A handful of new singles from Die With Your Boots On Records, a brace of really original albums from Germany, news of a couple of bands breaking into the Euro Americana charts and a heads up on some U.S acts heading to Europe on tour.
There’s not a lot of recording activity going on in mainland Europe at the moment, or if there is, no one is telling us about it! Thankfully, those good people at DWYBO (Die With Your Boots On) records continue to launch a series of excellent Nordicana singles and albums on the waiting world, demonstrating just how dominant Norwegian artists are becoming in this genre.
Just missing last month’s column were new single releases from Himmelskip, Ole Kirkeng, Norma, and Signe Marie Rustad. Himmelskip have graced these pages before, and their new single, ‘Grevling’, continues in their signature style that shows off their versatility and impressive musical abilities. In addition to the jazz and americana influences that the band members wear on their sleeves, their music also features elements of both ambient and Norwegian folk music.
Ole Kirkeng is a singer-songwriter and a Spellemann (Norwegian Grammy equivalent) winner possessed of a fine sense of humour. His latest single, ‘Bare Minimum’, is a taster for upcoming album, “Cowboy Lie Detector Machine” and is loaded with witty one-liners in one of his trademark sardonic storylines. The new album is available for pre-order now, and he has a string of live performances coming up in Norway starting in early November. Full details are on his website.
Norma is a country-rock/pop quartet out of Halden, close to the border with Sweden. Their latest single, ‘Train Track’, is soaked in the glorious three-part harmonies they’re known for and is slightly reminiscent of the Laurel Canyon sound of the likes of CSNY and Jackson Browne. Started by vocalist Jørgen Nilsen and guitarist Thor Andreas Murtnes-Hatlestad during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, they later expanded to include Levi André Havuinen Nuet on bass and Oskar Rølling on drums. The band has been nominated for a Spellemann and tours extensively across the region. To date, they have only released an EP and several singles, but a full album is eagerly awaited, and they’re another one to watch from the increasingly impressive Norwegian scene.
Norwegian-American singer-songwriter Signe Marie Rustad has a current single out in the form of ‘The Line’, taken from her new album, released October 17th, “Do You Know Something I Don’t”. This is the artist’s fifth studio recording and, on this occasion, she dared to do something different by setting up a recording studio in the Oslo Concert Hall and then inviting a live audience to witness the recording, which was done in a single take. Signe Marie Rustad has said of the recording, “I wanted to find out what impact the energy and love from an audience in a live setting can have on a studio album. This album is a declaration of love from me to the listener, and it came to life through the love, warmth, and laughter of a beautiful audience who carried us through the recording.” and the end result is impressive. ‘The Line’ was a co-write with Solveig Wang of Norwegian bands Fieh, Masåva, and Nothing Personal, and is an excellent introduction to what sounds to be an impressive album. Certainly, my colleague Peter Churchill thought so when he reviewed the album last week. You can read Peter’s in-depth review here.
It’s not all about Norway, though, and I recently heard a new album, released at the end of September, by Weston Olenki, a musician originally from South Carolina and now based in Berlin. Olenki has some wonderfully original takes on traditional music, as well as some genuinely innovative ideas for their own compositions (Olenki identifies as nonbinary). They explain their music as “positioning musical instruments as sites of cultural inscription, working fluidly between experimental sound, traditional musics, and their various space/time(s)”. Olenki has found a way to bring strong experimentation to traditional songs without damaging the core melody in the process. Listening to their great interpretation of a bluegrass standard made me want to discover a lot more of this musician’s work. If you are a fan of Bela Fleck, I think you’ll be equally interested in Weston Olenki. You can hear more over at their Bandcamp site. 
Also from Germany, and also something different, is the debut eponymous album from Braunschweig’s Okertones. Released earlier this month (October 10th), the group’s music is built around the shimmering sound of band leader Tom Bennecke’s dobro, and he’s clearly a musician of some talent. The rest of the instruments on the album include Saxophone, double bass and mandolin, and there’s a warm looseness to the music, with hints of folk, blues and bluegrass, along with what sounds like a little jazz influence; the presence of a saxophone on the opening of the track ‘Hillbilly Trash‘ really makes you sit up and take notice. There’s some genuine originality on show here, along with some fine musicianship. You can learn more and hear a track from the album over at their Bandcamp page.
There are two recent continental European album releases currently “bubbling under” in the Euro Americana charts. Dutch roots rockers, La Ratte, have their latest album, “Triptyke De La Ratte”, marked as one to watch, as do Dutch/Finnish band, Walter Rootsie and his Blue Connection, whose “People Talk” album came out at the beginning of October. La Ratte, consisting of Harm van Essen (vocalist, guitarist and main songwriter for the band), along with bassist Nikolas Karolewicz and explosive drummer Jochem Jorrisen, play an infectious mix of Louisiana R&B, Rockabilly, Swamp pop, and Texas country blues, and they’re a popular draw at festivals around mainland Europe.
Walter Rootsie and his Blue Connection are, essentially, a Finnish Band, though Walter himself is originally from the Netherlands. Based in Helsinki, they’re now celebrating their 20th year as a band. Formed in 2005 by Dutch singer-songwriter Walter “Rootsie” Hopmans, the band perform their own songs and describe themselves as a “unique americana band from Finland with a Dutch heart”. Their sound is a rich mix of blues, country, rock, folk, and singer-songwriter styles—with influences ranging from Finnish folk to outlaw country, swamp blues and rock and the band currently consists of Walter Rootsie (lead vocals, guitars, harp, mandolin), Jan “Smedu” Smedberg (Bass), Anssi Lehtivuori (drums, percussion, backing vocals), and Parska Saharinen (electric guitar, slide, dobro).
We end this month’s column with news of some major tours coming to continental Europe in the coming months. Joachim Cooder has a handful of dates in the Netherlands, starting tonight (30th October) in Utrecht. Full details on his website. Lily Hiatt will also be in the Netherlands for a couple of gigs before moving on to Spain for gigs in Madrid, Aviles, Zarautz, Zaragoza, and Santander. Details on her website. Kendl Winter and Palmer T. Lee, better known as The Lowest Pair, will kick off a European tour on the 15th January 2026 in Deventer in the Netherlands. They will also be visiting Denmark and Germany, as well as doing some dates in the UK and Ireland. Full details will be found on their website as tickets become available. And Cactus Lee, the project of Austin, Texas songsmith Kevin Dehan, will be in Europe in late February 2026, kicking off in Lint, Belgium, and going on to the Netherlands, Germany, and Sweden. It should be a good opportunity to hear some new songs from Dehan, as a new Cactus Lee album is expected at the end of March next year. Full details of the tour can be found on the Bandsintown website.
That’s it for this time round. Our last Vox Continental column of the year will go out on Thursday, November 27th. Now, you wouldn’t want to miss that, would you?!
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.
