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BBC Radio 2 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Light Programme.

BBC Radio 2

Radio 2

The Country Show with Bob Harris

Music: Country

The very best in Country music, celebrating the new alongside the defining legendary names

The very best in Country music, celebrating the new alongside the defining legendary names.

Bob Harris Country

The Country Show with Bob Harris: Steve Earle and Shawn Colvin in Session

Music: Folk

28/07/2016

Steve Earle and Shawn Colvin in Session

BBC Radio 2 - The Country Show with Bob Harris, Steve Earle and Shawn Colvin in Session

Bob hosts Steve Earle and Shawn Colvin in session.

Bob hosts Steve Earle and Shawn Colvin in session playing songs from their recently-released duets album Colvin and Earle.

Roots music greats Steve Earle and Shawn Colvin are in session, playing songs from their recently released duets album Colvin and Earle

In the strictest sense, Steve Earle isn't a country artist; he's a roots rocker. Earle emerged in the mid-'80s, after Bruce Springsteen had popularized populist rock & roll and Dwight Yoakam had kick-started the neo-traditionalist movement in country music. At first, Earle appeared to be more indebted to the rock side than country, as he played a stripped-down, neo-rockabilly style that occasionally verged on outlaw country. However, his unwillingness to conform to the rules of Nashville or rock & roll meant that he never broke through into either genre's mainstream. Instead, he cultivated a dedicated cult following, drawing from both the country and rock audiences. Toward the early '90s, his career was thrown off track by personal problems and substance abuse, but he re-emerged stronger and healthier several years later.

Shawn Colvin is one of the leading lights of the so-called "new folk movement" that began in the late '80s. Although she grew out of the somewhat limited "woman with a guitar" school, she kept the form fresh with a diverse approach, avoiding the genre's clichéd sentiments and all-too-often formulaic arrangements in favor of a more personal, pop-influenced style. Colvin's debut record won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album in 1991, but it was her 1997 single, "Sunny Came Home," that firmly catapulted her into the mainstream. Although she never revisited that commercial peak again, Colvin still commanded a broad, loyal following well into the subsequent decades.

Amazing music. Played by an amazing line up.

Radio 2: Amazing music. Played by an amazing line-up. The home of great music, entertainment and documentaries

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