarian. She was nicknamed "the Queen of the Gypsies" per her contribution to Romani culture and music. She started to sing while she was a teenager in the 1950s, and her career spans over five decades. Sadly she died in December 2016 aged 73.The selected song is Te Khelav But Mangav.

We conclude with Elena Risteka .Sometimes known as simply Elena, is a Macedonian singer. She represented Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens with the song "Ninanajna", and finished in 12th place; this was the highest ever finish for the country until Risteska's record was beaten in 2019. It's the European song today!

The next Country will be a doddle as I have a good few songs from there

Zarina Prvasevda - Blaze Tebe Fidan Velo

Leb I Sol - Cuvam Noc Od Budnih

Kaliopi - Zasto

Esme Redzepova - Te Khelav But Mangav

Elena Risteka - Ninanajna

Shelby

 

Do you ever pull a record or a CD from the shelves, put it on and have absolutely no recollection of ever having heard it before?

I know I do. For example I randomly picked out Restless a 1995 album by Shelby Lynn to play on Sunday morning while reading the papers.

I hit the search button and found out that it had been purchased in the excellent charity shop in Broadford, Skye in 2018 and has previously featured here on the 21st of October on that year. I may well not have played it again until yesterday.

There is no point in repeating anything that I wrote before. All that remains is to select a couple of songs that have not featured here before. Two beginning with S the last time so two R's today. 

Stay tuned for the next posting in 2032.

Shelby Lynne - Restless

Shelby Lynn - Reach For The Rhythm

Del Boy

 

2026 Charity Shop Purchases #32 - Delbert McClinton - The Jealous Kind (LP)

During the week we visited a Cancer Research Superstore in the Glasgow Gorbals Retail Park.

i somewhat naively assumed that there would be a lot of CDs to choose from. There weren't, just a handful of utter dross. I was reminded of a comment from Alyson, who volunteers in a similar store, that anything half decent goes straight to E-Bay to be sold there. Not only is that an inconvenience but you also have to fork out for postage.

There was a selection of LPs which had significantly more records that the CD collection. I had a cursory flick through of what was also largely dross.

Then this album The Jealous Kind  by Delbert McClinton caught my eye and I bought it for a pound.

I was only vaguely aware of the name having a song called When Rita Leaves from some compilation or another.

The Jealous Kind is his 8th studio album released in 1980 on the Capitol label. And do you know what, it's pretty good!

I though he was a country singer but it seems his range varies. This album was recorded at the Muscle Shoals Sounds Studio here and features and is produced by the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section here. It gets a solid 4/5 from Discogs

I'm putting it down as a find!

Delbert McClinton - The Jealous Kind

Delbert McClinton -Shaky Ground