Nilsen's Southern Harmony
* NSH *
(Rundbrenner Records RR016)

You better have your cup filled with something strong and tasty,
'cause here's Mr Nilsen down the road on his own!
Bjørn Nilsen - one of my all-time favourite songwriters, and for sure one of the best songwriters
in the land - here he is with his first solo adventure. Some will say that the Jetsurfers is his band,
he has written all the songs except for a very few. But, I still think of Jetsurfers as a very good and tight band,
and though I'm not sure what the future holds for them - they're having a break now - they will always be my Jetsurfers.
I said "solo" , but I think the right word is "project" , to describe this record. It's a five track cd ep,
with three new Nilsen originals, two covers and a whole bunch of people involved.
Some familiar names, like Ivar H. Johansen and Stina Stenerud, who both played and sang on
the last Jetsurfers album, the wonderful Western Reality. The rest of the guys are unknown to me,
but Nilsen has gathered a fine gang of musicians, who I believe listens to good contry music.
If you're a fan of Jetsurfers - you sure won't be disappointed! This is Jetsurfers territory.
This is country with a soul, dusty drinks and dirty roads.
You can smell the hot coffee early in the morning and late at night.
An instrumental kicks it off, and a really good one it is! Instrumentals shouldn't be too long,
but Twangin', as it's called, is almost four minutes long and it rocks all the way! It's two melodies in there -
one really cool one, then a really happy one in the middle, before the cool one takes it to the end.
After such a kick, a slow number wasn't quite expected. But if it's one person who can keep me going
through a slow one, it's this guy! Accuse Me got the spirit that such a song need. It grooves away
with a very tough guitar riff, acoustic guitars on the side and I love the lyrics! Good melody, too.
Next up, we got a hard, bluesy rocker! Like a ZZ Top rocker. But even more like a
Muddy Waters/Rolling Stones rocker. If you know the Chicago gig they did together back in November 1981 -
you get the feeling. Uptempo blues is sometimes the coolest thing in the world!
I've never heard Lowell George's Dixie Chicken, but I gotta check it out after hearing this version.
Great song with nice female backing vocals.
Nilsen is a huge fan of Bob Dylan, the Jetsurfers have done at least a couple of Dylan songs.
Here's another well-played one!
Maybe a little boring to see Mr Tambourine Man on the tracklist, but you won't get bored listening to it.
A whole album is planned for early next year. This is just the first drink,
next year we'll get the whole bottle! Hold your glasses ready!

www.myspace.com/nilsenssouthernharmony
Rundbrenner Records
www.myspace.com/jetsurfers