The Bottom Line:
Great sounding live music from Scottish film.
Excuse Me Mister with and lots of soul and strangled duck.
"Filmed on the Atlantic Coast of Scotland", at the Montgreenan Mansion House Hotel, Kilwinning, Ayrshire.
The Transatlantic Sessions were two series of 30 minute films, hosted by Shetlander Aly Bain and New York's Jay Ungar. It was a Pelicula Films production for BBC Scotland, directed by Mike Alexander and produced by Douglas Eadie.
There were two series, but only the second series produced two CD releases.
| nr | artist(s) | title | author(s) | time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Aly Bain | Waiting For The Federals | [trad.] | 4:10 |
| 02 | Ricky Skaggs | A Simple Life | (M. McAally) | 1:49 |
| 03 | Maura O'Connell | Blue Train | (J. & T. Kimball) | 4:48 |
| 04 | Paul Brady | Marriage Made In Hollywood | (P. Brady/ M. O'Keeve) | 4:33 |
| 05 | Jerry Douglas | Tribute To Peadar O'Donnell/ Takarasaka | (D. Lunny/ J. Douglas) | 5:19 |
| 06 | Eddi Reader | Hummingbird | (B. Hewerdine) | 3:32 |
| 07 | Michael Doucet | La Dance De La Vie | (M. Doucet) | 4:05 |
| 08 | Breda Smyth | Bachelor's Walk | (B. Smyth) | 2:03 |
| 09 | Nanci Griffith | Always Will | (N. Griffith) | 2:40 |
| 10 | Radney Foster | Nobody Wins | (R. Foster/ K. Richey) | 3:56 |
| 11 | Russ Barenberg | Les Veuves De La Coulée | [trad.] | 2:54 |
| 12 | Karen Matheson | There's Always Sunday | (J. Grant) | 3:41 |
| 13 | John Martyn | Excuse Me Mister | (B. Harper) | 5:53 |
| 14 | Rosanne Cash | 40 Shades Of Green | (J. Cash) | 4:19 |
The first series were recorded 1995 and aired spring 1996. They were nominated but did not win the BAFTA Scotland Awards 1997 for Best Entertainment Programme.
The second series were filmed 2, 5 and 7 August 1998 and broadcast from 23 Oct through 27 November of the same year.
Excuse Me Mister featured in show #6 and went on air 20 November 1998.
Show #7 (27 November) had Solid Air by JM and Danny Thompson but they selected He's Got All The Whiskey for the second CD.
The two show were rebroadcast in the US 22 and 26 October 2002 on Ovation cable channel and also on BBC Four, 9 and 16 January 2004.
Line-up for the John Martyn track:
Paul Brady - [piano];
Jerry Douglas - dobro;
John Leventhal - guitar;
Tommy Hayes - percussion;
Danny Thompson - bass.