“I have walked all those streets a couple of times but I didn’t know the history behind the places.  Now I see Glasgow with new eyes.”

That’s Ricardo speaking on the Fred Macaulay show after road testing Glasgow Music Tour Part 1 which, of course, is presented and led by DJ Jim Gellatly.

Ricardo is a young music-loving Spanish tourist visiting Glasgow and somehow the BBC team persuaded him to try out the Walking Heads audio music tour for the show.  Must admit, when he arrived in the studio we were just a little nervous about what he would say. Live on air. But we couldn’t have put it better ourselves.

Ricardo had taken his time – four hours – to try out the first part of the tour which leads from George Square to MacSorleys in Jamaica Street, via the O2 Academy over the river.

It is certainly possible to cover all the venues on Part 1 in much less time than that. But, as we recommend, Ricardo had stopped many times along the way, exploring galleries, cafes, shops and treating himself to fish and chips (we recommend that too) in MacSorleys at the end.

Exploring is the point of straying off the beaten track.  Each destination on the music tour has its own highly individual quality. In Stockdale Street Ricardo was fascinated by the different histories of Scotia, Victoria and Clutha Vaults.  But, pressed by Fred Macaulay to say what he would recommend to his friends, Ricardo chose the Barrowland Ballroom and the Barras. “I don’t know why but it has a strange charm,” he said.

Jim Gellatly made a tantalisingly brief vocal appearance on the show, with a clip from the tour as he guides listeners across the road to stand outside the Barrowland.  “Be careful crossing the road.” Now, thanks to a quip from Fred Macaulay, he’s thinking of starting the Jim Gellatly Tufty Club.  (Members were increasing last time we checked his Facebook page!).

We’ll be following in Jim’s footsteps tomorrow night for a mini music tour and music quiz. It’s  part of Social Media Week Glasgow when we will share our ideas about creating and producing tours with the help of social media.

Pictures show Jim Gellatly in Mono and leading the way on our mini music tour from Mono to MacSorleys. They are from a selection shot by photographer Andrea McCarthy for Glasgow Music Tour Part 1, coming very soon!