– You’re offering some rather sombre love songs on your new CD. The result of a sad break-up?
– We recently celebrated our 14 years anniversary, and the last four years have been the best ones – so no. It was just something that pulled me in that direction this time, I had a gut feeling it would be dark.
-Happily married, still good at writing about longing
– My wife works in South Africa from October to April, so I’m used to longing. There’s something there, even though I haven’t consider myself lonely.
– Your album debut was at age 43 – isn’t that terribly late?
– You can say that. I played a lot when I was young, and had that same vocation back then. But then I lost it and started teaching guitar in high school. Then I met my wife again in 1999 and the urge to write and the longings came back.
– You met her again?
– Forget that, too long a story. But because of her I played in South Africa, and there I met a music journalist who thought I should give concerts in Ireland. It turned out to be a good idea. I googled, scraped together a tour list and went there three-four years in a row.
– A quite natural career development. Where’s your congregation now?
– The west coast, of course, but I also enjoy playing in Northern Norway and Trøndelag. I consider the east a potential unfilled.
– Yet you live in Oslo?
– It’s a bit of a coincidence, but I’ve got children here from two previous relations, and my wife works at Ullevål in the summer season.
– To me it sounds like you sing in plain haugesundsk.
– Actually I write in standard Nynorsk, but sing with a dialectic twist. If you read the lyrics, you will see that they go through the Nynorsk control.
– You’ve done a full Dylan album in Nynorsk also, Blod på spora, which you got a lot of credit for. Is Bob the great hero?
– I am not such a big fan as you might believe, but he is one of the sources of inspiration. I did the album mostly for my own pleasure, and spent so little time I dare not say it.
– But you must have spent years on Rapport frå eit grensehotell? It sounds like it.
– You know, something almost magical happened in the studio between the band and myself, so we finished the main recordings in two days. Later we added piano, Hammond and strings, but the largest piece of work took place incredibly quickly.
– You are really not like other artists. I suppose you’re never nervous before going on stage either?
– It’s a while ago. I love meeting the audience – the stage room is a fantastic invention. I can spend quite a few miles in sleet and snow to get to that place.
– And you’re not nervous at all about the album reviews, of course.
– Yes, this time actually I am. Excited and nervous, because the songs mean so much to me.
Lars Keilhau, Aftenposten, 22 jan. 2015