Album Notes

I have been a student of Bluegrass music since the 1970s when I was a teenager in the northern coastal city of Skellefteå, Sweden. As my love for Bluegrass grew, the pursuit of the music lead me to leave my native Sweden for North Carolina in the mid 1980s. While living In America I have been exposed to the best in Bluegrass and have been blessed with friends all over the country among the bluegrass community.

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for the old numbers that I grew up with, and on this album I put together twelve of my favorites. Since I have been playing mostly Bluegrass music throughout my career it was natural to approach the music with instruments typically associated with this idiom. I have for a long time believed that a variety of European folk-based music styles would naturally fit the Bluegrass format, and in the spirit of exploration I recorded these tunes to see how the Swedish music would manifest itself with Bluegrass instrumentation.

I realize that I am very fortunate to be musically bicultural, and I am indebted to the influences of greats on both continents.

Jan Johansson

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1. Epiphany March - Trettondagsmarschen
(Hjort Anders Olsson. Arrangement by Jan Johansson/Lenox & Birch Music)

Hjort Ander Olsson was a legendary fiddler born in Bingsjö in 1865. He is arguably the most influential of all the Swedish fiddlers in the 20th Century. His recording career spanned from 1910 to the year of his passing in 1952.

2. Midsummer Song - Visa Vid Midsommartid
(Håkan Norle’n/ Nordiska Musikförlaget)

After the long and dark winter, the Swedish people look forward to the summer with great anticipation. The transition from the Arctic night to the Arctic day is one of excitement and a feeling of hope. This is to me the quintessential musical illustration of the short precious Swedish summer.

3. Walking Tune from Äppelbo - Äppelbo Gånglåt
(Ärtbergs Kalle. Arrangement by Jan Johansson/Lenox & Birch Music)

A Walking Tune is historically a march. It was primarily used to help lift the spirits as well as the feet for the folks who had to travel relying on their legs. Äppelbo is a town in the region of Dalarna in Western Central Sweden. Walking Tune from Äppelbo - Äppelbo Gånglåt is one of the most recognized fiddle tunes in Sweden. A Swedish fiddler being asked to play this tune is very much like a bluegrass band being asked to play Rocky Top or Dueling Banjos. Ärtbergs Kalle, a fiddler who lived between 1826 and 1917, wrote this tune. It is one of a very few of his compositions that has survived into the 21st Century.

4. Old Faebod Hymn - Gammal Fäbodpsalm
(Oskar Lindberg. Arrangement by Jan Johansson/Lenox & Birch Music)

In the old days, it was common to take the cattle out into the woods for grazing during the summer months. The fields around the farms were needed to grow food, and the deep forests constituted a great source of feed for the cattle. The Fäbod was a simple dwelling like a cabin where the animal caretakers would live during the summer while tending to the critters. Because of its somber nature, this popular composition written by the prominent organist and composer Oskar Lindberg, who lived between the years 1887 to 1955, is commonly performed at funerals.

5. Walking Tune from Gränges - Gånglåt Från Gränges
(Juhani Hemmilä/STIM)

Written by Juhani Hemmilä, a composer, musician and teacher at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, this tune is an example of a modern composition that follows the format of traditional music. Juhani had this to say about Walking Tune from Gränges: “…also, I can tell you that I wrote that tune on the train between Ludvika and Västerås without access to any musical instruments. I had some blank sheet music with me so I just went ahead and transcribed it. It just popped up in my head from out of nowhere.”

6. Bridal Polska - Bridal Polska or Brudmarsch
(Erika Lindgren/STIM)

This is a tune written by Erika Lindgren, a solid representative of the traditional fiddling of the region of Uppland in Central Sweden. She wrote this tune when she was 13 years old. Erika holds the prestigious title of Riksspelman. This award is issued to particularly skilled players specialized in the style of a particular region or fiddler.

7. Fredman’s Epistle No 82
(C.M. Bellman. Arrangement by Jan Johansson/Lenox & Birch Music)

Carl Michael Bellman, a national treasure in music and poetry who lived between 1740 and 1795, is the composer of this tune. Epistle No 82 is part of a larger poetic work known as Fredman’s Epistlar, which illustrates life in Stockholm during the 1760s and 70s.

8. Fredman’s Song No 21
(C. M. Bellman. Arrangement by Jan Johansson/Lenox & Birch Music)

Although this version is instrumental, I guess you can still say it is an example of one of Carl Michael Bellman’s specialties, his drinking songs. These are often outrageous descriptions of the joy of inebriation.

9. The Eve of Life - Min Levnadsafton
(Hjort Anders. Arrangement by Jan Johansson/Lenox & Birch Music)

Another tune by Hjort Anders, who has been called a Swedish Blues Man.

10. Beneath Lilac And Mountain Ash - Under Rönn och Syrén
(Herman Palm. Arrangement by Jan Johansson/Lenox & Birch Music)

The only versions I have ever heard of this song are choral renditions. The music, composed by Herman Palm, was written especially for a poem by the great Finnish poet Zacharias Topelius. Palm was a student of 17 when he composed this number.

11. Molom Tune - Visa I Molom
(Alf Hambe - Flamingo Musikförlag AB)

Alf Hambe is a poet and musician who created his own fantasy world filled with spooky landscapes and beings. This world is called Molom. Hambe says about the word Molom: “...ever since it was first uttered, this magic charm has proved to have an innate power to create its own mythological world.” He also describes his Molom as “a borderland with shifting boundaries,” a borderland between reality and fantasy, a “water kingdom.”

12. Fritiof Andersson’s Parade March - Fritiof Anderssons Paradmarsch
(Evert Taube / Sweden Music)

Evert Taube is probably Sweden’s most popular composer of folk music, meaning that every Swede knows the words to at least a handful of his songs. Fritiof Andersson is a recurring autobiographical character in Taube’s works.

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Produced by Jan Johansson
Recorded by Chris Droessler @ Barnabas MultiMedia, Raleigh, NC
Mixed by Jan Johansson and Chris Droessler assisted by Edgar
Mastering by Chris Droessler @ Barnabas MultiMedia, Raleigh, NC
Notes by Jan Johansson
Cover Design and Art Work by Carla Ruth Osborne

Musicians
Jan Johansson – Guitar
Rick Lassiter – Bass
Ivan Rosenberg – Resophonic Guitar
Lindsey Tims – Mandolin

Find Jan on the web at www.monroestyle.com
copyright 2006 Lenox & Birch Music