Continuing our look at some of the best DJ's and radio programmes that the UK has offered past & present.
Like the Bob Harris Country show, this programme has been running for over ten years on UK radio. This complete show was the final programme of 2021. It has an in-depth look at some of the best artists and songs from the 'Americana' genre released in 2021. Call it Alt Country, US Roots music or whatever name suits you best.
The programme runs for over two hours but includes two five minute+ chunks given over to the news and weather. This cuts the running time down to around approximately one hundred and nine minutes. This is the second part of the show (see here for part one).
BBC Radio Scotland FM Stereo - Another Country with Ricky Ross
Broadcast: Tuesday 9 November, 2021 / 8-10pm
The Best Music of 2021 part two
Ricky Ross showcases his favourite music of the year as played on Another Country - a guide to the best Americana and country releases of 2021.
01. Hailey Whitters - The Ride (ft. Jordan Davis) | Living The Dream
02. Son Volt - Livin' In The USA | Electro Melodier
03. Joy Oladokun - Judas | In defense of my own happiness
04. Hayes Carll - You Get It All
05. Caylee Hammack & Chris Stapleton - Small Town Hypocrite
06. Billy Strings - Know It All
07. Sturgill Simpson - Go In Peace
08. Lily Rose - Overnight Sensation
09. Carly Pearce & Ashley McBryde - Never Wanted To Be That Girl | 29: Written In Stone.
10. Buffalo Nichols - Lost & Lonesome | Buffalo Nichols
11. Roseanne Reid - Tentsmuir Sky | Horticulture EP
12. Watchhouse - Belly Of The Beast | Watchhouse
13. Jackson Browne - A Human Touch | Downhill From Everywhere
01. Hailey Whitters - The Ride (ft. Jordan Davis) | Living The Dream
From the album Living the Dream (Deluxe Edition) and was released in 2021. The video for the track was premiered on YouTube on Friday the 15th of January, 2021. This deluxe edition of her critically-acclaimed 2020 album THE DREAM features five new songs, and will be released on February 26 via Pigasus/Big Loud/Songs & Daughters. The deluxe album finds Whitters moving from fantasizing about “the dream” to actually living it, calling upon her close friends and collaborators Brent Cobb, Jordan Davis, Hillary Lindsey, Little Big Town, Lori McKenna and Trisha Yearwood to contribute vocals to the fresh tracks.
02. Son Volt - Livin' In The USA | Electro Melodier
Reviews mention that "Electro Melodier sounds more like the work of a commentator than an activist, but Jay Farrar has something to say and he says it with intelligence and eloquence. As his hero Woody Guthrie proved ages ago, that's no small thing. The album was released on July 30.
03. Joy Oladokun - Judas | In defense of my own happiness
This new deluxe version, was released on July 9 via Amigo Records/Verve Forecast/Republic Records. The special extended edition includes all 14 tracks from her major label debut, in defense of my own happiness, as well as the ten additional songs from her self-released 2020 record, in defense of my own happiness (the beginnings), plus one new track, “Judas” broadcast here.
04. Hayes Carll - You Get It All
The title track from the new album released on October 30. Discussing his 8th album, Hayes Carll says, "“I like to tug at heartstrings, find commonality with others, reflect on my own life, and sometimes I do it in a lighthearted way. A lot of musical styles found their way onto this record, but my first and most formative influences came from country music. This is a country singer-songwriter record. It’s just unapologetically me.”
05. Caylee Hammack & Chris Stapleton - Small Town Hypocrite
Caylee Hammack has turned her song “Small Town Hypocrite” into a new collaboration with Chris Stapleton. The original version first appeared on Hammack’s 2020 album If It Wasn’t for You. It's an autobiographical story about betrayal and crushed dreams, “Small Town Hypocrite” was a standout from a solid album on the strength of Hammack’s emotive voice and sharp songwriting. “Took all my plans and I put ‘em in a box/Phantom pains for the wings I lost,” she sings, chiding the ex who broke her heart. Stapleton adds some lower harmony to Hammack’s melody, their two voices intertwining to deepen the feeling of loss and regret.
Hammack said in a release, “My one whim for this song was to hear Chris Stapleton accompany me on it. Two years after I spoke this wish out loud in the studio, Chris agreed to sing the part I had written in hopes of hearing his voice on it. Life is a beautiful full circle sometimes. I am so grateful to Chris for singing on this song.” Released April 19
06. Billy Strings - Know It All
Billy Strings is able to pick the living hell out of an acoustic guitar. The six-string machine and his band released this bluegrass boot stomping single "Know It All," from his critically acclaimed 2021 album Renewal, which was released on September 24
07. Sturgill Simpson - Go In Peace
This single was taken from the album The Ballad of Dood & Juanita, released on August 20. Pitchfork described the album as, "A bluegrass concept album recorded with the stunning group he has dubbed the Hillbilly Avengers, is an even more audacious salvo in Simpson’s back-to-the-roots campaign. By turns romantic, playful, sympathetic, and solemn, it's compelling update on American frontier mythmaking, delivered by a band good enough to push lovingly against genre conventions.
Dood and Juanita is unequal parts love story, history lesson, and action-adventure tale, a cross as classic as the sounds around it.
It works so well because Simpson sounds comfortable within this form and just beyond it. He reaches bluegrass’ nasal apogee during “Go in Peace,” his voice expressing the same anxiety as Scott Vestal’s restless banjo. For Simpson, this music is a return to terra firma, to land he knows innately. Bluegrass has long benefited from a lineage of weirdo rebels. Simpson fits right in, even if he might one day slip right out."
08. Lily Rose - Overnight Sensation
"Overnight Sensation” tell Lily's story, as she’s famously known for the Tiktok virality of her debut single “Villain”, which catapulted her career by landing her a record deal and airplay on Country radio; however, the song was actually written in 2019. While it seems like Rose manifested her success, it’s no surprise that her authentic songwriting and smooth vocals are resonating with fans.
“After all of the booze and tears and patience, I’m an overnight sensation, thirteen years in the making”
The stripped back production is paired perfectly with Rose’s soothing vocals to deliver a captivating story. Her willingness to be vulnerable in her songwriting sets her apart from others. This song shares a fresh and relatable perspective about hard-work, careers, self-doubt, nostalgia and wanting to make your parents proud. Released May 4.
09. Carly Pearce & Ashley McBryde - Never Wanted To Be That Girl | 29: Written In Stone.
This hit country song was released as the second single from Carly Pearce's third studio album, 29: Written In Stone. It's about a cheating man and has united country fans who’ve been there, Carly and Ashley dug deep to collaborate on ‘Never Wanted To Be That Girl’ — not to further a trope, but to humanize it. McBryde sings from the perspective of a woman who meets a man who isn’t wearing a ring when he asks her to go for a drink. Six months pass, and then it switches to Pearce, singing the part of the suspicious wife who waits for him at home and checks his phone for signs of cheating. The chorus reflects their individual yet very similar horror: “I never wanted to be that girl, I never wanted to hate myself, I thought this kind of lonely only happens to somebody else. / Bein’ the other one when there’s another one, God, this feels like hell.” Released September 17.
10. Buffalo Nichols - Lost & Lonesome | Buffalo Nichols
Since his earliest infatuations with guitar, Buffalo Nichols has asked himself the same question: How can I bring the blues of the past into the future? After cutting his teeth between a Baptist church and bars in Milwaukee, it was a globetrotting trip through West Africa and Europe during a creative down period that began to reveal the answer. This single from his self titled debut album was released on October 15.
11. Roseanne Reid - Tentsmuir Sky | Horticulture EP
The four-track Horticulture EP was released on April 30. DJ Ricky Ross talks about Fife’s Tentsmuir Forest, which inspired this gorgeous song. The track, in Rosanne'’s own words. “"Tries to capture the magic of a place which has offered me both escape from and reconnection with the world. The Redshank and Roe Deer referenced in the opening lines highlight just a fraction of the amazing variety of wildlife that inhabit the forest, at the edge of which the sea meets the sky”."
12. Watchhouse - Belly Of The Beast | Watchhouse
Watchhouse is Andrew Marlin & Emily Frantz (formerly Mandolin Orange) from Chapel Hill in North Carolina. The pandemic lockdown and a change of musical direction brought on their decision to change the name of the band after a decade. This track previously recorded and released by Mandolin Orange in 2019 was redone for inclusion on their new album and released on August 13.
13. Jackson Browne - A Human Touch | Downhill From Everywhere
It's nearly five decades on since the release of Jackson's debut album. This track from 'Downhill From Everywhere' his 15th studio album, was released on July 23. Allmusic ended their review with these closing words. "An album full of strong performances, few missteps, and the weary charisma that has been one of the singer's hallmarks. That timeless feeling that signified even Browne's earliest releases is still present, if ever-so-slightly more shopworn by time's passing."
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