ORBO & The Longshots "Forget What I Said"

What a kick to see seeds get planted and grow, and watching Americana become a global entity is all the more sweet. Consider if you will, a band out of Norway, who cut their teeth on American roots music, and for inspiration reference the likes of Steve Earle, Scott Miller, and Buddy and Julie Miller along with more commonly cited artists like Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Tom Petty. Music Fog invited ORBO and The Longshots all the way from Bergen, Norway, to our studio at Marathon Recorders during Americana Fest. One wonders how it got on their radar to make the trip to Nashville, and what they thought about being there. Actually, here is a comment from their Facebook page posted two weeks ago, “US tour is over and we're on our way back to Norway. Thanks to everybody who came to our shows and to the Americana Music Association. We met so many great people from all over the world while traveling in America. We will be back in the first quarter of 2012 when we release our brand new album Prairie Sun in the US.” 

Photo Credit: Mads Maurstad

ORBO are the initials of his names, Ole Reinert Berg-Olsen. He started the band back in 2000. When they came to see us last month, he brought Ine Tumyr on vocals and percussion, keys and backing vocals were Reidar Opdal, Paul Vikingstad was on bass, and Stian Tumyr was rocking the drums. In 2009 ORBO & The Longshots picked up a Norwegian Grammy for the album High Roller. While you watch the acceptance speech, you can bone up on your multi-lingual-ism. Why is it when people sing in American, they don’t bring accents into the song most times? Anyway, it is a powerful tune that we are bringing you today, in the best blues rock tradition, “Forget What I Said,” which is on their bonus tracks EP Prairie Moon...not to be confused with the forthcoming Prairie Sun. 

-Jessie Scott

Sam Llanas "Nobody Luvs Me"

I ain’t asking, I don’t want to know why, but the BoDeans are continuing on, and so is Sam Llanas, though he recently announced he is going it solo. Of course you know he was the former lead singer and guitarist for the acclaimed Milwaukee, or should we say Waukesha, band. They recently put out their 10th studio album, Indigo Dreams, and even more recently, so did Sam, as 4 A.M. (The Way Home) just came out. Ahhh, 4 A.M....the middle of the night is my favorite time, for introspection, for solitude, for quiet time to hear one’s own voice. The intimate, acoustic based album was produced by longtime collaborator Gary Tanin. There are 10 new tunes written by Sam, and he includes one cover, Cyndi Lauper’s “All Through the Night.” This is Sam’s second solo album, and it is markedly different from his 1998 A Good Day to Die, which was a eulogy for Sam’s brother, recorded under the name of Absinthe.

Sam comments, “I wanted to do something that was lighter, as light as I can get. I wanted it to be completely different. That’s why 4 A.M. is very much an acoustic record.” He had been working on this album for almost  four years, having started it when the BoDeans were between projects. Some of the tunes on 4 A.M. were recorded by the BoDeans, like the one we are bringing you today, “Nobody Luvs Me.” Sam continues, “It’s quite a different version — you wouldn’t really know it’s the same song.” We bring you the Music Fog recording, filmed during our Fall Marathon, at Marathon Recorders in Nashville, during last month's Americana Fest. He is solo here, and it is a thing of beauty, “Nobody Luvs Me.”

-Jessie Scott

Lera Lynn "Fire & Undertow"

I have fantasies of the world being all right. I wish for world peace and prosperity, to be done with the white water rapids of turmoil that we are in now. It is so hard to think about how many people have lost their jobs, never to work at the same level, or pay grade again. To look at the rust belt and know it is shedding population as the townspeople move on to find a better life. Not even qualitatively better, but just something self-sustaining a job, benefits, a bit of security. Money to pay the bills, and a place to rest one’s head. It is unsettling looking at the future what with the erosion in our society. It is easy to be mystified by all this, to ponder what has happened, and to wonder what comes next. Music is a microcosm of it too. Back in the day, artists could reach out and touch the stars, become household names and live happily ever after. Well sort of. But things are different in today’s hard scrabble world.

The indie spirit is born of this, of trying to make sense out of this environment. In March, Houston Native Lera Lynn released her debut CD, Have You Met Lera Lynn? She is already well-known in Athens, GA where she now lives, for her stint as part of the group, Birds & Wire. She says,

“Like many songwriters, most of my songs come from turbulence in my life, be it with a lover or with family or with myself as an artist, or my job. This record is about my rebelliousness in love, hard-headedness, distrust. It’s also about being confused about where I’m going and not always getting what I want out of my creative self.” 

Confusion can lead to clarity, beauty too. Lera came to us during Americana Fest at Marathon Recorders. She brought Ben Lewis on guitar, Bain Mattox on bass, and C.K. Koch on drums. We were bewitched.

-Jessie Scott