Will Kimbrough & Brigitte DeMeyer @ Folk Å Rock, Malmö

I have continuously sung the praise of the Folk Å Rock record store in Malmö and yesterday gave me more reason to do so, cos they arranged a brilliant concert in the store in the evening.

When I lived in London, the big Oxford Street record stores would arrange in-store concerts with big artists like Usher and hundreds of young people would crowd the record store to see their favourite artist.

Folk Å Rock is nothing like that. The store itself is quite small, actually, so i don't think more than 50-60 people attended the gig yesterday. This meant that Kimbrough could communicate with the audience quite easily and he did so splendidly too. I would say the setting was intimate.

The record store is located at "Lilla Torg", one of the most fashionable and trendy places in Malmö when it comes to night-life, with loads of bars and coffee houses. This meant that a load of trendies passed by the store on their way to the bar. Most of them looked into the windows and I couldn't help feeling sorry for them. They would go on to get ridiculously drunk and listen to ridiculous pop music, while they had real music just a few doors down.

The one thing which bothered me about the gig, though, was the fact that it was too small for people to dance. I wasn't going to dance even if there was space to do so, cos, frankly speaking, the problem with me is that I've got no rythm. But the music played by DeMeyer and Kimbrough is folk music and if you play folk music, people should be able to dance. Folk music wasn't made for music nerds to sit and snap their fingers to, but for celebration, dancing and fun. In old times, when the local minstrel took out his fiddle or guitar, it was a time for joy and I think that the fact that this is lost on today's folk music fan base is tragic.

The gig itself was, despite DeMeyer's lost voice, nothing but brilliant. In a few years, they'll be superstars within the genré, of that I'm sure, cos the guitar handling was brilliant and the songs were ace too.

Kimbrough seems to be standing with one foot in traditional Americana and one foot in more modern singer-songwriting and does a good job at both, as well as combining them.

I really like the lyricism too. Kimbrough combined a sense of humour with more serious stuff. In some songs you get both, in one he described, in a brilliant play on words, a teenage prostitute as "the rottening apple of her daddy's eyes".

And the cover of Hank Williams Sr's I'm so lonesome I could cry was one of the best numbers they did, do their own material was far from bad too.
Kimbrough and DeMeyer completed each other brilliantly too. DeMeyer has a very good singing voice, despite her throat problem and was good at the guitarplaying too.

I had big expectations for this concert and though it wasn't as good as I thought it would be, it was still a good concert.

I'll be checking out the music of DeMeyer and Kimbrough and I think you should too. If you like this kind of music, you won't be able to avoid them in a couple of years time and they sure won't play for theese small crowds then neither.

As I'm fairly satisfied, I'll give this concert 82,3% in rate of satisfaction!

Earl Scruggs: 1924-2012

I originally started listening to country music, cos I was a fan of Johnny Cash's lyrical writing and I wanted to be able to write as good lyrics for the punk rock band I was singing with. For a few years, Cash and some com pilations I had gotten from a pal, as well as the great Swedish country band Jimbob Convoy, was all the country music I was listening to.

Then I started to, as I grew increasingly tired of punk (punk is still my first love, I just don't listen as much to it theese days), I started buying more country music records and I had always been a fan of Cajun music, so I decided to check out the other genrés within American folk and I discovered bluegrass.

It was thanks to a salesman at the brilliant Folk Å Rock record store in Malmö that I s´discovered Dock Boggs, Earl Scruggs and the other banjo legends. Persistent readers of this blog must have noticed that I have written more on banjo pickers than on any other genré the last months. I simply cannot get enough of banjo music.

Though I really like Boggs as well, mostly cos of his brilliant lyricism, I think Scruggs was the greatest banjo picker of the last century. He changed the sound of bluegrass and American folk forever with his inventive style of picking his banjo. It's like ska music, you simply cannot avoid feeling happy from listening to it.

Therefore, it is with great sorrow that I learn that mr Scruggs passed away yesterday.

I learned of his death from Dwight Yoakam on Facebook, who paid a nice tribute to him and I do believe the whole country and bluegrass communities will pay a massive tribute, a fitting tribute to a genious with the banjo that will never be outdone.

Scruggs was the greatest. Rest in peace, Earl, you'll be missed.

Hobart Smith, "Traditional Appalachian Songs and Tunes"

I like this record and I will tell you why. Theese days, musicians are experts at what they're doing in a narrow field, real musicians, that is, not the crap that doinates the pop charts.

Take a real, good, modern band like Zac Brown Band, they are a perfect combo and they are all experts at what they're doing. The fiddler is a mean fiddler, the guitarist is an expert guitarist, etc.

Things were different in the old days, you didn't make much money as a musician and most of the times, you couldn't make a living out of it. If you were a musician, you had to play a number of instruments, be able to sing decently and have a repetoire full of dance numbers, as well as entertainment numbers, blues numbers, social commentary and sacred songs.

Hobart Smith was active as a musician back in those days and he sings, as well fiddles decently and is okayish at the guitars, but his real strength lies in his banjo-picking. His banjo dance numbers are played with an intensity and energy you normally find only with very skilled punk rock guitarists. You simply get lost in the banjo-only tunes, the rythms and melodies are simply amazing!

As I said, you get dance tunes, as well as social comments like The Great Titanic and entertainment numbers like The Devil and the Farmer's Wife. A few numbers are a bit bluesy and I don't like those. I have nothing against blues in general, though it's certainly not one of my favourite styles, it's just that mr Smith's blues numbers are a bit dull.

On a few numbers, you get some inspiration from the southern gospel tradition too. They're all related to each other, the different branches of American music, black and white, sacred and secular, cos America is such a great melting pot.

I'd recommend this record to fans of American Folk with a particular interest. If you are new to the genré and want to discover the greats of the genré, I'd rather go for Earl Scruggs or Dock Boggs, as they're, simply, better. It's not that mr Smith is bad, it's just that the greats are even greater. His banjo skills are excellent though and a record consisting of his banjo tunes alone would give him a friendlier ear in me.

A good, though far from perfect, record like this gets 82,3% in rate of satisfaction!

First Aid Kit, "The lion's roar"

Let me start the review of this wonderful band consisting of two young sisters from Sweden by saying that I haven't as utterly enjoyed a Swedish country act as this for, basically, ever. They're darn good at what they're doing.

Even if you don't like this act, you'd be mad not to appreciate the fact that they're putting country music firmly where it belongs, in the charts, here in Sweden.

Anyway, what you get is a band with a tune that goes "I'll be your Emmylou and I'll be your June..." and this sums the band up pretty well to some extent, cos they got that 70's country feeling to it that Emmylou Harris brought us way back when before I was even born.

Theese girls aren't satisfied with sounding as Emmylou, though, they bring their own flavour to the stew. You get some of the hippie music we all are ambigious to, including some hippie flutes that actually do the job and don't dominate it. You also get some 60's country, as well as some pure Scandinavian ingredients. For some reason, I get to think of Norwegian singer Ane Brun. I could well see First Aid Kit breaking into the charts in Norway, perhaps easier than in Sweden, as Norwegians appreciate this music higher than us Swedes. (For that matter, I can see First Aid Kit breaking into the charts everywhere, they're that good!)

At the start, I thought their lyrics were a bit too naive and bland, but the more I listen to it, the more I think they reveal a splendid youtful playfulness that is way too often abscent from contemporary music. This is a band of two young sisters singing harmonies and with lyrics that actually reflect their age. In the tune Blue, they have a verse where they rhyme two times on "you" and then "blue" and "twenty two", but it doesn't matter. As I said, it's a playfulness fitting to their age and the lyrics work well with the tunes.

Now, some may complain that the title of my blog is A Swede on American culture and this band is not American. That's just ridiculous. This band sounds a lot like the American music we all love and had they been an American band, they would have been all over the bleedin place. They're that good. It's about time us Swedes show you Americans that not all Swedish music is premanufactured disco garbage, but we can produce some fine stuff too!

Buy this record and support a young band knocking out some of the finest retro country music I've ever heard.

And oh, there's actually a bit pop thrown in for good measure too!

The best Swedish country band ever naturally gets 100% in rate of satisfaction!

New England Revolution

I used to have the sports package to my telly which enabled me to watch MLS games, but when a competitor bought the rights to England's Premier League, I simply had to switch subscription.

Anyway, I think the Major League Soccer has potential. In a few years, it could easily become a big sport in the US, not just cos the US is a country full of ethnicities that worship soccer, but also cos it's so cheap. It's like basket ball, anyone can play it if you only got a ball.

As I am a former skinhead (with tattoos and everything) and still someone who claims the straight edge (which means I don't drink, don't do drugs and don't hump around), I am a fan of all thing Bostonian, thanks to bands like Slapshot, DYS, Negative FX, Last Rights, The FUs, Stars & Stripes, The Bruisers and The Freeze. Therefor, as I already am a fan of the Boston Red Sox, it came natural to me to become a New England Revolution fan. (Though I am a fan of New York Islanders in the NHL and the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL - don't ask!)

Now, I lack tv coverage of the MLS, so what to do?

Easy, get on the internet! As someone who takes the commandment "Thou shalt not steal" literally and buys all the records I review, I simply cannot tell people to get onto bootleg streaming. But guess what, you don't have to!

It's easy to follow The Revs on their own youtube channel, as well as the MLS. Here's coverage of the Revs game versus LA Galay, a pre-season thingy.

Let's all hope and pray that the Revs go all the way this season and win the great bloody thing!

The legacy of Roscoe Holcomb

This DVD is exactly what it says, a documentation of the legacy of Roscoe Holcomb. Included on it are the documentaries Roscoe Holcomb from Daisy, Kentucky, as well as the classic The high lonesome sound and then a few extra tracks of music from Holcomb and his pals.

Roscoe died just about some thirty years ago and never got that big recognition he so fully deserved. Still, it feels like another time.

The times and music of mr Holcomb was made in a time when folk really meant something. People's music, that is. Compare Holcomb, who worked in heavy labour, as well as being unemployed from time to time, to the big stars of today with their bling and SUVs.

To me, as a practising Christian, one of the things I like the most is that the documentaries clearly show the joint roots of secular, as well as religious mountain music.

Anyway, Holcomb plays banjo, as well as guitar on this DVD. I like the banjo parts the best. You can be a pretentious s-o-b if you want and take a high brow approach to this kind of music and treat it like material for record collecting. I, on the other hand, treat this kind of music for what it is, dancing music. When you watch people dance to the music Holcomb and his pals play, only then do you get the full sense of what this music is about.

Also included are some good bluesy tunes. The only thing I really miss a little bit is a few fiddles more. True, the banjo stuff is some of the best I've heard and Holcomb had a good singing voice, which sometimes remind me of Dock Boggs. It's that high pitch, you know.

In case you haven't noticed, I really like this vid. It get 98,3% in rate of satisfaction.

Bascom Lamar Lunsford, "Ballads, banjo tunes and sacred songs"

I have often written on how good the Folk Å Rock record store in Malmö is. I went there yesterday with a pal of mine to buy tickets for the Will Kimbraugh concert at the end of March, which I am super stoked for.

Any way, I don't get to go to Malmö that often, so I browsed through the country/folk/bluegrass section and found this Lunsford record, which I bought. To be honest, I hadn't heard Lunsford before, but the fact that this record is released on the Smithsonian/Folkways label is enough to know that it's good.

Fans of more contemporary country music must forgive me for writing so much on banjo pickers of the 30's, but I really enjoy that kind of music and would like to see it gaining in popularity, so I do my bit for spreading the word.

Well, well, what you get here is perhaps not the best singing voice in the world, but Bascom makes up for that with his superb banjo skills. The totality of the music is just pure dead brilliant.

The full title, Ballads, banjo tunes and sacred songs of western north Carolina, says it all. On this record, you get 18 top tunes of that description. As a practicing Christian (Evangelical Lutheran), I could have settled for some more spiritual tunes, but I'm quite content. The secular songs are top notch. It would be a shame to complain when you get such a brill record for your money's worth.

People have often spoken loads of the Irish roots of American folk and I agree to some extent, though I would rather like to call the influence "Gaelic", as some of the tunes, most notably Bonny George Campbell, with it's fiddle and it's unaccompanied singing, sound really Scottish to me. I'm not an expert on Scottish (nor American, really) folk, but I think there are clear similarities.

If you like old American folk, you'll definitely like this. It's not the holy Grail of American folk, but it's still pretty good.

A record as good as this gets 77,3% in rate of satisfaction.