Valerie June, "Pushin' against a stone"

/ ARTIST: Valerie June / TITLE: "Pushin' against a stone" / GENRÉ: Folk / LABEL: Sunday Best / FORMAT: CD /

I first acquainted myself with miss June's talent on the Letterman show and decided that I must buy her CD, which came out earlier this year. When I caught her on the Letterman show, it was said that it was her debut on telly and I watched a few clips on youtube with her and all of a sudden, things just took off in number of viewers on youtube, as well as "likes" on facebook. I think miss June has the ability to become a crossover act and earn respect outside the narrow circles of folk crowds.

Anyway, the first thing that hit me while seeing her on the telly was the obvious beauty of the woman, second, I liked her voice and thirdly, I really loved her music. The tune she played was Workin' woman blues, which made me, while recommending a mate of mine to check her out, make the comment that this is what Townes van Zandt would sound like if he was a young african american woman.

Such a remark, after having listened to her whole album, is still valid, but it doesn't cover all of her abilities, because miss June has a unique expression of music. Still, while she may not live up to van Zandt's intelligence and emotion in lyrics, she comes pretty close and does communicate, at times, the same feeling I get while listening to Townes.

Another cool thing about miss June, which sets her apart from ordinary folk singers is her eclectiveness. She doesn't sing pure folk, american way, but puts rich offerings of african american culture in her brew. You can hear blues, as well as gospel, soul and west african folk music in it all and, perhaps influenced by another fave act of mine, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, brings in a soft hip hop flavor with a few electronic beats to some tunes.

Valerie June is cool, gifted and in every sense a blessing to all non-orthodox fans of american music, country fans and blues fans alike will like this.

Easily one of the best albums of the year so far. Don't miss her and remember where you read about her first!

A pretty good record like this gets a whoopin' 83,6% in rate of satisfaction!

Frank Hutchison, "Complete recorded works in chronological order, volume 1, 1926-1929"

/ ARTIST: Frank Hutchison / TITLE: "Complete recorded works in chronological order, volume 1, 1926-29" / GENRÉ: American folk music / LABEL: Document Records / FORMAT: CD /

Who says Sham 69 invented street punk? Frank Hutchison had a lot of punk attitude, despite this record  being made with only acoustic guitars, fiddle, harmonica and banjo. Hutchison was a working class man, like so many other of the musicians in his time, he befriended black musicians (but had no qualms with performing a black face routine) and his lyrics are punk too.

But what made me think of punk when I listened to this record is the fact that Hutchsion performs with an enormous speed at some tunes, it's "faster, louder" 50 years before it's time. Some of the rag-times on this album could easily have been made by some punk combo, if they had been recorded with electrical instruments and drums.

On this album, you get, which is logical, as it is the beginning of his complete works, a showcase of his enormous repertoire. You get a lot of blues numbers that could've been recorded by black performers, the quality of the guitar play is that good, only his voice, which I find mediocre and his least quality in music, give him away. He sounds like a southerner trying to pass as a New England man.

You also get, apart from proper blues numbers, early country tunes, singing-free rag-times where Hutchison shows his great techniques with the guitar, pre-bluegrass and talking blues numbers.

I really like the Document Records project of re-releasing on CD a lot of old-timers that would otherwise be left as the luxury of anal 78-collectors. Yeah, record-collecting has it's charm, but at some time it has to be about the music and not about rarity, so let the collectors collect vinyl and let us ordinary fans of American music listen to these CDs.

No mess, no fuss, just pure impact. If you like old-time American music, you'll love this album, I think Hutchison was one of the best performers of his time and this little record should have a place in the collection of every true fan of the genré(s).

The only thing I'm slightly miffed with is the fact that the bio, as usual, is bloody short. I'd love to read more about him.

Get this record!

A great record like this gets a great rating. 94,3% in rate of satisfaction.

Carolina Chocolate Drops: "Leaving Eden"

I have wanted to check this band out for a long while. I read a piece on them in the excellent magazine Country Music People and it basically said that banjo is originally an African instrument and this band wanted to reclaim an often forgotten part of American folk music, the African American part that is.

Not that this band has to be "the black band". They're a real powerhouse of a band on any merit, black or white, but it's still a recommendable thing they're doing. I had the pleausre to aquaint myself with this tradition on the compilation The stuff that dreams or made of and I liked it. Normally when you speak of African American folk music, it begins with Robert Johnson and ends with Muddy Waters. Sure, I like blues, but it would be a shame if the black string tradition would die out and this trio does it's best to prevent it from doing so.

To be honest, I am perhaps the wrong man to review this record, as I don't know too much about the genre, but I sure like it.

So it would be a shame if I just kept it to myself and didn't share my views on it.

American folk musics are to some extent intermingled with each other. There's a real blues feel to good bluegrass and there is sure some European influences in the music of Carolina Chocolate Drops, but still most of it is African-inspired.

When I read on them in the CMP piece, it said they sometimes cover modern R&B songs and I have already listened to their famous interpretation of Blu Cantrells Hit 'em up style. On this record, they take this step one step further by not only interpretating modern music through folk styles, but the other way around too. They bring R&B to folk by beatboxing and scratching, they give their music a real urban flavour.

But they never downplay the strings on any tune, 'cept for the a capella tunes Read 'em John and the beautiful Pretty Bird.

So, what you get musically is a folkish album with roots everywhere (even in Scotland!), but most of all, as the lyrics to the best tune on the album, Country girl, explains, in the deep south.

There are no bad tunes on this album, even if all tunes aren't great. Still, it's agood album and by buying it, you support a hardworking young band that is really doing an effort to make brilliant music and saving a tradition in doing so.

All in all, as I said, a good album. I give it 78,9% in level of satisfaction!

An interview with Will Kimbrough

ASOAC: How did you first get into music, did you play for a church band? School? Self-thaught?

WK: I just loved music.  I played violin,, piano, and sax before guitar.  Once i  got a guitar, i started a band and  never looked back.

ASOAC: When did you decide that you wanted to play American folk music and what motivated you to do this?

WK: I grew up in Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams and Willie Nelson

ASOAC: You’ve toured extensively through Europe, is there any difference between the audiences in Europe and the states?

WK: In the US, i am just another American singer.  In Europe, there is the feeling that the audience sees the performer as a little more...exotic.

ASOAC: What’s your first thoughts when I mention the following names:

a) Earl Scruggs
WK: happy genius

b) Townes van Zandt
WK: tortured genius

c) Emmylou Harris
WK: kind and soulful genius

d) Carolina Chocolate Drops
WK: young energetic huge talent---might be genius someday soon!

ASOAC: Are you a fan of Swedish music? Any particular performers you like?

WK: Daniel Norgren, Anna Ternheim, The Nomads, Johan Orjansson, Six Pack Holiday, Willy Clay Band, Annika Fehling, Ellen Sundberg, Johann Johannson (is he swedish---he's a great composer).

ASOAC: What does the future hold for your kind of music and where do you see yourself in ten years time? 

WK: My kind of music seems to weather trends pretty well; I think you could almost say it's timeless, especially when we play acoustic and just use the voices.  It's very human, and humans need human music.  So in ten years time, I'll be playing a show somewhere in support of my new songs.  Trying to touch some human hearts with some human sounds.

ASOAC: If your music wasn’t music, but a sport, which sport would it be? Precise like snooker or hard and physical like American football?

WK: Cross Country...long and lonely but very satisfying.

ASOAC: Any words to your Swedish fans?

WK: Thank you, Swedish music lovers, for your soulful ears.  I will be back soon.  Skol.

Will has a website that can be accessed here!

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!

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.

Grayson & Whitter, "Complete recorded works in chronological order, vol 1: 1927-1928"

First of all, I must say that it's to the credit of the record company to release this treasure. Country music and related genrés aren't that fashionable, but to us who love the music, some of the best records are only available on old original vinyl that cost a zillion bucks. To release this album is therefor an act of charity to all of us who love the music but can't afford the vinyl.

Musically, this is pre-bluegrass American folk music. If bluegrass is rooted in black, as well as white, musical traditions, this leaves out the banjo, which is an African instrument originally, as well as the more bluesy escapades in favor of acoustic guitars and a mad fiddle.With these instruments, Grayson & Whitter plays American folk deeply rooted in Celtic tradition with some other European influences to it too. Sometimes, I can almost feel a Scandinavian touch.

What I like about this band is that hey took lyrical writing seriously. You got songs dealing with a load of deep subjects country artists of today dare not touch. On the other hand, music was the CNN of times past, you got news as well as entertainment from the musicians.

Most of all, however, this is music made to dance to. It's almost a pity that music with that energy as this and as danceable to as this, has for so long been the treasure of vinyl nerds.

You can sense from the recording that Grayson & Whitter had fun recording it, as they talk to each other backwards and forwards over the tracks, a couple of "yee-haws" and "pass the bottle".

In case you haven't noticed, I really like this album and if you like old American folk too, you're probably going to like this as well.

An old treasure being returned to the audience gets 83,7% in rate of satisfaction!

Gillian Welch, "The harrow & the harvest"

Two things I want to have said before I begin reviewing this record proper.

I went to my favourite local record store, Folk Å Rock in Malmö, yesterday. I picked up some Louvin brothers stuff, as well as some banjo pickers from the 1920's. The geezer in the record store has started to recognise me and shares my taste in music and sometimes comes with small advices when it comes to music. "Do you like the Carter family?", he asked. "I do, I replied." "Have you heard Gillian Welch?". I hadn't, so he put the record The harrow & the harvest on. I liked it enough to buy it. Before I bought it, he said he reckoned they continue the legacy of the Carter family and I can, after having listened to it a zillion times yesterday and today, see where he was coming from.

Anyway, I brought the record to work today and almost everyone at work liked it. A colleague of mine looked at the sleeve, she's a bit older than me, and asked when it was from. "From 2011", I replied. She was gobsmacked, she thought the sleeve art, as well as the tunes oozed of the flower generation and I can see where she was coming from too.

In fact, this album has one foot in both worlds. A bit of it is rooted in old American folk from the 20's and 30's, another bit of it is, but in a good way, something my old hippie mate Charli would like.

In case you haven't noticed yet, I think this is pretty much the best record I've bought for ages. I rank it just beneath Townes Van Zandt, who is impossible to outdo, although miss/mrs Welch comes pretty close.

What I like in it is that it has that melancholic, laidback southern folk feel to it that you get from Swedish folk as well. You won't jump with joy from hearing it, that's true. But on the other hand, I think melancholic music has that quality to it that you start to think how good your life really is and makes you thankful to God for all the blessings He has given you.

This record is recorded in the old way, no drums, no electrics, no sampling, no fancy stuff, just acoustic guitars, banjo, harmonica and hand clappings. And loads of songs sung in harmony. In fact, miss/mrs Welch only has one back up musician, but they do their stuff like a whole orchestra when it comes to quality. The only thing I think this record could be missing is perhaps a fiddle and some mandolins. But, though the inclusion of those two instruments could've highten the feeling to the album, I don't miss them really that much.

As I said, this is the best record I've picked up for years. There is no bad track on it, they all stand out in quality and I'm convinced that it will be remembered in the American folk scene for ages and I wish the artists success and that they play Sweden. Only criticism I have of it is that some tunes, most notably The way the whole thing ends, goes on for too long.

A great, almost perfect, album like this gets 96,1% in rate of satisfaction!

Various Artists, "The stuff that dreams are made of"

This two disc compilation features rare collectibles in cajun, country, blues and pre-bluegrass, vinyl now made available on cd.

Lately, I've grown to appreciate old American folk tremendously. Sure, I like a lot of modern stuff too, but theese old records from the 20's and 30's have a quality to them like movies from that age shares as well. Just as laurel and Hardy still make you chuckle in a sense Adam Sandler won't in just ten years, theese skilled musicians (among them my fave, Dock Boggs) knock out quality tunes that makes you want to put on your dancing shoes.

There's a lot of blues on this compilation and I for one ain't all that keen on blues, sure, I can listen to it and enjoy it, it's just that I don't enjoy it as much as other genres of American folk.

There's a few instrumental tunes on the discs, as well as quite a few with singing to them and they all have that old record feel to them, none of the tunes have been processed with equaliser, the background, old vinyl, dust sound is all there.

Musically, the tunes are well more diverse than today's format. You get piano and trumpets on some tunes, instruments that are not too common on today's folk recordings.

Lyrically, you get a lot of innocense too. Country had, back in those days, often a humorous side to it that more modern country tunes (with perhaps the exception of Johnny Cash's Boy named Sue) lack. Wilmer Watts and the lonely eagles has a very funny tune on this one, that is Fightin' in the war with Spain.

The only things that I hold against this record is that there's not enough Cajun tunes, there's too much blues and that one of the tunes, Chicken don't roost too high, by The Georgia Pot Lickers, could be interpreted as a racist tune, which might have been acceptable in the 20's, but not now and even if it is a collectible, it shouldn't have been included on a record with musicians what own that much to African American traditions.

This means that this compilation is, in other words, not perfect, but pretty close. I give it 95,8% in level of satisfaction.

An interview with Eilen Jewell

You’ve got a new cd coming out, how would you describe it in terms of sound and your own satisfaction with it? What can the fans expect?

The new record is definitely a close relative of my 2009 release, Sea of Tears. But to my ears it’s a bit more mature and takes more risks. It’s the first time since my debut record, Boundary County, that I’ve released an album of all original material. So the songs are near and dear to me. It’s also the first time I’ve featured guest vocalists (Big Sandy of Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys and up-and-coming Seattle artist Zoe Muth). I think fans of my previous albums will appreciate this new member of the family.

I am an active layman in the Church of Sweden, so I have to ask you at least one question on faith. You covered Loretta Lynn’s “Who says God is dead?” on “Butcher Holler”, so I suppose there is at least some connection to faith in the band. What has Church meant to you? Did you perhaps start with music in a Church band?

I’m not religious and wasn’t raised under any particular faith, but I have always loved gospel music. My band and I are in a gospel side-project called The Sacred Shakers. There are eight members, and we all come from very different religious (and non-religious) backgrounds. Having sung in that band for several years, “Who Says God Is Dead” was not a stretch for me. I wanted to include it in “Butcher Holler,” my tribute to Loretta Lynn, because I felt it would complete the picture. You just can’t sing an album of all country songs without including at least one gospel favorite. They go hand in hand. And that song in particular is so classic Loretta Lynn. It’s amazing how even her gospel lyrics are full of sass.

Britain’s PM, David Cameron, told interviewers that he keeps you on his iPod and Europe’s leading country music magazine, CMP, had a long interview with you. Does this mean that you have had bigger exposure in Europe lately and what do you think is similar and what is different when you compare American to European audiences?

Europe has been very good to me from the beginning. There are many communities here in the U.S. where we do very well too, but the U.S. is such a huge country, so spread-out, that it’s harder for anything to catch on, unless it’s on the television every night. Things just don’t catch on as easily as they do in Europe. It’s more like a collection of isolated fires. There are many parts of the U.S. where you literally have to drive for hundreds of miles before you can find a town with a theater or a concert hall and a promoter who’s willing to put together a show. In Europe it seems to me that many people are not as attracted to mainstream music, they actively look for an alternative. And the communities in Europe are closer together than they are in most
of the U.S. so touring is easier. It also really helps that most Europeans we meet know more about American music than most Americans do. All of these things put together have made it easy for Europe to be a real stronghold for us.

Which bands and artists have influenced you the most? And, then, are there any artists who you like and respect, although your music sounds nothing like them at all?

Of the contemporary artists out there, I am probably most influenced by Lucinda Williams, Fred Eaglesmith, and Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys. Oh, and of course Bob Dylan and Loretta Lynn. (There are so many!) I have great respect for Chuck Prophet, as a person and as a performer and songwriter, though musically we’re only a little bit similar.

What is most fun, getting a great review or playing a brilliant live concert?

Playing a great live concert is the most fun, and the most fulfilling, thing I can do. I try not to take any review to heart, whether it be favorable or unfavorable. Everyone’s got an opinion, so I try not to get distracted by them.

Are you aware of the existence of Amanda Jensen? She is obviously aware of you, because she sounds very much like you.

I am familiar with her. I don’t know if she’s aware of me or not, but I like what she’s doing. It would be great to do a show together someday.

If your band was not a band, but a sport, which sport would it be? Hard and physical as American football or precise and elegant like golf or maybe something in between?

I think we have some days when we’re more like a rugby team, taking all the hard knocks without any padding. And other days we’re more like pool sharks--calm and calculating and a little conniving. But that’s just how we are as people. Musically, we’re more like cross-country skiers. Our music is fluid, with a lot of space in between the notes, but it has direction and focus too.

Any words to your Swedish fans?

Thanks for being so welcoming to me, and for putting up with my attempts at speaking Swedish. I love Sweden, and I can’t wait to come back! Tack så mycket!

Eilen Jewell - "Queen of the minor key"

This record came out in June, already and I should've had reviewed it earlier, but I only got around to buying it a few weeks ago.

The reasons for reviewing it now are threefold. The first and obvious reason is that more people deserve to experience the music of miss Jewell and her band. The second is that I reviewed the record in my Swedish blog a few weeks ago and only decided to take my English-language blogging more seriously just recently. Lastly, I was offered by her record label to review the record already when it came out, but I like supporting good musicians and insisted on buying the record myself. I could've reviewed it digitally, but I'm old school and prefer owning the music I like on a disc!

As for this record, yes, to everyone who likes Eilen Jewell, this record is a must-have. It might not be groundbreaking, no, it's just more of the Jewell-sound you like from previous records. A bit of melancholy, a bit of 50's style music and a big dose of country!

This record is also noteworthy for the fact that Eilen Jewell has written all the tunes herself.

This record is, no matter what comes out later this year (or previously, for that matter!), one of the best releases in country music this year. I would love to hear this material live too, so we can just hope that miss Jewell returns to Sweden this year with a load of these tunes in her set! I don't think it's impossible, cos a load of good country artists have been playing Sweden lately and if I can afford it, I'll see Steve Earle in Malmö this autumn!

I would definitely recommend this record for all fans of country music, but I also think that people who like rockabilly or Swedish folk can enjoy this. To all fans of Swedish singer Amanda Jensen, it's a must-have (and I can really recommend all fans abroad of Eilen Jewell to discover Amanda Jensen!).

The only thing I can criticise this record for is the fact that it's stuck a bit in a rut and not too groundbreaking. That is not necessarily such a bad thing and, as I said, it's one of the best releases this year. All her old fans will like it and new fans will absolutely, I'm sure, adore it.

It's a good record, alright, but the fact that it ain't too groundbreaking means that I can't give it a totally satisfactionary stamp of approval.

I give it 72% in level of satisfaction.

Dock Boggs - "His folkways years 1963-1968"

I had no clue who Dock Boggs was yesterday, I must admit. I came into the best record store in southern Sweden, or at least the record store with the best selection of american music, looking for the latest Merle Haggard album and when they didn't have that, I asked for the new best of Bluegrass album Country Music People reviewed in the latest issue.

Now, Folk å Rock (the record store in Malmö town I went to) had neither, but the shop clerk recommended me this record, as well  as a record by Earl Scruggs. I was completely blown away by both, but the Dock Boggs album struck me that hard I've been listening to it non stop since I got out of bed this morning.

Dock Boggs is truly folk. Musically, it's bluesy American folk with a unique sound. He sometimes remind me of another great white American singer, who was influenced by blues as well, Nathan Abshire, though Abshire sang in french. But to be fair, Boggs is both better than Abshire, as well as having more influences than blues, there is European influences as well in his blend of folk music.

The record comes with a booklet full of info on mr Boggs and if half of it is true, he seems to have had a truly interesting life. A coal mine worker and a bootlegger of corn whiskey in and out of trouble, the kind of life you'd expect from an oi! singer, not a folk singer. However, what I, as a Christian labour man appreciate is Boggs foundation in faith, as well as in the trade union movement.

The music is so good that Boggs could do instrumental numbers only, but the lyrics really stand out as well, covering the life of poor people in the American south.

Boggs started recording in the 1920's, but gave it up and didn't record again for almost 35 years. This could give Boggs music a bit of a dated feeling and to be true, yes, it's old time fashioned bluesy folk, but it's still relevant. What one, however, can say about it is that one can hear which influences bluegrass, country and folk had in the 1940's-60's. Boggs was one of their sources of influence no doubt. The fact that his music continued to be popular between 1929 and 1963 despite the man not doing any recordings then says it all.

This is a brilliant piece of work and truly a milestone in folk, yet it leaves some to wish for, so I won't give it a totally flawless stamp of approval, but almost. I give it 95,9% in rate of satisfaction.