John Mayall is 80 years on November 29th. During 50 of these years he has been one of the driving forces in British Blues, and altogether he is one of the most important figures in modern blues. His main importance lies in the way he has found and developed new talents, mainly guitarists. (Picture above: John Mayall at Notodden in 2004).
Sigur Rós is one of the most distinguished bands from Iceland. Their style is highly personal, like no other band, and they have no contenders. Since 1994 they have spread their epic soundscapes through 7 CDs so far, and tonight they played at Oslo Spektrum.
Thomas Dybdahl is one of a few Norwegian artists with an international following. He is also one of our best songwriters, and without writing typical hits. His most popular songs have become hits because of their inherent quality and complexity, not because of their obvious hit potential. In my book that gives many extra points. Combine this with a live performance that closely mimics the qualities from his recordings, and you have a recipe for a great experience. Last night he played at Sentrum Scene in Oslo.
Lars Winnerbäck is one of the most exciting Swedish artists. His singer songwriter skills are surpassed by few, and he has been poring out songs for more than 15 years. During this period his music has evolved, through one man and his guitar, through Irish inspired recordings until his present organic rock based music. Tonight he visited Oslo on his Scandinavian tour and played for an enthusiastic crowd at Oslo Spektrum.
The definition of Southern Rock is a definitely loose one, without many objective criteria. It is more a term that has been put on bands like The Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Marshall Tucker Band and some others because they play music that mixes elements from rock, country, blues, and most important – they are from the southern states of the USA. Royal Southern Brotherhood is a band that might be classified as a southern rock band, and yesterday they played at John Dee in Oslo for Oslo Blues Club.
In 1992 Delbert McClinton recorded Tell Me About It with Tanya Tucker and reached number 4 on the American country charts. That’s his highest chart position for a single, while he has had four number one albums on the blues charts. He was inducted into the Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2011. November 4th Delbert McClinton is 73 years old.
Christopher Ocean has been one of the fastest rising stars on the R& B scene these last few years. He started out writing songs for such different artists as Justin Bieber, John Legend and Beyoncé. Three years ago he joined the hip hop collective OFWGKTA, or Odd Future as they are also known. On October 28th Frank Ocean is 27 years old.
Steve Cropper is 72 years old today, October 21st. He has been active as a musician, songwriter and producer for more than 50 years, and he is still touring as a member of the Blues Brothers Band. Some may know him from his time with Booker T and the MG’s, some will have seen him in the Blues Brothers movies, and some may know the songs he has written or co-written, Knock On Wood, In The Midnight Hour and (Sittin’ On The) Dock Of The Bay.
Tom Petty, one of rock’s most vital, creative and hard rocking artist, is 63 years old today, October 20th. As an artist, he has been on top for almost 40 years, starting with his first LP, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in 1976, and he is still going strong with his Heartbreakers.
Charles Bradley has become one of my favorite soul artists after I saw him for the first time at the Oya festival in August last year. This year he played the Bergen festival in June, and he confirmed my first impresion. Tonight he played the Rockefeller in Oslo, and showed the fans that grown-ups can do just as well as the young ones.
Artist Pictures Blog 