Bob Harris - Press

Legendary broadcaster Bob Harris gives his insight at ECMA conference

Radio Choice MARTY STUART started performing at 12, married into and divorced out of the Cash dynasty, and has had hits including Hillbilly Rock, Western Girls and The Whiskey Ain't Working'. Yes indeed, he's the real McCoy - a distinguished and influential figure in country music, with his roots in bluegrass and rockabilly. Marty joins Whispering Bob this evening (Bob Harris Country (Radio 2, 7pm) to shoot the breeze about country music and give us a song or two.

Daily Telegraph Marty Stuart is tonight's special guest, American roots musician, worldwide ambassador for country music. In a session recorded in Nashville last September he discusses his career playing mandolin aged 12 in a country band; later backing such legends as Johnny Cash and Lester Flatts; becoming a solo artist; moving away from the mainstream to make his album The PIlgrim in the older ballad tradition. His own band now,. The Fabulous Superlatives, tour and star on US television. And he wears suits by legendary cowboy tailors Nudie Dohn and Manuel Cuevas.

The Independent The visionary roots country musician Marty Stuart is Whispering Bob's guest this week.

The Stage

The Mother Church of Country Music: the Ryman Auditorium
7.00pm Radio 4
For opera buffs it's the Royal Albert Hall - iconic venues that are the spiritual as well as the physical home of a particular genre of music. Bob Harris joins the Nashville tourist trail and takes us on a virtual tour of the Ryman Auditorium, hallowed ground for devotees of country music. Emmylou Harris (above) is among those showing Bob around - it's her 1992 live recording from the Ryman that is credited with the reawakening interest in the old place after it had fallen into disrepair. Bob also meets other performers, staff and some of the thousands of people who visit the theatre and museum every year. It's a fascinating story that's brimming with colourful characters that have given this former gospel tabernacle it's unique place in country music history.

Radio Choice The Ryman Auditorium is a handsome, red-brick building in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded by a river-boat captain as a centre for rivivalist worship, it became the venue for the Grand Ole Opry broadcasts, then fell into disrepair. Emmylou Harris, who threw herself into saving the Ryman, is one of the celebrity guides taking Bob Harris into The Mother Church Of Country Music (Radio 2, 7pm), on a tour of the refurbished and revitalised building.

Radio Choice The Mother Church of Country Music Radio 2, 7pm
Remarkably, this hour-long history of the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, can be recommended to people who don't even like country music (those who are physically allergic to it are, of course, excused). There's very little actual music involved, just the occasional sliver of somebody done somebody wrong songs. Instead, here's a fine piece of social history, presented by Bob Harris and people talking about the former church whose famous acoustics have made all the greats - Charlie Chaplin, Sergei Rachmaninov and Rudolph Valentino, besides all the people in big hats - feel right at home. It's all studded with enough stories to fill three programmes, of which one will have to suffice here - when the hall was refurbished (and it needed it), in 1994, enough chewing gum was recovered from underneath the pews that still serve as seats to fill a 55-gallon oil drum.

The Mother Church of Country Music: The Ryman Auditorium
7pm, Radio 2
Bob Harris takes a guided tour through much-loved building the Ryman Auditorium, in downtown Nashville, as part of Radio 2's celebration of the 43rd annual Country Music Association Awards

Bob Harris
11pm, Radio 2 ****
A live performance of genuine, old-style gospel music, including Get Away Jordan and Old Ship Of Zion, from our very own Ruby Turner (pictured). Soul-thrilling stuff.

Bob Harris Country
7PM RADIO 2
The singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash talks to Bob Harris about her latest project, an album compiled from a list of essential country tunes given to her in 1973 by her father, Johnny Cash.

Radio Times
*RADIO CHOICE
BOB HARRIS COUNTRY RADIO 2, 7PM
"Making his list, I can see him so clearly...at the top he wrote '100 Essential Country Songs' and he gave it to me and said: 'This is your education'". In an engaging interview recorded in Nashville, Rosanne Cash (right) explains the genesis of her exciting sounding new album, The List, featuring covers of her father Johnny Cash's favourite American roots music. In reflective mood, she explains how he was in effect giving her "his essential self". SB