A tribute from a French musician to Terry Reid, new singles from Norway and Portugal, albums from the Netherlands and Italy, and news of a Danish festival. It’s all going on in continental Europe!
Many of you will know that we lost the fabulous Terry Reid in August last year. Now we have news of a new tribute song to the great man, from French singer-songwriter and producer, Guillaume Simon, who performs as Indolore. Guillaume, who was born in Bayonne and grew up in Mimizan in SW France, met Terry Reid back in 2008 and became a collaborator with him on various musical projects, becoming close friends in the process. Guillaume wrote the song, Terry, before Reid’s death at the end of August, but it has taken on new meaning since his passing and was officially released as a single on the 20th of this month. None other than Graham Nash, who produced Terry Reid’s Seed of Memory album back in 1976, has described it as a “wonderful song in tribute of my dear friend Terry Reid.”
But Guillaume Simon is not stopping at the release of this single. He plans to make a documentary about the song and his attempt to win a Grammy with it. He is planning to film the journey of the song Terry to its intended destination at the 2027 Grammy Awards. While he knows it’s unlikely that the song will make the Grammy list, the film will become a vehicle for building a more comprehensive tribute to Terry Reid, by capturing on camera testimonials from friends, fans, musicians and journalists, along with a soundtrack featuring Reid’s own songs. Elodie Letaeron, who filmed Terry live in the studio, will direct the documentary. This is a great project to acknowledge the talent of one of the UK’s finest musicians, and we’ll follow Guillaume’s progress with interest and hope to have some updates for you in the future. You can find out more about the project at the Indolore website.
Other releases this month include two new singles from Norwegian artists. The Northern Belle release There’s a Party Tonight featuring Stine Andreassen (vocals), Bjørnar Ekse Brandseth (pedal steel and electric guitar), Preben Sælid Andersen (piano, synth, electric guitar, congas), Øyvind Blomstrøm (acoustic guitar), Tor Egil Kreken (bass) and Henrik Lødøen (drums). Our clip only features Stine’s acoustic version of the song, but the single itself is a more upbeat affair that rocks along on some fine pedal steel playing.
Embla and the Karidotters – Closet Drama is the third single from upcoming album, The Fool, being touted as “Norway’s first queer country album“. Embla would seem to be something of a Norwegian Dolly Parton, having just launched Embla’s Hoedown, a unique blend of farmers’ market, amusement park, and country club concept, complete with line-dancing classes and concerts, something for all the community. We don’t have a clip of this single, but the band are worth checking out, and we’re looking forward to hearing more about the album when it’s released.
Both these singles are out on the always reliable Die With Your Boots On Records.
We also have a new single release from one of our own. Hugo S. Simões is a singer-songwriter from Portugal, originally from the Azores but now based in Lisbon, and he has recently joined AUK as a new writer. His latest single, My Thoughts Have No Bounds, is being released on Cheap Wine Records on 28th March. We’re too early for a preview clip, but you can find more info about all his music on Hugo’s Bandcamp page and on Instagram.
One notable album release this month is the latest from the top Italian alt-country band, Satellite Inn. From Nowhere Revisited is a new album with a fascinating backstory. Back in 2002, Satellite Inn were the Italian touring band for Robert Fisher of the Willard Grant Conspiracy. Working with the band persuaded Fisher to handle the production of what should have been Satellite Inn’s second album, but their then-label, MoodFood Records, went out of business, and the songs demoed for that album went missing. Almost a decade after the death of Robert Fisher, those lost songs reappeared in a box of Satellite Inn’s unused master tapes. Inspired by hearing the material again, the band decided to pay a tribute to their old master. Those early songs sounded so fresh that they became the backbone of their new record. This is the release we hinted at last month, and it was released on 13th March. For reasons we can’t go into, we still can’t say too much more about the album, but it is available now, and you can check it out on the band’s Bandcamp page. Alt Country at its best.
We also have news of a couple of excellent albums that came out a little earlier in the year on Continental Records. We’re not sure how we managed to miss these; they came out in January and February, respectively, but we’re really pleased to have caught up with them because they’re a couple of very good albums.
The first is a prime example of everything I love about writing this column and the weird and wonderful things the world of European americana can throw at you. Last month we had a Mexican singer-songwriter in Iceland, this month I give you a Dutch tribute to Tom Waits, in Flemish! De Wachtkamer (The Waiting Room) started out as a one-off performance that grew over the years into a small collection of unique translations of Tom Waits’ songs. The musician behind this project is Jeroen Geurts, who fell in love with Waits’ music while listening to the songwriter’s third album, Nighthawks at the Diner. Inspired by that album, he slowly translated enough songs to take the stage with them. In typical Tom Waits fashion, mumbling behind the piano. During a music festival performance, Geurts was spontaneously joined by a bass player and the desire for a band was born. Adding first a keyboard/clarinet player and a guitarist and, later, a drummer, the band have now produced this album, Vannacht Zoop ik de Maas Leeg, full of wonderfully original interpretations of some of Waits’ songs, including the likes of Berevolle Wegen (Jockey Full of Bourbon) and Kroonluchter Jan (Tabletop Joe). It’s all a bit bonkers, but in the best possible way, and you know it’s exactly the sort of re-imagining that would appeal to Waits himself. We have a great example of one of the tracks below, and you can hear the whole album here.
The second of these albums is Theodore, from Dutch guitarist Theo Sieben. Theo has long been in demand in the Netherlands as a session musician as well as a composer of film and theatre music. With this album, he shows himself to also be a particularly talented player of country blues with a return to the bare basics of just his voice and his instrument, singing over the sound of old Martin guitars, National Resonator guitars, a lap-style Regal, or a lonesome Vega banjo. All the tracks were recorded with a single vintage microphone in his loft, a few floors below an Amsterdam hotel. Much like they did in the 30s and 40s. The acoustic blues music that inspired this album bridges the gap between the 1930’s, the folk revival of the 1960’s, and the modern acoustic blues of today. It’s an album well worth your attention, and you can hear it here.
Finally, we have news of an interesting 2-day festival, Cold Country, taking place in Denmark next month. The event sounded intriguing, but the only information I could find about it was, understandably, in Danish! Luckily, we’re not without friends here at Vox Continental, and I contacted Danish singer-songwriter, Jonathan Bøge Jensen (aka Strawberry Jesus) to see if he could offer any enlightenment on Cold Country. Jonathan Bøge Jensen told us, “The 24th and 25th of April sees the return of Cold Country, a festival dedicated to presenting Nordic artists on the emerging folk, country, americana and indie scene. For the third year in a row, the festival, situated on the idyllic west coast of Jutland, will welcome intrigued fans of the genre and locals. During the weekend, the audience will hear new bands from Norway and Denmark that in diverse ways represent folk, country and americana styles. Playing for the first time in Denmark is Cowboyfrokost from Norway. Their name literally means cowboy breakfast, but they will play an evening set with great energy, original songs like Fools Gold and versatile use of country instruments and folk harmonies. Danish alternative pop and indie-folk musician Barbro will play a solo set that’s sure to catch listeners by surprise. Their new album Crossfade is brilliant, and a song such as See You In My Dreams shows their brilliant songwriting. One-Eyed Mule has been on the scene for many years, but with a newfound interest in the genre among the public, there should be plenty more fans to come. Their new album shows that they can still create a great album full of songs blending indie, folk and americana. Also on the line-up are up-and-coming artists Leo Bang and Stella Darla, and more will be announced soon”. We’re really grateful to Jonathan for taking the time to bring us up to scratch on what sounds like a very intriguing and entertaining festival and, if you want to practice your Danish, all the details for the festival can be found on their website and you can contact them if you have questions, even if you don’t speak Danish, we’re assured someone will be able to respond in other European languages.
That’s it for this month. We’re back next month, and with the clocks changing and summer on the way, there’ll be plenty of news from the European americana scene.
As always, if you are an americana-influenced artist operating out of mainland Europe and have new music or a tour to promote, let me know. Contact information is on the webzine page under ‘Info’. This column is published on the last Thursday of every month throughout the year.
