Top of the list was This One’s For Him, a recent ‘various artists’ tribute thing. Not the sort of thing I usually buy, but this time the tribute was to Guy Clark.

Halfway through the first track (Rodney Crowell singing That Old Time Feeling) I was welling up. Without explanation. Other than… well, I’ve never forgotten the first time I heard Old No 1, in a friend’s flat in Crouch End, around 1976. From that point on I understood what country music was all about, and Guy hasn’t let me down since.

Except I think that definition (that ‘country music’) may have been a little narrow. For one thing, it ain’t just country. This new album’s sleeve notes call it folk. Some might prefer Americana (which is a hideous category). Me, I’ve just come to understand what Guy Clark does as the finest, purest, simplest songwriting I know.

I’ll be eternally grateful. And I’d give anything to time travel back to Guy and Susanna’s house in the early 70s, with Townes van Zandt knocking at the door, clutching a bottle of Tennessee whiskey in his hand…

What the heck. I miss blogging. I don’t have a lot of time these days, but every once in a while I find myself with something to say that just won’t fit on Twitter.

So this is for those big thoughtful ‘what the hell is it all for?’ moments. Peppered with occasional updates on what I’m doing, but never fear: I will not be using this to tell you all about my breakfast preferences, latest love affairs, emotional crises or what goes on in the day job.

I intend this to be tougher than that. Watch this space.