Norwegian Country (MP3s)

Norway is very much like Texas. Different languages, but plenty of oil. Texas, the lone star, and Norway - not a member of European Union. One thing that stands out, is the love of Country and Western, and at one of the numerous festivals, you bet it's going to be Helt Texas (totally Texas = crazy).

Country music in Norway goes way back, and Scandinavians in general are not giving up their traditions easily, listen to the; Gamalost-song (lyrics) (mp3). Despite being subject to ridicule from the intellectual left wing, American culture flourishes (YouTube) in Norway, to the extent of being even more pronounced than in the US of A itself... 

I will try to shed some light on Norwegian Americana with some soundbits, but first some - Norwegian rappers: Tommy Tee - Paperboys - Karpe Diem (YouTube) - and some wannabees - 50 öre (YouTube). Just as Norwegian as corn on the cob.

C&W examples: Bjøro Håland's song I Love Norwegian Country (mp3) (lyrics) is an "over there" story about a trip to Nashville. As with the rap-videos above, I always get a kick out of native babbeling intercepted by foreign phrasing. Hasta La Vista Elvis Presley (mp3) by Arnie Norse is a glimpse into C&W-outsider music.
Going to Nashville is imperative! If you can't go, then dream of it; En Drøm om Nashville (mp3) by Heidi Hauge. A couple of covers by grand old lady Lillian Askeland, Tennessee Waltz (mp3) Billy Boy (mp3).

Teddy Nelson (born Terje Nilsen) was awarded "International Star of the Year" in both '81 and '82 by the Grand Ole Opry in - yes - Nashville. His Diggy Liggy (mp3) - a typical joie-de vivre song was a massive hit! Before his death in '92, he cut a record with Skeeter Davies...

I love Norwegian country (the rap-version) (YouTube)

Comments

[M.G.]

Right on, John!

But you know, norwegian country is kinda like texan black metal with corpse paint... you have a hard time believing in it but it does work out.

And norwegian folk music is, well, exquisite.

[fatty jubbo]

whoah! "I Love Norwegian Country" is amazing.

[osl]

takk john, du fikk virkelig belyst de beste sidene av norge i denne posten, hehe..

[Ja Man!]

Great post, helt John from Oslo!

[Hatch]

There was at least one pretty decent country rock band in Norway in the early 70s. They were called Hole In The Wall... I found the whole album for download on a blog a while back but alas the link seems to be dead. You can check out the song "Big Nancy" here in our archives:

http://wfmu.org/listen.ram?show=19733&starttime=0:57:27

[Sammy Davies Jr.]

It's Skeeter Davis. not Davies

Geez.

[Sverre Helgesen]

Ursakta att Jag skriva pa Engelska, men dom flesta ute i www-land talar det spraket, inklusiv Norrmannen.

Nice site, guys. I personally think Norwegians do country better than Swedes for some reason, the accent, perhaps? I found this site googling a lovely young lady I once knew, Skeeter Davis, looking for piccies. Not that many out there, especially from '62, when I knew her. I was working part time after school in a London theatre used by the elite of Brit showbiz as a wateringhole during the day. Famous people need to mingle and be seen, you see. Johnny Cash was now very popular and came over several times to do TV shows, bringing with him girl backup teams, young girls starting out in the biz, so they could see the real world and get used to being in the big-time limelight. One group of girls was the Pointer Sisters. We weren't used to black girls back then and all the guys were suddenly VERY attentive! The next group were white girls. I can't recall one, she was about 17, but the others were a barely 16 year old Dolly Parton and..... Skeeter Davies. She was about 30 years old, looked about 20.... and I was in LOVE!!!!! She liked me too. Wattagal. The age difference didn't matter, I was the first real man she ever met, I'd been dating various girls in showbiz, all older then me. We managed to date a few times during the almost 2 weeks they were in London - I took her sightseeing and took her home to meet my mum - but, of course, she had to go home. She'd managed to dump her husband, who drank and beat her, and a divorce was on the go, we swapped addresses and occasionally wrote to each other, but..... somewhere along the line we lost contact. She was now very busy with her career, of course, and my family emigrated, not making it better, I lost her address. We never met again.

I can tell you guys Skeets was a very nice girl. Would gladly have wedded-and-bedded her and raised a passle of kids to match the 2 guys she already had.

Quote: "We were so poor we kids had to work from the moment we were capable, small stuff to begin with, household work whilst ma mom was out workin', but I was out under that scorching sun picking vegetables and cotton from about 9 years old, alongside the blacks. Alabama's in the Tropics, same sun as in Greece, the Arabs lands or Africa. Not even the blacks should have been out there under that sun. Hell on earth. I looked around me and saw young 16 year-old girls get married and raise kids and look twice their age by the time they were twenty. I decided to try and find a way out of there, I didn't want to die under that sun. We always sang at the local church and I found I could sing. I also found I could write poetry, write my own songs. I met a girl who took me on the road, we got on great, she was a sister to me, but we crashed and she got killed. I got married so's to avoid working the fields. Nice boy, I thought, good job, no need to work so I got the time to find a way to earn money singin', but he began to drink and life got real bad. Taken a while, but I'm seeing' I can make it. Johnny and June say they'll help me and make sure I avoid the pitfalls, they've been there."

Skeeter Davis did make it.

(And so did Dolly Parton. Skeet told me Dolly made her nervous. "She can't sing so good but she's a dynamite songwriter, better then me. Maybe it'll be her songs that make me famous!"