Clint Black, Bill Anderson & Bob DiPiero - Songwriters' Circle, Bush Hall, London, Britain, 3-25-2012

I thought I was done with the "Songwriters' Circle" TV show. There were three episodes I couldn't find, but I'd looked everywhere and came up empty. But the other day, one more of them showed up via SoulseekQT. So here it is. This is a country-themed episode. It stars Clint Black, Bill Anderson, and Bob DiPiero.

I would guess that most people reading this have heard of Clint Black, but haven't heard of Bill Anderson and Bob DiPiero. That's because Black has been a big country star in recent decades, while Anderson and DiPiero have more worked behind the scenes as professional songwriters. 

Here's some information on each of them.

This is the Wikipedia intro for Clint Black: "[He] is an American country music singer, songwriter, musician, actor, and record producer. Signed to RCA Nashville in 1989, Black's debut album 'Killin' Time' produced four straight number one singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts. Although his momentum gradually slowed throughout the 1990s, Black consistently charted hit songs into the 2000s. He has had more than thirty singles on the U.S. Billboard country charts, thirteen of which have reached number one, in addition to having released twelve studio albums and several compilation albums."

Here's the link to the whole entry:

Clint Black - Wikipedia

Here's the entry for Bob DiPiero: "[He] is an American country music songwriter. He has written 15 U.S. number one hits and several Top 20 singles for Tim McGraw, The Oak Ridge Boys, Reba McEntire, Vince Gill, Faith Hill, Shenandoah, Neal McCoy, Highway 101, Restless Heart, Ricochet, John Anderson, Montgomery Gentry, Brooks & Dunn, George Strait, Pam Tillis, Martina McBride, Trace Adkins, Travis Tritt, Bryan White, Billy Currington, Etta James, Delbert McClinton, Van Zant, Tanya Tucker, Patty Loveless, and many others."

And here's the rest of the entry:

Bob DiPiero - Wikipedia

Finally, here's the entry for Bill Anderson. The intro for this one is much longer, so I selected some sentences from it: "[He] is an American country music singer, songwriter, and television host. His soft-spoken singing voice earned him the nickname 'Whispering Bill' from music critics and writers.[1] As a songwriter, his compositions have been covered by various music artists since the late 1950s. ... While in college, he wrote the song "City Lights", which became a major hit for Ray Price in 1958. His songwriting led to his first recording contract with Decca Records that year; shortly afterward, Anderson began to have major hits. In 1963, he released his most successful single, "Still". The song became a major country/pop crossover hit and was followed by a series of top-10 hits. ... His songs were being notably recorded by other artists. ... In the 1970s, Anderson continued having major hits as a recording artist, as well. ... He was dropped from his record label in the early 1980s and began a brief career in television, which included hosting the game shows 'The Better Sex' and 'Fandango.' Anderson began writing songs again in the early 1990s for the next generation of country performers. Collaborating with other writers, he wrote material that went on to become hits for Vince Gill, George Strait, Kenny Chesney, and Steve Wariner in the next two decades. ... In his career as both a writer and performer, he has received awards from the Academy of Country Music, Country Music Association, Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame."

He is considerably older than the other two stars of this episode. As I write this in 2026, he is 88 years old. Here's the rest of his Wikipedia entry:

Bill Anderson - Wikipedia 

Now, there are just two episodes that I'm still looking for. Both are from 1999. One stars Joan Baez, Matraca Berg and Gretchen Peters. The other one stars Paul Heaton and Dave Rotheray, Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, and John Martyn.

This album is 58 minutes long.

01 Blue Clear Sky (Bob DiPiero)
02 talk (Bob DiPiero)
03 talk (Clint Black)
04 Killin' Time (Clint Black)
05 talk (Clint Black)
06 The Songwriters (Bill Anderson)
07 talk (Bob DiPiero)
08 The Church on Cumberland Road (Bob DiPiero)
09 talk (Clint Black)
10 Spend My Time (Clint Black)
11 talk (Bill Anderson)
12 Happiness (Bill Anderson)
13 talk (Bob DiPiero)
14 They're Playin' Our Song (Bob DiPiero)
15 talk (Clint Black)
16 Better and Worse (Clint Black)
17 talk (Bill Anderson)
18 Give It Away (Bill Anderson)
19 talk (Bill Anderson & Clint Black)
20 talk (Bob DiPiero)
21 Gone (Bob DiPiero)
22 talk (Clint Black)
23 Code of the West (Clint Black)
24 talk (Bill Anderson)
25 The Tips of My Fingers (Bill Anderson)
26 talk (Bob DiPiero)
27 Will the Circle Be Unbroken (Bill Anderson, Clint Black & Bob DiPiero)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/g6t9i6G9 

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/9dWf0CCmyFmKDXA/file

Here's an extra special bonus. Normally, I'm not interested in sharing videos. I like listening to music much more than watching it. I also don't want "mission creep" for this blog. But I think this is a great show that has been extremely hard to find. So here is a text file that contains links to the videos of all of the full episodes I could find. I found one from the 1999 season and all of the ones from the 2010 to 2012 seasons. So that leaves two 1999 episodes I don't have the videos for, and two more 1999 episodes I don't have anything for, at least not yet. These are just PixelDrain links. The files range in size from 500 MB to 1.2 GB.

https://pixeldrain.com/u/zqFGowKa

The cover photo is a screenshot I took from a video of this exact concert. From right to left: Bob DiPiero, Clint Black, and Bill Anderson. 

Neil Finn, Roddy Frame, & Graham Gouldman - Songwriters' Circle, Subterania Club, London, Britain, 7-2-1999

Here's another episode of the BBC TV show "Songwriters' Circle." This show ran for only five episodes in 1999. Then it had a longer life about ten years later, with over a dozen episodes from 2010 to 2012. This is one of those 1999 episodes. It stars Neil Finn from Crowded House, Roddy Frame from Aztec Camera, and Graham Gouldman from 10cc. (Both Neil Finn returned for second appearances in 2011.)

As usual, the show had the format of each singer-songwriter taking turns performing their own songs. This episode, however, had more collaboration between them, especially in the second half of the show. That's one of the reasons I think this is one of the best shows in this series.

Unfortunately, this is the last episode I've been able to find. There are three others that were broadcast that remain elusive for me. There are two more 1999 episodes. One of them starred Joan Baez, Matraca Berg, and Gretchen Peters. The other one starred two duos, Paul Heaton and Dave Rotheray, and then Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, plus John Martyn. I'm also missing a 2012 episode starring Bill Anderson, Clint Black, and Bob DiPiero. If anyone has them and wants to share, I'd love to post them here as well. 

On a different note, I'm back from my week-long trip to Seattle. Now that I'm back, I fixed the cover of County JoeMcDonald's "BBC Sessions, Volume 3," so you might want to redownload that one. I also hope to finally respond to some comments I still haven't gotten to during my Peru trip, plus the ones from the last week. 

The music here is unreleased. The sound quality is excellent. 

This album is an hour and four minutes long. 

01 talk (Neil Finn)
02 Distant Sun (Neil Finn)
03 talk (Roddy Frame)
04 Bigger Brighter Better (Roddy Frame)
05 talk (Graham Gouldman)
06 Bus Stop (Graham Gouldman)
07 talk (Neil Finn)
08 Don't Dream It's Over (Neil Finn)
09 talk (Roddy Frame)
10 Hymn to Grace (Roddy Frame)
11 talk (Graham Gouldman)
12 Heart Full of Soul (Graham Gouldman)
13 talk (Neil Finn)
14 Throw Your Arms Around Me (Neil Finn)
15 talk (Roddy Frame)
16 Killermont Street (Roddy Frame)
17 talk (Graham Gouldman)
18 For Your Love (Graham Gouldman)
19 talk (Neil Finn, Roddy Frame & Graham Gouldman)
20 Fall at Your Feet (Neil Finn with Roddy Frame & Graham Gouldman)
21 talk (Roddy Frame)
22 Oblivious (Roddy Frame with Neil Finn & Graham Gouldman)
23 talk (Graham Gouldman)
24 I'm Not in Love (Graham Gouldman)
25 talk (Neil Finn)
26 Weather with You (Neil Finn with Roddy Frame & Graham Gouldman)
27 talk (Neil Finn)
28 Ten Guitars (Neil Finn with Roddy Frame & Graham Gouldman)
29 talk (Neil Finn, Roddy Frame & Graham Gouldman)
30 Somewhere in My Heart (Roddy Frame with Neil Finn & Graham Gouldman)
31 talk (Graham Gouldman)
32 Dreadlock Holiday (Graham Gouldman with Neil Finn & Roddy Frame)
33 talk (Neil Finn)
34 Better Be Home Soon (Neil Finn with Roddy Frame & Graham Gouldman)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/FbfQAr71

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/1iGektzPTgUvLaX/file

The cover image is a screenshot I took from a video of this exact concert. From right to left: Neil Finn, Roddy Frame, and Graham Gouldman.

Allen Toussaint, James Dean Bradfield & John Grant - Songwriters' Circle, Bush Hall, London, Britain, 9-30-2011

Here's another episode of the great "Songwriters' Circle" BBC TV show. This one stars Allen Toussaint, James Dean Bradfield, and John Grant.

I don't think Allen Toussaint needs much introduction at this music blog. That's because I've already posted three albums of cover versions of his songs in my "Covered" series. Here's a link to the first one, in case you want to go back to that:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2019/10/various-artists-covered-allen-toussaint.html

But just in case you need a little reminding, here's a paragraph from his Wikipedia entry: "He was an influential figure in New Orleans rhythm and blues from the 1950s to the end of the century, described as 'one of popular music's great backroom figures.'" And here's the link to the whole entry:

Allen Toussaint - Wikipedia

James Dean Bradfield is best known as the lead singer and guitarist for the Manic Street Preachers. Nearly all of his music career has been with that band, from 1986 until the current day (writing this in 2026). At the time of this concert, he'd only released on solo album, in 2006. And he's released one more since, in 2020. So solo appearances like this have been rare for him. The Manic Street Preachers have been quite popular, selling 10 million albums worldwide. They've been especially popular in Britain, where they had 34 Top Forty singles in a row, from 1991 to 2010. 

Here the Wikipedia link to that band:

Manic Street Preachers - Wikipedia

And here's the one just from Bradfield:

James Dean Bradfield - Wikipedia

Finally, there's John Grant. He was the lead singer and main songwriter for the band the Czars. That band put out six albums from 1994 to 2006 before splitting up. Then Grant started a solo career, which has been very successful. His debut album "Queen of Denmark" was named the album of the year by Mojo Magazine. His third solo album, "Grey Tickles, Black Pressure," made it all the way to Number Five in the British album chart.

Here's the Wikipedia entry for him:

John Grant (musician) - Wikipedia 

As is the style for this show, each musical artist took turns performing their own songs. Then, at the end, they all did a song together. That song, "Yes We Can Can," is a Allen Toussaint classic from the early 1970s. I don't know if there's much musical connection between these three, but they're all talented songwriters, so the episode is a good one. 

So far, I believe I've posted twelve episodes of this show. After this one, I have one more to post. There are a few more, but I haven't been able to find them. 

This album is 59 minutes long.

01 A Certain Girl (Allen Toussaint)
02 talk (James Dean Bradfield)
03 If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next (James Dean Bradfield)
04 talk (John Grant)
05 Sigourney Weaver (John Grant)
06 talk (Allen Toussaint)
07 Get Out of My Life, Woman (Allen Toussaint)
08 talk (James Dean Bradfield)
09 Your Love Is Not Enough (James Dean Bradfield)
10 Where Dreams Go to Die (John Grant)
11 It's Raining (Allen Toussaint)
12 talk (James Dean Bradfield)
13 Small Black Flowers That Grow in the Sky (James Dean Bradfield)
14 Chicken Bones (John Grant)
15 Working in the Coal Mine (Allen Toussaint)
16 talk (Allen Toussaint)
17 This Is Yesterday (James Dean Bradfield)
18 Caramel (John Grant)
19 Southern Nights (Allen Toussaint)
20 A Design for Life (James Dean Bradfield)
21 Drug (John Grant)
22 Yes We Can Can (Allen Toussaint, James Dean Bradfield & John Grant)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/bpRoThJa 

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/z1ZgmnnOWV5XUT4/file

I didn't post this album for a while, because coming up with a good photo was a challenge. I wanted an image with all three of the stars in it, from this exact concert. However, they were spread far around the stage. So I took a screenshot with Toussaint and Bradfield in it, and another one of Grant. Then I put Grant into the picture with the other two.

From left to right: Allen Toussaint, James Dean Bradfield & John Grant.

Martin Simpson, Michael Chapman & Steve Tilston - Songwriters' Circle, Bush Hall, London, Britain, 3-18-2012

Here's another episode of the "Songwriters' Circle" BBC TV show. Just like other episodes, this one features three singer-songwriters taking turns performing their songs. In this case, the songwriters are Martin Simpson, Michael Chapman, and Steve Tilston. The episode has a theme, because all three of them are famous figures in British folk music.

Martin Simpson's career started in the 1970s. He didn't have any hits or famous albums. But he's steadily built up a following by releasing dozens of albums and touring frequently. He's mostly performed cover songs, especially of traditional music. He's still alive, and 76 years old, as I write this in 2026.

Here's his Wikipedia entry:

Martin Simpson - Wikipedia 

Michael Chapman's music is hard to describe, so I'll just quote the lead paragraph of his Wikipedia entry, which says he was a "British singer-songwriter and guitarist who released 58 albums, displaying a 'fusion of jazz, rock, Indian and ragtime styles [that] made him a cult hero.' He began playing with jazz bands, mainly in his home town of Leeds, and became well known in the folk clubs of the late 1960s, as well as on the progressive music scene." Note the use of the past tense, because he died in 2021 at the age of 80. He's probably best known for his 1970 album "Fully Qualified Survivor," which contains his most famous song, "Postcards of Scarborough."

Here's his Wikipedia page:

Michael Chapman (singer) - Wikipedia 

That just leaves Steve Tilston. Like the other two, his music career began roughly around 1970. Also like the other two, he's had a long career with British folk music, releasing dozens of albums. 

Here's his Wikipedia entry:

Steve Tilston - Wikipedia 

To be honest, I wasn't familiar with the music of any of these three musicians. But this was a nice listen, with the three of them all playing good songs and making interesting comments. It's a bit curious and disappointing that it didn't end with all three of them performing a classic song together, like all the other episodes I can remember of this TV series. But all three of them were/are talented guitarists, and often helped out with songs when it wasn't their turn to sing.

By the way, sadly, this appears to be the last episode of the TV series, in terms of broadcast order. I still have two more that I plan on posting. And there are another three or so that I haven't found, at least not yet. 

This album is 58 minutes long.

01 An Englishman Abroad (Martin Simpson)
02 talk (Martin Simpson)
03 Postcards of Scarborough (Michael Chapman)
04 talk (Michael Chapman & Steve Tilston)
05 Weeping Willow Replanted (Steve Tilston)
06 talk (Martin Simpson)
07 Never Any Good (Martin Simpson)
08 talk (Michael Chapman)
09 In the Valley (Michael Chapman)
10 talk (Steve Tilston)
11 The Road When I Was Young (Steve Tilston)
12 talk (Martin Simpson)
13 Will Atkinson (Martin Simpson)
14 talk (Michael Chapman)
15 Just Another Story (Michael Chapman)
16 talk (Steve Tilston)
17 The Reckoning (Steve Tilston)
18 talk (Martin Simpson)
19 Home Again (Martin Simpson)
20 talk (Michael Chapman)
21 A Cowboy Phase (Michael Chapman)
22 talk (Steve Tilston)
23 The Slip Jigs and Reels (Steve Tilston)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/FszeUKwt

alternate:

The cover photo is from this exact concert, kind of. I couldn't find any good images of the three of them together, since they didn't play a song together at the end, like most episodes. But at the start of the video of this concert there was some footage of the three of them practicing together before the concert, so I took a screenshot of that. From right to left: Steve Tilston, Michael Chapman, and Martin Simpson.

Ray LaMontagne, KT Tunstall, & David Gray - Songwriters' Circle, Bush Hall, London, Britain, 10-22-2010

Here's another episode of the fantastic BBC TV show "Songwriters' Circle." This one is from 2010, and features the singer-songwriters Ray LaMontagne, KT Tunstall, and David Gray. As is the usual with this show, they took turns singing their own songs, backed just by their acoustic guitars (and sometimes each other).

LaMontagne has an interesting back story. He was working at a shoe factory in a small town in Maine,when he heard the song "Treetop Flyer" by Stephen Stills. The song inspired him to quit his job and become a musician, despite having no special interest or background in music at that point. His debut album "Trouble" was released in 2004. It sold half a million copies in the U.S., and the title song was a hit in Britain. His next three albums from 2006 to 2010 also did well, with each one going Gold in the U.S. (Although his sales have slowly declined since then.)

Ray LaMontagne - Wikipedia 

I've already posted a lot of music by KT Tunstall, so I don't feel the need to summarize her career here.

David Gray was born in England and mostly raised in Wales. He started out a fairly typical folk singer-songwriter. But his first three albums, released in 1993, 1994 and 1996, didn't stand out or sell well. His fourth album, "White Ladder," released in 1998, was different. It combined the folk style with electronica. At first, it also was basically totally ignored. But it was released in 2000, and began to slowly build momentum, helped by the hit song "Babylon." It ended up doing great in the U.S., selling two and a half million copies. But it did even better in Britain, selling over three million, which is especially impressive considering the U.S. population is four times as large. In fact, according to Wikipedia as I write this in 2026, this album is one of the top 30 best selling albums of all time in Britain!

But he wasn't just a one-album wonder. For instance, his 2002 album "A New Day at Midnight" went Platinum four times over in Britain, and sold half a million copies in the U.S. as well. He's been especially popular in Ireland, where his albums have broken some sales records.

Here's his Wikipedia entry:

David Gray (British musician) - Wikipedia 

Unfortunately for all three of the singer-songwriters here, they had a lot more success up to 2010, the year of this concert, than in the years since then. But at least at the time of this concert they were all doing very well.

As is typical for the episodes of this show, the three of them came together for the last song. They chose to sing "Morning of My Life," a well-known early Bee Gees song, even though it never was a big hit.

The music here is unreleased. The sound quality is excellent. 

This album is an hour and seven minutes long. 

01 talk (David Gray)
02 Shine (David Gray)
03 talk (KT Tunstall)
04 Other Side of the World (KT Tunstall)
05 talk (Ray LaMontagne)
06 Beg, Steal or Borrow (Ray LaMontagne)
07 talk (David Gray)
08 Ain't No Love (David Gray)
09 talk (KT Tunstall)
10 [Still A] Weirdo (KT Tunstall)
11 Trouble (Ray LaMontagne)
12 talk (David Gray)
13 Babylon (David Gray)
14 talk (KT Tunstall)
15 The Entertainer (KT Tunstall)
16 talk (Ray LaMontagne)
17 Are We Really Through (Ray LaMontagne)
18 This Years Love (David Gray)
19 talk (KT Tunstall)
20 Black Horse and the Cherry Tree (KT Tunstall)
21 Like Rock and Roll and Radio (Ray LaMontagne)
22 Morning of My Life (Ray LaMontagne, KT Tunstall & David Gray)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/dRNsymF7

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/IIWwgAdBt4OaAy3/file

The cover image is a screenshot I took of a video of this exact concert. From right to left: David Gray, KT Tunstall, and Ray LaMontagne.

Justin Currie, Chris Difford, & Boo Hewerdine - Songwriters' Circle, Bush Hall, London, Britain, 10-8-2010

Here's another episode of the excellent BBC TV show "Songwriters' Circle." I'm trying to post all the ones I have sooner rather than later. This one stars Justin Currie, Chris Difford, and Boo Hewerdine.

This is another episode I'm only posting due a musical friend named Peter. A while back, he sent me a bunch of episodes in high-quality video format. I converted this one to audio format and broke it into mp3s. So thank you, Peter.

Justin Currie is the main singer-songwriter in the band Del Amitri. Their biggest selling singles are "Nothing Ever Happens" and "Roll to Me." They were in existence from 1980 to 2002. So Currie was a solo artist at the time of this concert. But the band got back together in 2013, and they are still together as I write this in 2026. 

Here's his Wikipedia entry:

Justin Currie - Wikipedia 

Chris Difford is one of the two main singer-songwriters in the band Squeeze, along with Glenn Tilbrook. Other band members have come and gone, but those two have been constants. Tilbrook has done the vast majority of the singing, although there are exceptions. For instance, Difford was the lead singer on the song "Cool for Cats," which made it all the way to Number Two in the British singles chart in 1979. Although Difford has remained in Squeeze for over 50 years, and the band is still together as I write this, the band has had some extended breaks. During those times, Difford has had a low-key solo career. By the time of this concert, he had put out three solo albums.

Here's his Wikipedia entry:

Chris Difford - Wikipedia 

Boo Hewerdine (whose first name is actually Mark) was the main singer and songwriter in the band the Bible. That band was most successful in the 1980s. But they reformed a couple of times since. They are still together as I write this. He also has a hand a long solo career, releasing over a dozen studio albums. Furthermore, he's written songs for others. For instance, Eddi Reader had a Top Forty hit in Britain with his song "Patience of Angels" (which he performed here).

Here's his Wikipedia entry:

Boo Hewerdine - Wikipedia 

Other than that, there's not much else to say. This episode followed the same format of others for the show, with each musician taking turns performing songs, then getting together to sing the final song. 

This album is 56 minutes long. 

01 talk (Chris Difford)
02 Take Me, I'm Yours (Chris Difford)
03 talk (Boo Hewerdine)
04 Patience of Angels (Boo Hewerdine)
05 talk (Justin Currie)
06 Nothing Ever Happens (Justin Currie)
07 talk (Chris Difford)
08 Fat as a Fiddle (Chris Difford)
09 talk (Boo Hewerdine)
10 New Year's Eve (Boo Hewerdine)
11 talk (Justin Currie)
12 If I Ever Loved You (Justin Currie)
13 talk (Chris Difford)
14 Passion Killer (Chris Difford)
15 talk (Boo Hewerdine)
16 Sing to Me (Boo Hewerdine)
17 talk (Justin Currie)
18 As Long as You Don't Come Back (Justin Currie)
19 talk (Chris Difford)
20 Up the Junction (Chris Difford)
21 talk (Boo Hewerdine)
22 Muddy Water (Boo Hewerdine)
23 talk (Justin Currie)
24 Always the Last to Know (Justin Currie)
25 talk (Chris Difford)
26 Tempted (Justin Currie, Chris Difford, & Boo Hewerdine)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/7FEfJFQj

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/Ctp1i7AYOBTXMJx/file

The cover photo is a screenshot I took from this exact concert. From left to right: Chris Difford, Boo Hewerdine, and Justin Currie.

Neil Finn, Ryan Adams, & Janis Ian - Songwriters' Circle, Bush Hall, London, Britain, 10-21-2011

Here's another episode of the "Songwriters' Circle" BBC TV show. Like all other episodes of the show, it featured three talented singer-songwriters as they took turns performing their songs. This episode starred Neil Finn (formerly of the band Crowded House), Ryan Adams, and Janis Ian.

In my experience, many very creative people are assholes, though certainly not all. For instance, John Lennon could sometimes be a total ass, and he's one of my all time favorites. This episode was unusual in that it made a little bit of news due to Ryan Adams acting badly. That's not terribly surprising, coming from him, based on other stories I'd heard about him. For instance, not many musical stars have a section of their Wikipedia page called "Disputes with Fans and Other Artists," plus another section called "Harassment Allegations," but Adams has both.

See what I mean, if you're curious: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Adams 

Here's my understanding of this dispute. In each episode of this show, the three musicians sing their own songs. Sometimes, as a nice bonus, one or both of the others might join in with instrumentation or backing vocals. Then, at the end of the show, at least one song is sung by all three of them. That's exactly what happened in this episode. However, Adams apparently got annoyed whenever Finn and/or Ian tried to join in with his songs, so they quickly got the message and stopped doing that. 

Then, at the end, the plan was for all three of them to sing two Finn songs together, "Weather with You" and "Fall at Your Feet." One of those two songs would be chosen to be included in the broadcast. The performance of "Weather with You" went okay, with all three of them taking part. But when it came time to perform "Fall at Your Feet," Adams got out his cell phone and started bidding on some items on eBay, while still on stage in front of an audience! This annoyed Finn so much that he loudly asked Adams what he was doing and why wasn't he joining in with the song, as they had practiced before the show started. Adams blew him off, then packed up his guitar and left before the song was even over. Ultimately, "Fall at Your Feet" wasn't included in the show, due to this trouble.

I found an article from the Age, a major newspaper in Australia, that went into surprising depth about the controversy. It includes a lot of bickering comments from the days after the concert, mostly between Ian and Adams. Finn generally stayed silent, except for one sarcastic comment: "Well, 'Songwriters' Circle' on BBC will be interesting, watch out for lovely backing vocals on 'Fall at Your Feet' from Ryan." (That's a reference to how those expected backing vocals never happened.)

The back and forth between Adams and Ian is much more extensive and nasty. I'll just quote one section from Ian:

"Ryan Adams, meanwhile, is an extremely talented songwriter - beautiful, wonderful stuff - whose first words to us were that he didn't know why he was there. We heard numerous times that he writes 4-5 songs a day, that they just pour out of him, that he's 'the most unprepared person on earth' and likes it that way, and that he sells out any theater he plays in the UK 'in 30 seconds flat.' All of which was a little weird, from my perspective. I expect a certain amount of narcissism in performers. That's a necessity, part of our stock in trade. I don't expect complete and total self-absorption to the detriment of what was supposed to be three singer-songwriters enjoying each other in a collaborative environment. I do that a lot in Nashville, as you all know, and I've never in my life seen it go south like this did."

It's this sort of thing that has made me not interested to explore Adams' musical output, even though I've heard he's a talented songwriter. (The accounts of him sexually harassing women are especially upsetting.) If you want to make up your own mind, here's the link to the quite lengthy article:

Ryan Adams and Neil Finn fall out during TV taping 

Anyway, regardless of what may or may not have happened with this controversy, the episode is quite nice simply as a listening experience. If there was any unpleasantness, it was cleverly edited out, and it seemed as if they were all getting along fine. (Of course, as I mentioned above, the song with the main problem discussed above was completely removed, so that helped a lot.) The three of them even kind of spontaneously created a song together, which I've chosen to call "Center of an Oreo." (I find it strange that none of the bickering in the Age article mentions that.) And the music was very good, including the songs by Adams.

This album is an hour and seven minutes long. 

01 talk (Neil Finn)
02 Distant Sun (Neil Finn)
03 talk (Janis Ian)
04 At Seventeen (Janis Ian)
05 talk (Ryan Adams)
06 Carolina Rain (Ryan Adams)
07 talk (Neil Finn)
08 Don't Dream It's Over (Neil Finn)
09 talk (Janis Ian)
10 Society's Child (Janis Ian)
11 Oh My Sweet Carolina (Ryan Adams)
12 talk (Neil Finn)
13 Golden Child (Neil Finn)
14 talk (Janis Ian)
15 Bright Lights and Promises (Janis Ian)
16 Invisible Riverside (Ryan Adams)
17 talk (Ryan Adams)
18 Center of an Oreo (Neil Finn, Janis Ian & Ryan Adams)
19 talk (Neil Finn)
20 She Will Have Her Way (Neil Finn)
21 From Me to You (Janis Ian)
22 Come Pick Me Up (Ryan Adams)
23 talk (Neil Finn)
24 Weather with You (Neil Finn, Janis Ian & Ryan Adams)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/RvQFJVSq

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/IfuuPmzYB9db6ky/file

The cover image is a screenshot I took from this exact concert. From right to left: Neil Finn, Janis Ian, and Ryan Adams.

Steve Earle, Diana Jones, & Tom Morello - Bush Hall, London, Britain, 3-11-2012

Here's another episode of the excellent BBC TV show "Songwriters' Circle." Like other episodes, it features three singer-songwriters who take turns performing their songs on guitar or piano. This one consists of Steve Earle, Diana Jones, and Tom Morello.

Before I say anything more, I want to thank a musical friend named Peter. I had hit a wall finding many episodes of this series, but he sent me a bunch. As I write this, I think only three are still missing.

For this show, in my opinion, Steve Earle and Tom Morello are quite famous, while Diana Jones is relatively unknown. Earle has had a long and successful career in rock, folk, and country since the mid-1980s. While he hasn't had many hits, he's gained lots of respect as a songwriter, with many big names covering his songs. He's also won three Grammy Awards. Here's his Wikipedia link if you want to know more:

Steve Earle - Wikipedia 

Diana Jones released her first album in 1997. But, as he Wikipedia bio points out, "Jones's career gained wider critical acclaim in 2006 with the release of her album, 'My Remembrance of You.' The album made a number of critics end-of-the-year 'best of' lists." Her music has mixed country and folk. Here's the rest of her Wikipedia entry:

Diana Jones (singer-songwriter) - Wikipedia 

Finally, there's Tom Morello. He first came to fame as the lead guitarist for the band Rage Against the Machine. He's also been a member of the rock bands Audioslave and Prophets of Rage. However, he's done very different music in a parallel solo career, often under the name the Nightwatchman, consisting of acoustic folk music. That also is more of an outlet for his socialist, political views. The music he performed in this concert is in his solo style, and miles away from his rocking Rage Against the Machine style. Here's his Wikipedia entry:

Tom Morello - Wikipedia 

The Songwriter's Circle show didn't last long. There were a few episodes in 1999. Then it seemed the show was cancelled, but it came back for more episodes in 2010 and 2011. There were just three final episodes in 2012, and this was one of them. 

I got this from Peter as one big, high-quality video file. I converted it to audio, then broke it into mp3s. The music is unreleased and the sound quality is excellent. 

This album is 57 minutes long. 

01 talk (Steve Earle)
02 Guitar Town (Steve Earle)
03 If I Had a Gun (Diana Jones)
04 talk (Tom Morello)
05 Black Spartacus Heart Attack Machine (Tom Morello)
06 talk (Steve Earle)
07 The Rain Came Down (Steve Earle)
08 talk (Diana Jones)
09 Pony (Diana Jones)
10 talk (Tom Morello)
11 No One Left (Tom Morello)
12 talk (Steve Earle)
13 Mountain (Steve Earle)
14 talk (Steve Earle & Diana Jones)
15 Henry Russell's Last Words (Diana Jones)
16 talk (Tom Morello)
17 The Garden of Gethsemane (Tom Morello)
18 talk (Steve Earle)
19 The Devil's Right Hand (Steve Earle)
20 talk (Diana Jones)
21 Poverty (Diana Jones)
22 talk (Tom Morello)
23 One Man Revolution (Tom Morello)
24 talk (Tom Morello, Steve Earle & Diana Jones)
25 This Land Is Your Land (Tom Morello, Steve Earle & Diana Jones)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/VXxT9Nzu

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/zL4vJV8JznMzioe/file

The cover image is a screenshot I took from a video of this exact concert. From right to left: Steve Earle, Diana Jones, and Tom Morello.

Leon Russell, Nick Lowe, & Paul Brady - Songwriters' Circle, Porchester Hall, London, Britain, 10-7-2011

Recently, a musical friend named Peter sent me several episodes of the "Songwriters' Circle" BBC TV show. That inspired me to organize some that I had already. So while I didn't get this one from Peter, his sharing is responsible for me finishing getting it ready to be posted. This episode features the singer-songwriters Leon Russell, Nick Lowe, and Paul Brady taking turns performing their songs.

I've already posted a bunch of music by Nick Lowe, with more to come, so I don't feel the need to say much about him. Suffice to say that he's great.

I've also already posted a joint Leon Russell and Elton John concert. But I didn't say that much about him then, so I'll say a bit more now. Actually, to make it easy on myself, I'll just quote the introductory paragraph to his Wikipedia entry:

"[Russell] was an American musician and songwriter who was involved with numerous bestselling records during his 60-year career that spanned multiple genres, including rock and roll, country, gospel, bluegrass, rhythm and blues, southern rock, blues rock, folk, surf and the Tulsa sound. His recordings earned six gold records and he received two Grammy Awards from seven nominations. In 1973, Billboard named Russell the 'Top Concert Attraction in the World.' In 2011, he was inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame." He died in 2016. 

Here's the link if you want to read the rest of the very informative Wikipedia entry about him:

Leon Russell - Wikipedia 

So that leaves Paul Brady, who is the least well known of the three. The Wikipedia intro isn't so good for him, so I'll try to write something myself. Brady is a singer-songwriter from Northern Ireland. His career began in the late 1960s and 1970s when he concentrated on playing traditional Irish music. But starting in the early 1980s, he switched to doing his own songs, in pop and rock styles. He didn't have big commercial success on his own, but many musical acts covered his songs, including Bonnie Raitt, Santana, Dave Edmunds, and Tina Turner. 

Here's an interesting quote that Bob Dylan included in his "Biograph" box set, released in 1985, that names Brady:

"[P]eople get too famous too fast these days and it destroys them. Some guys got it down - Leonard Cohen, Paul Brady, Lou Reed, secret heroes, John Prine, David Allen Coe, Tom Waits. I listen more to that kind of stuff than whatever is popular at the moment. They're not just witchdoctoring up the planet, they don't set up barriers."

Here's his Wikipedia page if you want to know more:

Paul Brady - Wikipedia 

In terms of the musical content of this album, I don't have much to say. It follows the same format of other episodes of this TV series. Russell stuck to playing piano, while Lowe and Brady played acoustic guitars. They mostly just sang their own songs, but there are some backing vocals where they helped each other out, especially on the last couple of songs. 

The music here is unreleased, and the sound quality is excellent. 

This album is 58 minutes long. 

01 A Song for You (Leon Russell)
02 I Live on a Battlefield (Nick Lowe)
03 Smile (Paul Brady)
04 Tightrope (Leon Russell)
05 talk (Nick Lowe)
06 Cruel to Be Kind (Nick Lowe)
07 talk (Paul Brady)
08 Nobody Knows (Paul Brady)
09 Hummingbird (Leon Russell)
10 talk (Nick Lowe)
11 The Beast in Me (Nick Lowe)
12 talk (Paul Brady)
13 Crazy Dreams (Paul Brady)
14 Delta Lady (Leon Russell)
15 talk (Nick Lowe)
16 I Read a Lot (Nick Lowe)
17 talk (Paul Brady)
18 Luck of the Draw (Paul Brady)
19 This Masquerade (Leon Russell)
20 talk (Nick Lowe)
21 [What's So Funny 'Bout] Peace, Love and Understanding (Nick Lowe)
22 talk (Paul Brady)
23 The World Is What You Make It (Paul Brady) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/p4Rb21Ce

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/xjPlM2YBOzIA7Sw/file

The cover image is a screenshot I took from a video of this exact concert. From right to left: Leon Russell, Nick Lowe, and Paul Brady.

Various Artists - Concert for a Landmine Free World, Point Theatre, Dublin, Ireland, 1-14-2002

I just found this the other day, and I liked it so much that I'm posting it straight away. I've posted a bunch of "Songwriter's Circle" BBC TV shows. This isn't from that show, but it follows the same format: several singer-songwriters sitting next to each other and taking turns singing their songs. In this case, there were four: Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Elvis Costello, and John Prine.

The concert was one of six concerts in Europe in 2002, all called "Concert for a Landmine Free World." This, in turn, was just one of several concert tours for that cause, which took place from at least 1997 to 2017. Most of them have been helmed by Emmylou Harris. However, I can't find much information about these tours. There was one official album containing some highlights from a 1999 tour, but it's very hard to find. Other than that, there are only a small number of bootlegs, and they generally are audience boots with sound quality too poor for my standards. 

This one concert is an exception though. This recording has been called a soundboard boot. I doubt that though, because one often hears clapping between songs from what sounds like people extremely close to the recording spot. I think it's more likely that it's just a very, very, very well recorded audience boot. Not all audience boots are the same. Every now and then, you can find one that sounds as good or better than a typical soundboard, if superior recording equipment was used, and the location was ideal, and the people nearby were quiet, and so forth. But whatever the case, this sounds good enough to be an official live album, so don't worry about the quality.

Of the six concerts in 2002, five of them also had Nanci Griffith in it. For some reason, in seems she couldn't attend this one. That's a bummer, but on the plus side it means we got even more songs from the remaining four stars, who in my opinion are all major musical talents. For the most part, each of them just sang and played guitar on their own songs. But later in the show, Emmylou Harris, who is kind of the queen of harmony vocalizing in the music world, sang backing vocals on some songs. And everyone joined in on two songs ("God's Comic" and "Paradise").    

This album is two hours long exactly. 

01 talk (Emmylou Harris)
02 Red Dirt Girl (Emmylou Harris)
03 talk (Steve Earle)
04 Now She's Gone (Steve Earle)
05 talk (Elvis Costello)
06 Our Little Angel (Elvis Costello)
07 talk (John Prine)
08 Souvenirs (John Prine)
09 talk (Emmylou Harris)
10 Bang the Drum Slowly (Emmylou Harris)
11 talk (Steve Earle)
12 Hometown Blues (Steve Earle)
13 talk (Elvis Costello)
14 Please (Elvis Costello)
15 That's the Way that the World Goes Round (John Prine)
16 talk (Emmylou Harris)
17 Michelangelo (Emmylou Harris)
18 talk (Elvis Costello)
19 God's Comic (Elvis Costello with Everyone)
20 Goodbye (Steve Earle & Emmylou Harris)
21 talk (Elvis Costello)
22 Shipbuilding (Elvis Costello)
23 talk (John Prine)
24 talk (John Prine)
25 The Other Side of Town (John Prine)
26 talk (Emmylou Harris)
27 Hour of Gold (Emmylou Harris)
28 talk (Steve Earle)
29 Tom Ames' Prayer (Steve Earle)
30 talk (Elvis Costello)
31 Alibi (Elvis Costello)
32 Sam Stone (John Prine with Emmylou Harris)
33 talk (Emmylou Harris & Elvis Costello)
34 Sleepless Nights (Emmylou Harris & Elvis Costello)
35 talk (Steve Earle)
36 Galway Girl (Steve Earle)
37 talk (John Prine)
38 Speed of the Sound of Loneliness (John Prine with Emmylou Harris)
39 talk (Emmylou Harris)
40 talk (Steve Earle)
41 Fort Worth Blues (Steve Earle with Emmylou Harris)
42 talk (Emmylou Harris)
43 Paradise (John Prine with Everyone)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/v18WJsJZ

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/xWxX8iu7hB5JDuJ/file

I couldn't find a photo from this exact concert. However, I found one from a concert in Belfast the day before. It had two other people in it, including Nanci Griffith. So I carefully zoomed in and cropped them out. The quality is a bit rough, and Krea AI didn't help much in this case.

Lyle Lovett, John Hiatt & Joe Ely - Songwriters' Circle, Bush Hall, London, Britain, 10-15-2010

American singer-songwriter Joe Ely died yesterday, December 15, 2025, of age-related issues. He was 78 years old. It so happens that I'm not very familiar with his music. I've heard good things, but there's just so much music out there, I haven't gotten to everything I'd want to. So I hadn't planned to post anything to mark his passing. But it also just so happens that I had an episode of the BBC TV show "Songwriters' Circle" in which Lyle Lovett, John Hiatt, and Joe Ely took turns performing their songs. I figured this was the ideal time to post that, so here it is.

Before I say anything else, I want to give a thanks to a musical friend named Peter. A few weeks ago, he sent me a bunch of high quality full-length videos of this show, including this one. So I plan on posting a few more in the near future, knock on wood. He didn't have all of them, however. Here's a list of the ones I still don't have:

Joan Baez, Matraca Berg & Gretchen Peters
Paul Heaton & Dave Rotheray, Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham, & John Martyn
Allen Toussaint, James Dean Bradfield, & John Grant
Bill Anderson, Clint Black, & Bob DiPiero

If anyone has any of those and wants to share, please do. I've noticed the one with Toussaint, Bradfield and Grant is on YouTube, but only individual songs in no particular order, and no banter between songs. So I'd rather hold out for the whole show with that one.

Another comment before I get to the details of this album: some of the videos that Peter sent me were of episodes I already had. I didn't need to make any changes to the audio for those. However, some of the album covers I made weren't very good, based on low-res YouTube videos. I was able to remake some of the covers, and they look much better now. In fact, I've made at least some changes to all the Songwriters' Circle covers I've posted so far, standardizing the font type and size, and things like that. So I recommend you redownload those. Look to the label on the side of this blog called "Songwriters' Circle." There should be five of them prior to this one.

Okay, getting to the content of this album already, if you look at the cover image, you can probably tell that all three singer-songwriters here had long careers by the time they appeared on this show in 2010. Joe Ely's first album (with the Flatlanders) is from 1972, John Hiatt's first album is from 1974, and Lyle Lovett's first album is from 1986. They all are influenced by folk and country, so their styles fit well together.

As is the usual format for the show, each of them took turns performing songs, then they came together to all perform the last song. However, there were some instances where they backed each other on guitar or backing vocals. I only included that in the song credits if it was significant, such as "Thing Called Love," a Hiatt song where Lovett also had a prominent singing role. 

The music is unreleased, and the sound quality is excellent. 

This album is an hour and two minutes long. 

01 talk (Joe Ely)
02 Billy the Kid (Joe Ely)
03 Thing Called Love (John Hiatt & Lyle Lovett)
04 talk (John Hiatt & Lyle Lovett)
05 If I Had a Boat (Lyle Lovett)
06 talk (Joe Ely)
07 My Baby Thinks She's French (Joe Ely)
08 talk (Joe Ely & John Hiatt)
09 Master of Disaster (John Hiatt)
10 She's No Lady (Lyle Lovett)
11 talk (Joe Ely)
12 All that You Need (Joe Ely)
13 talk (John Hiatt)
14 Drive South (John Hiatt)
15 talk (Lyle Lovett)
16 Simple Song (Lyle Lovett)
17 Honky Tonk Masquerade (Joe Ely)
18 Have a Little Faith in Me (John Hiatt)
19 My Baby Don't Tolerate (John Hiatt, Lyle Lovett & Joe Ely)
20 Old Dusty Road [Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad] (John Hiatt, Lyle Lovett & Joe Ely)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/UVyWdHLC

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/5j5miq1rhL3x2st/file

The cover image is a screenshot from a video of this exact concert.

Various Artists - Songwriters Special, Austin City Limits, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 9-11-1991

I recently stumbled across this on YouTube. I thought it was pretty interesting, so I decided to post it straight away. It's a special episode of the Austin City Limits TV show from 1991, called "Songwriters Special." It's basically a songwriters' circle, with four different musical acts taking turns: Nanci Griffith, Mary Chapin Carpenter, the Indigo Girls, and Julie Gold.

I found a blog post by Julie Gold about this concert. She said that Nanci Griffith was selected as the host, and Griffith got to pick the other musical acts. However, each of the acts played the same number of songs (three), and then everyone joined in on the finale, a cover of "No Expectations" by the Rolling Stones.

Chances are you haven't heard of Julie Gold, because her music career has been very low profile. However, she was chosen because she was the songwriter behind Griffith's biggest hit, "From a Distance," which she performed here. She also wrote a song appearing on Griffith's next album at the time, called "Heaven." She would go on to write several more songs covered by Griffith.

Here's the Wikipedia entry about her:

Julie Gold - Wikipedia 

This album remains unreleased. The sound quality is pretty good. I downloaded the YouTube video, converted it to audio format, and broke it into mp3s. 

This album is 55 minutes long. 

01 It's a Hard Life Wherever You Go (Nanci Griffith)
02 talk (Nanci Griffith)
03 You've Never Had It So Good (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
04 talk (Nanci Griffith)
05 talk (Indigo Girls)
06 Hammer and a Nail (Indigo Girls)
07 talk (Nanci Griffith)
08 From a Distance (Julie Gold)
09 talk (Nanci Griffith)
10 Late Night Grande Hotel (Nanci Griffith)
11 talk (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
12 I Am a Town (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
13 talk (Indigo Girls)
14 Fare Thee Well (Indigo Girls)
15 Heaven (Julie Gold)
16 talk (Nanci Griffith)
17 Listen to the Radio (Nanci Griffith)
18 talk (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
19 I Feel Lucky (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
20 talk (Indigo Girls)
21 Jonas and Ezekiel (Indigo Girls)
22 talk (Julie Gold)
23 Temporary Worker (Julie Gold)
24 talk (Nanci Griffith)
25 No Expectations (Nanci Griffith, Mary Chapin Carpenter, the Indigo Girls & Julie Gold)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/CR4CKJX5

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/sAVcPay4fNv5Hl8/file

I got lucky with the cover art. I found a photo taken backstage of all the musical acts at this concert. The original version of the photo was black and white, but I found a colorized version. It had issues though, so I recolorized it. I looked at the YouTube video of the concert to get in the general ballpark of the colors of the clothes they were wearing. 

From left to right, that's Amy Ray, Emily Saliers, Julie Gold, Nanci Griffith, and Mary Chapin Carpenter.

Graham Gouldman, Fran Healy, & Ron Sexsmith - Songwriters' Circle, Bush Hall, London, Britain, 3-4-2011

I really like these BBC "Songwriters' Circle" concerts, so here's another one. This one stars Graham Gouldman of 10cc, Fran Healy of Travis, and Ron Sexsmith.

A while back, I collaborated with a person named Pete the Greek on a series of non-album tracks by Ron Sexsmith. (Now that I think about it, I still have a couple of those I haven't posted yet. I'll try to get to that soon.) In the process of doing that, we came across this concert. But unfortunately, all we could find were YouTube videos of individual songs (and luckily, most of the banter before each song). We found all the Healy and Sexsmith songs, but we couldn't find two songs Gouldman was known to perform here: "Look Through Any Window" and "I'm Not in Love." Eventually, I posted the concert, with substitutes for the two missing songs.

Then, in December 2025, a kind musical helper sent me the full concert with great quality. So I redid this concert from scratch, using that new source. Not only was I able to recover the two missing songs, I also recovered some other missing bits, such as banter between songs. 

By the way, Gouldman took part in another one of these "Songwriters' Circle" shows back in 1999. I plan to post that one eventually. In that one, he did do an acoustic version of "I'm Not in Love."

This album contains three bonus tracks. These are the legacy of the earlier version I'd posted. Since I'd posted a couple of extra Gouldman songs to make up for his missing ones, those no longer fit with the main album, since they come from another source. (Specifically, they come from a soundboard bootleg of a 10cc concert from Swansea in Wales, also from 2011, where Gouldman was essentially the opening act for his own 10cc band, playing a handful of songs he'd written before 10cc in an acoustic format.) I didn't want to disappear them completely though, so I've made them into bonus tracks. Their sound quality is just as good as the rest.  

This unreleased concert is an hour and six minutes long, not including the bonus tracks.

01 talk (Fran Healy)
02 Driftwood (Fran Healy)
03 talk (Ron Sexsmith)
04 Get in Line (Ron Sexsmith)
05 talk (Graham Gouldman)
06 Heart Full of Soul (Graham Gouldman)
07 talk (Graham Gouldman & Fran Healy)
08 talk (Fran Healy)
09 Writing to Reach You (Fran Healy)
10 talk (Ron Sexsmith)
11 Gold in Them Hills (Ron Sexsmith)
12 talk (Graham Gouldman)
13 Look through Any Window (Graham Gouldman)
14 talk (Fran Healy)
15 Why Does It Always Rain on Me (Fran Healy)
16 talk (Ron Sexsmith)
17 Whatever It Takes (Ron Sexsmith)
18 talk (Ron Sexsmith & Graham Gouldman)
19 The Things We Do for Love (Graham Gouldman)
20 talk (Fran Healy)
21 Rocking Chair (Fran Healy)
22 talk (Ron Sexsmith)
23 Believe It When I See It (Ron Sexsmith)
24 talk (Graham Gouldman)
25 I'm Not in Love (Graham Gouldman)
26 talk (Graham Gouldman & Fran Healy)
27 talk (Fran Healy)
28 Sing (Fran Healy)
29 talk (Ron Sexsmith)
30 Secret Heart (Ron Sexsmith)
31 talk (Graham Gouldman)
32 Bus Stop (Graham Gouldman)
33 talk (Graham Gouldman)
34 Wake Up, Little Susie (Graham Gouldman, Fran Healy & Ron Sexsmith)

No Milk Today talk (Graham Gouldman)
No Milk Today (Graham Gouldman)
Pamela, Pamela (Graham Gouldman)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/CgmhEXnq

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/91s3xBA4RXMdzXP/file

The cover photo is from this exact concert. It's actually a composite of four screenshots I took from one of the videos from this concert. The video was so low-res, that I took a screenshot of the whole scene, then I found different points when there were close-ups of each head, and took screenshots of them. I resized the heads and pasted them in, so those parts would be more accurate. Finally, I ran the composite version through the Krea AI program to improve the sharpness some.

Donovan, Buffy Sainte-Marie, & Roger Cook - Songwriters' Circle, Porchester Hall, London, Britain, 10-14-2011

I recently got a couple requests to post a BBC album by Buffy Sainte-Marie. I looked, and it seems there's only a couple of songs here and there, not nearly enough for an album. However, I remembered I have this, and I've been trying to make a point of posting more of these interesting "Songwriters' Circle" concerts. So here you are, with Donovan, Buffy Sainte-Marie, and Roger Cook.

As usual, this BBC TV program brought together three talented and famous singer-songwriters, and had them take turns performing their own songs in solo acoustic mode. In this case more than most episodes of this show, I feel the three musicians liked each other and the music they made. One can hear this with some of the between-song banter, as well as they way they supported each other on some songs with backing vocals and such. In the case of Donovan and Buffy Sainte-Marie, their musical connection went way back, because Donovan covered Sainte-Marie's song "Universal Soldier" in 1965 and had a hit with it, which was the first big commercial success for both him and Sainte-Marie.

I've posted a lot of Donovan's music at this blog already, with more planned to come, so I don't feel the need to introduce him. Sainte-Marie was one of the most famous female singer-songwriters in the 1960s and 70s. But while she had some success with her own songs, for instance "Soldier Blue" reached the Top Ten in Britain and many other countries in 1971, she's had more success with others covering her songs. The most prominent example of this is "Up Where We Belong." She started it, and it was finished off by two professional songwriters. A duet version by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes reached Number One in the U.S. singles chart in 1982, and was one of the biggest hits of the year.

I'm writing this in 2025. In recent years, Sainte-Marie has faced controversy because she prominently identified as Native American for her entire music career, but a 2023 investigation by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) concluded that this wasn't true, and she is of English and Italian descent. She has since stated, "My mother told me that I was adopted and that I was Native, but there was no documentation as was common for Indigenous children at the time," and "I don't know where I'm from or who my birth parents are, and I will never know." She hasn't attempted to settle the dispute by publicly posting DNA results.

Here's her Wikipedia page if you want to know more:

Buffy Sainte-Marie - Wikipedia

Roger Cook never had a successful music career of his own. However, he was an extremely successful professional songwriter, writing dozens of hits from the 1960s to the 1980s, often in partnership with Roger Greenaway. I would say more, except I plan on posting his hits in my "Covered" songwriter series. So I'll wait for more of an explanation there.

Here's his Wikipedia page:

Roger Cook (songwriter) - Wikipedia

This unreleased concert has been available as a video on YouTube, but I haven't seen it as an audio bootleg. I found a high quality version of the video and converted that to audio, and broke it into mp3s.

This album is 58 minutes long.

01 Sunshine Superman (Donovan)
02 talk (Buffy Sainte-Marie)
03 Until It's Time for You to Go (Buffy Sainte-Marie)
04 talk (Roger Cook)
05 Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart (Roger Cook)
06 talk (Donovan)
07 Catch the Wind (Donovan)
08 talk (Buffy Sainte-Marie)
09 Codine (Buffy Sainte-Marie)
10 talk (Roger Cook)
11 You've Got Your Troubles (Roger Cook)
12 talk (Donovan)
13 Colours (Donovan)
14 talk (Buffy Sainte-Marie)
15 Little Wheel Spin and Spin (Buffy Sainte-Marie)
16 talk (Roger Cook)
17 Talking in Your Sleep (Roger Cook)
18 talk (Donovan)
19 Lalena (Donovan)
20 talk (Buffy Sainte-Marie)
21 I'm Gonna Be a Country Girl Again (Buffy Sainte-Marie)
22 talk (Roger Cook)
23 I Believe in You (Roger Cook)
24 talk (Donovan)
25 Mellow Yellow (Donovan)
26 talk (Buffy Sainte-Marie)
27 Up Where We Belong (Buffy Sainte-Marie)
28 talk (Buffy Sainte-Marie)
29 Universal Soldier (Buffy Sainte-Marie)
30 talk (Roger Cook)
31 I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (Roger Cook)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ZPW7vK93

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/user/files/Anj3vGR3SMp1NMU/file

The cover photo is from this exact concert. It's a screenshot I took from a YouTube video, so the quality isn't the best. I improved it slightly with the Krea AI program.

John Cale, Nick Cave & Chrissie Hynde - Songwriters' Circle, Subterania Club, London, Britain, 7-9-1999

I recently discovered a bunch of "Songwriters' Circle" albums, and I plan on posting more of them soon. Most of them are pretty hard to find, except this one. It probably gets around more due to the star line-up of John Cale (formerly of the Velvet Underground), Nick Cave, and Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders.

By the way, I've already posted two Songwriters' Circle albums. They all follow the same format, in which three singer-songwriters are chosen and take turns singing songs in an acoustic format. Sometimes they join in a bit on each other's songs, sometimes not. Then, at the end, they usually sing a song together. 

I've already posted two such shows. Here's one with Jimmy Webb, Chip Taylor, and Nick Lowe:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2023/03/jimmy-webb-chip-taylor-nick-lowe.html

And here's one with Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega, and Loudon Wainwright III:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2022/12/richard-thompson-suzanne-vega-loudon.html

I have figured out all of these come from a BBC TV show called "Songwriters' Circle." But the odd thing is, this show has had two brief runs. There were a bunch of shows in 1999, including the one I'm posting here. Then there was a second bunch in 2010 and 2011. There haven't been any since. All the episodes remain unreleased as audio albums, but you can often find the videos of them on YouTube.

For this show, I found out there are two versions. One ends with "The Ship Song," and goes into a BBC DJ announcing the end of the show. Another has one more song, a cover of "I'm Waiting for the Man" by the Velvet Underground. I used the shorter version for most of this concert, since I had that in better quality. But I added in the extra song from the other version.

This album is 49 minutes long.

01 talk (John Cale)
02 Dying on the Vine (John Cale)
03 talk (Chrissie Hynde)
04 Talk of the Town (Chrissie Hynde)
05 talk (Nick Cave)
06 West Country Girl (Nick Cave)
07 Thoughtless Kind (John Cale)
08 talk (Chrissie Hynde)
09 Kid (Chrissie Hynde)
10 talk (Nick Cave)
11 Henry Lee (Nick Cave)
12 talk (John Cale)
13 Fear Is a Man's Best Friend (John Cale)
14 talk (Chrissie Hynde)
15 I'll Stand by You (Chrissie Hynde)
16 talk (Nick Cave)
17 Into My Arms (Nick Cave)
18 talk (John Cale)
19 Ship of Fools (John Cale)
20 Back on the Chain Gang (Chrissie Hynde)
21 The Ship Song (Nick Cave)
22 talk (Chrissie Hynde)
23 I'm Waiting for the Man (John Cale, Nick Cave & Chrissie Hynde)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ewxUQBev

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/user/files/oKg50OZy7rZu2qu/file

The image is from this exact concert. I took it from a high-quality video. Nick Cave was far apart from the others on stage, due to him having to stick by the piano. I moved him in much closer.

Jimmy Webb, Chip Taylor & Nick Lowe - Songwriters' Circle, Subterania Club, London, Britain, 7-16-1999

For a few years, the BBC had a musical TV show alternately called "Songwriters' Circle" or "In the Round." In it, they would bring three singer-songwriters together and have them take turns playing songs. I particularly like it because in most cases the artists would participate with each others' songs, creating some interesting moments.

I've posted some of these shows already. Use the "Songwriters' Circle" label on the side of the blog to find the others.

I hope to post more, when I find good versions. Unfortunately, I've found only a few, so if you have any, please let me know.

This particular show brought together Jimmy Webb, Chip Taylor and Nick Lowe. I'll bet you know Jimmy Webb, or at least know many of his songs. Although he never had a big commercially successful solo career, he wrote many classics, like "Up, Up and Away," "Wichita Lineman," "Galveston," and "MacArthur's Park." Chip Taylor is much less of a famous name. But he also wrote some classic songs, such as "Wild Thing," "Angel of the Morning," "I Can't Let Go," and "Any Way that You Want Me." Nick Lowe I consider a songwriter's songwriter. He hasn't had many big hits, but he seems incapable of writing a bad song. His hits include "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding," "I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass," and "Cruel to Be Kind."

For the duration of this concert, Webb played the piano while Taylor and Lowe played guitar. Generally speaking, they played on each others' songs most of the time. For instance, Taylor commented how surprised and delighted he was to hear Webb play a piano solo to his song "Wild Thing." However, I've only included more than one name in the song credits when there was some shared lead vocals near the end of the show. 

One interesting facet of this show is that both Webb and Taylor played an original song that they apparently never have officially released. I'm pretty confident about the names of these songs because the YouTube video of this show has the names of the songs at the bottom of the video for a few seconds when they start. The original song by Webb is "Rich Kids Can't Play the Blues." The one by Taylor, "Talking the President," is commentary about US President Bill Clinton's sex scandal with Monica Lewinsky, which was very big news at the time the show was recorded.  

This concert is 48 minutes long.

01 Highwayman (Jimmy Webb)
02 talk (Chip Taylor)
03 I Can't Let Go (Chip Taylor)
04 talk (Nick Lowe)
05 What's Shakin' on the Hill (Nick Lowe)
06 talk (Jimmy Webb)
07 Galveston (Jimmy Webb)
08 talk (Chip Taylor)
09 Angel of the Morning (Chip Taylor)
10 talk (Nick Lowe)
11 Without Love (Nick Lowe)
12 talk (Jimmy Webb)
13 Rich Kids Can't Play the Blues (Jimmy Webb)
14 talk (Chip Taylor)
15 Talking the President (Chip Taylor)
16 Man That I've Become (Nick Lowe)
17 talk (Jimmy Webb)
18 Wichita Lineman (Jimmy Webb with Chip Taylor)
19 talk (Chip Taylor)
20 Wild Thing (Chip Taylor with Jimmy Webb & Nick Lowe)
21 talk (Nick Lowe)
22 [What's So Funny 'Bout] Peace, Love and Understanding (Nick Lowe with Chip Taylor & Jimmy Webb)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/5Y4dPkRp

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/qJdb02zPDtMYB70/file

The cover is a screenshot I took from the video of this show. I actually put it together in Photoshop from three different shots, since they were rather far apart from each other. From left to right: Jimmy Webb, Chip Taylor, and Nick Lowe.

Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III - Songwriters' Circle, BBC, London, Britain, 9-26-2010

In my constant search for more BBC material, I've come across some unusual things. Such as this. It's a concert where Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega, and Loudon Wainwright III were all on stage the whole time together and took turns playing their own songs. But the other two didn't just sit and listen when it wasn't their turn. They'd practiced some in advance, or often sang or played guitar. Thompson, in particular, is an excellent lead guitar player and frequently added his guitar skills to the songs by the other two. It's a very interesting three-way musical interaction by three great musical artists.

Apparently, this "songwriter's circle" is something the BBC has been doing since at least the 1990s. The format is always the same, bringing three musicians together to take turns playing songs. I'll try to post more, but these are hard to find since they don't get the interest a show by just one artist does, yet they aren't various artists shows with tons of different acts either. If you have any others, please let me know.

This show is officially unreleased. But, as you'd expect from the BBC, the sound quality is excellent. You can watch the whole thing on YouTube.

This album is an hour and four minutes long.

00 talk (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
01 Keep Your Distance (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
02 talk (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
03 Marlena on the Wall (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
04 talk (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
05 One Man Guy (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
06 talk (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
07 1952 Vincent Black Lightning (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
08 talk (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
09 Luka (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
10 talk (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
11 Dead Man (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
12 talk (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
13 Down Where the Drunkards Roll (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
14 talk (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
15 Frank and Ava (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
16 talk (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
17 House (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
18 talk (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
19 I Feel So Good (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
20 talk (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
21 Gypsy (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
22 talk (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
23 Be Careful There's a Baby in the House (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
24 talk (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
25 Genesis Hall (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
26 talk (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
27 Tom's Diner (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
28 talk (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)
29 The Swimming Song (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/hQyE2EPR

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/3JqRJz51dA7539w/file

The album cover is a screenshot taken from a high quality video of this concert. I used Photoshop to make some adjustments. From left to right: Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega, and Loudon Wainwright III.