We’ve had a long-standing business relationship with the record label Rootsy Music from Malmö, Sweden – over the years, it’s become something of a friendship between the two main figures, Hakan Olsson and Björn Petterson. Besides regular new releases, Petterson is the driving force behind the label, organizing not only concerts but also complete tours with bands and artists, primarily in Sweden. From August 21st to 23rd, the „Rootsy Summer Fest“ took place for the seventh time in the small town of Falkenberg, 100 km south of Gothenburg. The lineup was truly impressive, and we decided to finally check out the three-day festival.
We shared our experiences and impressions of the three days extensively on social media. For those who aren’t on Facebook, we’ve reposted the reports here.
Day 1 – Friday, 21. August
Right on time at 14 o’clock, we arrived in the courtyard of the Hwitan Hotel in Falkenberg, where the record label Rootsy Music had set up its annual Summer Fest. I had absolutely no idea what the place would be like – was it a garden, a meadow, how big would it be, what kind of capacity would it have? The surprise was quite considerable, as it was a repurposed hotel parking lot with paving stones and also quite compact, although the stage itself took up a large area. With about 1,000 people, the area was pretty packed. The many standing tables were a great help to the older folks, allowing them to listen to the music for extended periods while standing, as seating, at least in the courtyard, was only intended for those physically unable to stand for several hours, since the musical program was scheduled until 11:45 pm. We quickly managed to secure one of the standing tables and were looking forward to the first artist, the Norwegian OLE KIRKENG. I went into this festival completely unprepared, and since I didn’t know the artist, I was sure after just a minute that the show would be right up my alley. The pedal steel guitar immediately set the tone, the drummer supported Kirkeng with harmony vocals, and the songs had great hooks – I immediately thought of Whiskeytown and Ryan Adams, while Kirkeng himself had something of Gram Parsons about him. Fantastic songs, highly recommended, and of course, after the show, I went straight to his little merch table and bought one of his LPs, not without exchanging a few words with him.
A strong start, but right after, UNCLE LUCIUS from Austin took the stage and raised the energy even further. Earlier, while browsing the merchandise area, I was very surprised to see the band’s new album, „Open Eyes, Broken Heart,“ which isn’t officially released until September 25th, already on the sales table. Only on vinyl, but that would have been my object of desire anyway. The band is always a welcome guest at Rootsy Music and played their 60-minute set with great ambition and visible enthusiasm. Besides frontman Kevin Galloway, keyboardist Jon Grossman and lead guitarist Mike Carpenter also showcased their vocal talents. In addition to several songs from the new album, classics like „Keep the Wolves Away“ (video available here) and „Pocket Full of Misery“ were of course included to close out a fantastic performance.
LEE BAINS from Birmingham, Alabama, was the first solo act of the day. A true protest singer with an electric guitar, he was actually more concerned with stories and slogans over his music, which, after a while, bored me, perhaps due to my limited English skills. At least I realized that Bains isn’t a Trump supporter, which nonetheless made him quite likeable. We left the fenced-off festival grounds and went out onto the street, where a small market with food stalls and beer garden tables had been set up.
Just in time for JESPER LINDELL & THE BRUNNSVIK SOUNDS, HORNS & SINGERS. As the lengthy „band name“ suggests, Lindell and his band had augmented themselves with a trumpet, saxophone, and two female singers for this performance, although I much preferred the stripped-down version, like the one they played a few weeks earlier at the Static Roots Festival in Oberhausen. My reputation as a „horn hater,“ which I’d acquired from Steve Wynn, was once again confirmed here. A good 80 minutes of excellent entertainment in a Memphis/Muscle Shoals atmosphere, although the covers of their two most recent albums were largely ignored.
ZANDI HOLUP from Nashville is certainly attractive, but her squeaky voice wasn’t for us at all, and we took the opportunity to rest our weary legs outside.
The headliner was the completely unknown-to-us Swede VALTER NILSSON with his band STIGBERGET, yet he’s currently the absolute superstar in Scandinavia, at least in his home country and in Norway. Just a few days earlier, he’d drawn 12,000 people to a show in Oslo; here, the indoor area was completely packed with well over 1,000 people who listened to his songs (in Swedish!) with rapt attention. He apparently started out singing in English with little audience response, then decided to sing in his native language, and his career took off like a rocket. And the music? Well, basically just powerful pop-rock without any frills or much depth, but the audience of all ages was enthusiastically swept along. He’s quite the showman, constantly darting from one side of the stage to the other, encouraging the audience to participate, and his six-piece (!) band is playing along enthusiastically. Perhaps our initial reluctance stemmed from the fact that we had no idea what Nilsson was even singing about. After 20 minutes, we’d had enough and walked past the huge merchandise table set up outside, where you could buy everything a fan’s heart could desire.
Day 2 – Saturday, 22. August
First things first: When we checked the weather forecast for our trip to Sweden a few days ago, it didn’t look promising at all – around 20°C, but with up to an 80% chance of rain over all three days of the Rootsy Summer Fest. Accordingly, the rain jacket was the most important item of clothing in our suitcase. The weather gods must have been very kind to us, because since the first day of the festival, the weather has become increasingly stable: blue skies, bright sunshine during the day, and not a single drop of rain so far! That naturally makes the atmosphere at an open-air festival all the better. Both for the visitors and the artists.
First on the bill for Saturday was a young man from Florida, LEON MAJCEN, whom I had quite by chance stumbled across on Spotify a few months ago when I wanted to let chance decide what the streaming service had to offer. What I heard was truly astonishing; there was a strong influence of Guy Clark or John Prine in his songs, and Majcen, the son of a Bosnian refugee, also made a very good impression on stage. My hope that he would also have some recordings with him was unfortunately not fulfilled. So I’ll probably have to go with the more expensive option via his website, especially since his new album „The Leaving Kind“ is being released in a few days, making the high shipping costs even more worthwhile. A very personal recommendation, though without a distributor, it’s very difficult to get hold of in this country for those music fans who still prefer CDs or vinyl to digital sound files.
The day was going to be very long again, so unfortunately EMILY SCOTT ROBINSON had to perform without us, but we were back for COSMIC COUNTRY REVUE. A motley crew of solo musicians (Jeffrey Silverstein, Bobby Lee, and Joe Harvey-Whyte) took turns on stage, blasting sprawling guitar sounds through the speakers that reminded me of Grateful Dead improvisations, but also of Velvet Underground and the latest albums by The Dream Syndicate. And if cannabis weren’t strictly illegal in Sweden, there would undoubtedly have been clouds of smoke and aromas wafting across the festival grounds.
There are singer-songwriters who entertain well, there are those who entertain very well, and there are singer-songwriters who can entertain incredibly well. The 41-year-old AARON LEE TASJAN from East Nashville undoubtedly belongs to the third category. His first album was released back in 2008, and with „Silver Tears“ in 2016, released on New West Records, his career took off. Just a few weeks ago, his new album, „Get Over It, Underdog,“ was released. This man doesn’t need a band behind him; his solo performance was sensational, there’s no other way to put it. His voice, his incredible guitar playing, which he weaves into the songs according to their content, is truly cinematic. And the stories—what a magnificent storyteller he is! Whether it’s about tracks like „Twilight Zone Blues,“ „Memphis Rain“ (an unbelievable story, if it’s actually true), or about encounters with his heroes like Todd Snider and Guy Clark at Bluebird Studios in Nashville—it’s true storytelling artistry. A small example of a memorable performance is the video for „Made In America“ from the 2015 album „In the Blazes,“ which I filmed.
I was particularly excited for JOHN R. MILLER, as his latest album, „The Great Unknowing,“ represents another creative leap forward after its two predecessors, „Depreciated“ and „Heat Comes Down.“ He was accompanied by electric guitar, bass, and fiddle, and at the beginning, he kept fiddling with the cable of his acoustic guitar. He was seated on a chair, which wasn’t a problem for those near the front of the stage, but the rather low stage meant that those further back couldn’t see anything of the main performer, which certainly contributed to the lack of atmosphere. Furthermore, the songs were almost exclusively in minor keys and performed rather quietly; a bit of variety or the use of drums would have been welcome. A real shame, but the man from West Virginia still made a good impression on me.
Next up was the great NICK LOWE! Unfortunately, he performed without a band, which would probably have been too expensive. The Englishman is already 77 years old. I’d only seen him live once, back in 1980 in Kaiserslautern with Rockpile at a festival alongside Fleetwood Mac, Bob Marley & the Wailers, and Fischer-Z. His mostly short songs, performed with just an acoustic guitar, unfortunately didn’t come across as particularly catchy. Furthermore, he spent the first half of the 65-minute set on rather obscure tracks before finally getting the rapt audience going with songs like „Cruel to be Kind,“ „(What’s So Funny About) Peace, Love and Understanding,“ „Heart of the City,“ and „Trombone.“ The Bee Gees cover „Heartbreaker,“ written by the Gibb brothers for Dionne Warwick, was a pleasant surprise.
ANASTASIA had been one of the background singers for Jesper Lindell’s performance the day before; now she had her own set, supported by Lindell himself and some of his band. The red-haired Swede was very dominant for me (well, I didn’t know her at all) and conducted her musicians at will after every song. A voice that totally blew me away with an incredible range, which somehow reminded me of 60s pop singers like Nana Mouskouri, Lale Andersen, or even Catharina Valente. The music was also a mix of country-pop and pop, although I unfortunately didn’t understand any of the lyrics, as my Swedish is still nonexistent even after three days in this beautiful country.
It had gotten quite chilly around 9 p.m., and our feet had done their work all day, so we decided to skip the last act of the day, THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT. I know, a grave mistake, but sometimes the spirit is willing, but the body isn’t. As in this case, I’ll just have to be content with the new album.
Day 3 – Sunday, 23. August
The final day started at noon, as the festival was scheduled to end at 7 p.m. JUDY BLANK was a completely unknown name to me, but that was about to change dramatically. The young musician is from the Netherlands but has lived in Austin, Texas, for many years and has established a strong network there. Like her predecessors, she was a fantastic storyteller with beautiful, memorable songs, which made her performance more entertaining by the minute and unexpectedly drew me to the merchandise table to buy her latest album. Among the artists represented was an old acquaintance, Justin Osborne, who, as it quickly turned out, wasn’t just by chance standing near the stage and joined them on stage for a duet during „Cosmic Kids.“ Judy’s new album, „Big Mood,“ was released on the Rounder label, which is practically a mark of distinction in the music business.
Yes, of course, the connection to Justin Osborne became clear to me after the SUSTO STRINGBAND took the stage. Osborne had released several albums under the name Susto, including some on New West Records. He then parted ways with his partner Johnny Delaware and started the Susto Stringband, which has since released two albums – „Volume One“ and „Volume Two.“ The band captivated me almost immediately; their blend of country and bluegrass with wonderful multi-part harmonies would have been a perfect fit for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s album „Will The Circle Be Unbroken.“ I don’t need to make any further comparisons – that’s exactly what the Susto Stringband sounds like, and my desire to buy their music was satisfied, even though only „Volume Two“ was available.
Regarding the merchandise on the tables, it was quite interesting to see that most of the performing musicians and bands almost always had vinyl records with them, but rarely CDs. The shift back to vinyl is becoming increasingly apparent, even if transporting them isn’t easy for many of the artists. Some, like Leon Majcen and Nick Lowe of The Temperance Movement, didn’t have any merchandise at all.
Then we finally got caught in the downpour, and then quite badly. No sooner had the American singer SUNNY WAR started her set than a heavy rainstorm hit the grounds, causing the audience to scramble and quickly don their rain ponchos and jackets. The performance suffered considerably, and I, too, found myself struggling to stay dry rather than listening to the music.
Just in time for OTIS GIBBS, the sky was blue again, and the rain clouds had cleared. I had never seen Otis Gibbs live – also a great and professional singer/songwriter and storyteller, who moved from Indiana to East Nashville about 20 years ago and found his new home there.
JAMES McMURTRY also didn’t have any merchandise for sale, which wasn’t a problem for me anyway. Besides Tim Holt on guitar/harmonica and Cornbread on bass, Craig Bagby had filled in for the tour—no stranger to the scene, having previously drummed for bands like Shurman and Austin Collins. What can I say about McMurtry? He played more or less a 75-minute best-of set, including „Childish Things,“ „Annie,“ „Choctow Bingo,“ „We Can’t Make It Here,“ „You Got To Me,“ „Red Dress,“ and closing with „Too Long In the Wasteland.“ His usual polished performance was a typical McMurtry show, with only a few, gruff, comments.
THE WHITE BUFFALO had the honor of playing the closing number, and the mighty man from Oregon did it brilliantly! His earth-shattering baritone voice would have surely sent any buffalo running for cover. If that wasn’t enough, then Matt Lynott’s drumming certainly would have. The work that man put in behind the drum kit was truly remarkable. And no less impressive was Christopher Hoffee’s guitar playing; the three complemented each other perfectly and delivered a rock show like no other, one that actually has little to do with Americana but, thanks to the use of acoustic guitar by Jake Smith, as White Buffalo is actually called, incorporates a great deal of Americana influence. Most of the songs started quietly and then grew minute by minute into a veritable storm of guitars, drums, and vocals as the three musicians performed their part of the show like berserkers. I only knew one song before – “Come Join the Murder” from the “Sons Of Anarchy” TV series, but after this brilliant performance I have to take a closer look at the oeuvre of The White Buffalo.