I WAS in a taxi recently and the driver said he’d picked up my husband the week before and they’d had a great chat about music. “We talked about all the great music of our youth and how we still listen to it,” he told me.

“Do you listen to anything more current?” I asked.

“No, not really,” he replied. “Where do you find new music anyway? I wouldn’t know where to start.”

I proceeded to surprise both the driver and myself by reeling off ways in which he could bring himself up-to-speed on all the great new music which is in the ether at the moment. “There’s loads of music festivals,” I said. “But you could start by listening to the likes of Vic Galloway and Roddy Hart’s The Quay Sessions on BBC Radio Scotland. Then there’s BBC Radio 6 Music, BBC Introducing and Jools Holland on BBC2.”

Since we were in Glasgow, I mentioned the Hug and Pint on Great Western Road and Broadcast on Sauchiehall Street as being places to tune his ears into something a bit more contemporary then The Clash.

I could have said The Market Bar or The Ironworks or Hootananny in Inverness because through my involvement with XpoNorth, a creative industries network and annual conference supported by Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the European Regional Development Fund, I have re-booted my musical mojo in these unlikely venues. And here’s me a boring mum to two teens whose idea of a fun Friday night is listening to The Archers after dropping a car-load of lads at badminton.

I first attended the annual XpoNorth conference and showcase in 2013 and quickly realised the 60+ half-hour long live music showcase slots in venues dotted around the Highland capital were the glue which held this inspiring two-day long event together.

I’ve stood spellbound, listening to Elgin-born songbird Siobhan Wilson silence a packed crowd in Mad Hatters, pogoed with a fellow middle-aged mum to the strains of the late-lamented Glasgow hip-hop outfit Hector Bizerk in Deeno’s Sports Bar, and been troubled/enchanted by Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) winner Kathryn Joseph. Then there was the time fellow SAY award-winner RM Hubbert ordered a chatty conference crowd at a networking party in Inverness’ Town House to show a bit of respect and BE QUIET. We obeyed. And he was quite something to behold.

Last week, the line-up for XpoNorth Music Showcase was announced and XpoNorth’s social media lit up like a beacon because it matters to musicians that they are seen and heard before this influential audience of creative industry insiders working in screen and broadcast, game development, fashion and more.

Emerging music champion Vic Galloway has attended every XpoNorth since 2000, when it began as a small grassroots music-industry only event. He loves it so much he’s hosting a special BBC Introducing programme on BBC Radio Scotland on the evening of Thursday June 8.

So peel back your lug-holes and get with the programme. There a whole new musical life out there. Dancing on Tables is the name of one of the showcasing acts this year. I might even do that. Just don’t tell my kids.