Radio Downtown / Canada
Great to get airplay at the radio station and to be included in the January issue of Radio Downtown’s online music magazine
Upcoming Concerts 2025
Women in Blues
Rita Engedalen & Margit Bakken
Friday 7. March 2025
Østkanten Bluesclub, with special guests:
Grainne Duffy & Adama Janlo
If you are up for traditional blues in a slightly untraditional interpretation, check this out!
Review “Sun Will Come” / Bluestown Records
Blues Blast Magazine 17.01.23 / Steve Jones
Rita Engedalen is a Norwegian singer, songwriter, and guitar player. She draws her inspiration from Mississippi Blues and American Roots Music. Her website lists this as her ninth album since 2004. Her work has received many an accolade in her home country, Scandinavia, and Europe, and she has toured the US on occasion. All the songs here are originals except for “Black Cat Bone,” the classic Jessie Mae Hemphill tune. She appears here both solo and with her band Morten Omlid (electric guitar), Eskil Aasland (drums), and Bård Gunnar Moe (bass).
The solo cut “Let’s Go Down and Pray” starts the album. It has an almost Native America feel in it’s delivery as Rita sings, howls, and picks with feeling. “Sunshine Devil” offers a bigger sound with the band and backing vocals and percussive support. A big electric guitar solo is featured here along with a driving beat and forceful vocals. “God Will Watch” turns the heat down a bit; it’s a bouncy and simpler tune with Rita upfront and the band in support. It’s got a western feel to the tempo, electric guitar and delivery. Some gritty harp gets added to the driving “I Wanna Feel Good Tonight.” It’s a rocking blues that gets your toe tapping.
“I am Changed” is next, a solemn and dream-like piece. Some very cool trumpet helps set the mood and tone here. Well done! Next is the title track. This is a solo acoustic cut that hearkens to the Mississippi Delta. The lone cover “Black Cat Bone” opens with dobro and features two acoustic guitars and acoustic bass. It’s got a great rootsy feel to it with some sweet finger picking.
“North Mississippi Blues” follows, a driving cut with Engedalen and the band delivering a forceful performance. “The Right Hand” slows the pace down and adds some backing vocalists and Hammond organ. It’s got a spiritual sound to it as does the next cut, “Colors In Rain.” This cut featurea Rita and Tuva Syvertsen and Margit Bakken singing with her in a very traditional cut. The album concludes with “Wait For Me,” an ethereal blues done by Engedalen and the band.
This is an interesting album. Engedalen’s blues are raw and offer up her take on the music of the music of the Mississippi Delta. If you are up for traditional blues in a slightly untraditional interpretation, then check this out.
Tribute concert to Morten Omlid
Sunday 4. August at 1 pm in Hovigs Hangar
An impressive star gallery of Norwegian artists gathers for a concert to honor the musician Morten Omlid who passed away in November 2023.
Kåre Virud, Reidar Larsen, Petter Baarli, Spoonful of Blues, Rita Engedalen with band, Damer i Blues, Margit Bakken, Notodden Blues Band, R & B Express, Spoonful of Stones, Bård Ose, Mads Eriksen, Bård Gunnar Moe, Knut Hem, Espen Liland, Oddbjørn Holla, Trym Innleggen Hagalia, Anne Gravir Klykken, Mattis Kleppen are among the musicians who immediately agreed to take part to honor Morten Omlid during the Notodden Blues Festival 2024.
The musicians are all friends of Morten Omlid and have had various musical collaborations with him over the years. The long list shows what position Omlid had in the industry and what a range of genres there was over Morten’s musical journey. Here there is blues, rock and folk music in a beautiful combination.
Notodden Blues Festival has, together with the working group in “Somliga går med trasiga skor”, worked for a long time so that the free solidarity concert that ends the Notodden Blues Festival this year will be a tribute concert to the musician and music teacher Morten Omlid.
We’re looking forward to honoring Morten with good and talented music friends in Hovigs Hangar at the end of this year’s festival.
EXHIBITION 2024
WOMEN IN BLUES / Åmåls Bluesfest
The exhibition is a tribute to significant women of the blues. It shows a retrospective of their music and history, as well as their fight for equality and the fight against racism!
Through historical retrospectives, current issues, and political activities, conscious women are presented while spotlighting these major and important topics.
The exhibition shows historical photographs, portraits, posters, objects, and an installation with quotes from several female musicians from Sweden.
The exhibition at Åmåls Bluesfest 2024
“The Queen of the Hill Country Blues” Jessie Mae Hemphill
Photo: Panny Flautt Mayfield
Rita Engedalen on Radio Memphis!
Monday, April 22. 2024
Tonight we could hear Rita live on Radio Memphis!
The radio station was proud to welcome the return of Rita Engedalen live in the studio. The host Ric Chetter interviewed Rita about her music and the musical influences she has gotten from her dear friend and great musician Jessie Mae Hemphill. Rita got to know Jessie Mae before she passed away in 2006.
Jessie Mae gets a well-deserved honor in the “Women in Blues” project which Rita has run with her musical partner Margit Bakken for over twenty years. During the broadcast, songs from their album “My Precious Blues got airplay and Rita performed songs live accompanied by Dr. David Evans on guitar. He is one of the most important contemporary academic musicologists specializing in blues music, and is the author of the seminal “Big Road Blues”: Tradition and Creativity in the Folk Blues (1982). Evans was Jessie Mae’s regular guitar player for many years!
An incredible and interesting hour for all who listened on Radio Memphis.
Thanks!
“Women in Blues”
Nominated for Norwegian Music’s most prestigious Spellemann’s Blues Award 2023.
Blues in Britain
JANUARY 2024
Review “My Precious Blues” / Bluestown Records
Blues in Britain (UK) / Graham Munn
Featuring Norwegian blues artists Rita Engedalen and her musical partner of twenty years, Margit Bakken, My Precious Blues draws attention to the ladies of the blues and their struggles for recognition. You’ll find gospel, emotionally-risqué songs, driving blues, and freedom songs on this lovely collection.
The title track opens, Rita singing with Morten Omlid on acoustic guitar, staking her claim in a male-dominated blues world. She has a wonderfully textured voice and the wonderful gospel call “I Will Be Ready” has her leading with guest singer Ester Mae Wilbourn responding on a song that throbs with passion and belief.
“Struggling Woman Blues” is a Clara Smith song, beautifully performed: Rita duets with Margit over an acoustic-driven backing, including a nice harp accompaniment. Atmospheric electric and superb, the hypnotic soundscape of “I Wanna See You In The Light” is a real highlight, plenty of echo builds the backdrop, Rita meeting her man at night but wanting to bring him into the light – a beautiful song. “Be A Good Man To Me” has an closing acapella hymn “Shine On Me”.
This is a heartfelt, lovingly crafted album from award winning Norwegian artists, carrying its message about equality (regardless of sex or color) with grace and elegance.
– Graham Munn
WOMEN IN BLUES
Interview with Rita Engedalen.
W1RS – French Radio Station dedicated to discovering blues & rock musicians!
Can you introduce yourself to the public who doesn’t know you yet?
I’m Rita Engedalen, a singer, guitarist, songwriter, and producer. I live in Jondalen in Kongsberg (Norway), a beautiful little village surrounded by mountains and forests.
I was interested in music early on, especially folk music, and have pretty much always been singing. Early on, I started performing all over Norway together with a friend of mine who played the piano, and we continued for 10 years.
In 1993, I joined a blues band that became Backbone, all well-known musicians from Notodden. It was at that time that I went back to my blues roots and the music that is closest to my heart. I toured for many years at clubs and festivals with my band, Backbone, before I released my first record in 2004. My debut album was “Hear My Song,” and since then, I have recorded six more solo albums.
One of my highlights was when I received the prestigious Norwegian Grammy Award for the album “Heaven Ain’t Ready for Me Yet” in 2006.
In 2012, my band and I won the annual European Blues Challenge in Berlin, and it was great.
I am singing for the people! They make me feel, and they make me want to sing. I’m so grateful!
Why did you create this new project?
The Women in Blues project was created 20 years ago. I have always been influenced and inspired by female blues champions. They’ve always been important to me and are included in all my recordings and many of my self-penned songs.
I’ve run the “Women in Blues” project together with my blues sister Margit Bakken from Notodden since 2003, so this year we’ve celebrated our 20th anniversary.
Women in Blues first met while working on Kristin Berglund’s musical project ” The Tough Ladies of the Blues ” in 2003. Through this collaboration, Kristin became important to us, and she gave both of us a lot of inspiration. Unfortunately, Kristin Berglund passed away in 2006, but we’ll always keep honoring her. Her music and her songs deserve to never be forgotten. They will forever live with us!
The female Blues pioneers have greatly inspired both of us to keep this project going for so long. It was the women who dominated Blues music in the 1920s! Mamie Smith, Ma Rainey, Clara Smith, and Bessie Smith were some of the first to pave the way, opening doors for other African-American female artists. These women were, and still are, great role models for us and many others. They had varied, important, and diverse texts, which, among other things, highlighted injustice, racial discrimination, political challenges, and the fight for justice.
Their strong voices, which we value highly, are essential, and we will continue to give honor and attention to them.
Jessie Mae Hemphill, Rosa Lee Hill, Memphis Minnie, Billie Holiday, Ida Cox, Big Mama Thornton, Janis Joplin, Bessie Smith, Elizabeth Cotten, Ma Rainey, Odetta Holmes, Mamie Smith, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and not the least, Kristin Berglund are some of the ladies who get their well-deserved tribute during our concerts.
We will continue paying homage to the lives of some of the most spirited women in the history of Blues because it’s well deserved.
If you had to describe your music in one word, what would it be?
It would be: NO LYING
What most characterizes your music?
In my sound landscape, I am very fond of acoustic instruments and have developed my own guitar style since I started playing at the age of 15. The style is directly inspired by music from the American South. I will describe my music as a solid mix of American Blues, Gospel, Roots Music, Hill-Country Music, Rock, and Norwegian Folk Music. My musical travels go on dusty roads, back and forth from the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi Delta areas.
What are your musical influences?
My great personal inspiration for blues comes from the late Norwegian blues artist Kristin Berglund. For me, she was not only inspirational but also a good friend. When I went on my first trip to Memphis and Clarksdale in 2004, I met the blues legend Jessie Mae Hemphill in Senatobia, Mississippi. I had been listening to Jessie Mae for quite some time, and she was a great inspiration for me with her North Mississippi hill country blues. I have since written several songs about her, our meetings, and our experiences together. We became close friends until she passed away in 2006. I’m so glad I got the opportunity to get to know her. Hearing her made me find my kind of blues, which I have since developed into a personal expression. In my blues, I also gather inspiration from Gospel, Americana, Rock, Folk Music, and Soul. Big Mama Thornton, Memphis Minnie, Janis Joplin, and many other great musicians.
How do you go about creating your songs?
When I write songs, the form can be anything from a cappella to acoustic to a full band. My lyrics are almost always very personal, but there are opportunities for those who listen to fill in their own meaning and interpretation when they listen. I think that’s a nice way to do it. I do get a lot of feedback from my audience, telling me that my songs mean a lot to them and have done so during difficult times in their lives. They tell me that I touched something in them. I often spend time by the river where I live. It’s a beautiful place, where I feel silence and calmness, and here my thoughts often turn into songs.
What’s the latest news from your group?
A year ago, I released my seventh solo album, “Sun Will Come” and it was so nice that the album was nominated for the Norwegian Grammy (2022) in the Best Blues Album category. The latest album I produced and released was with the Women in Blues project. In August this year, Margit Bakken and I released our new album, “My Precious Blues”.
What projects are you working on?
Right now, I’m working on preparing concerts for next year. I’m going to have solo concerts with my band and with our Women in Blues project. I’m a musician and a songwriter, I’m always working with new music and creating new songs.
What question would you like us to ask you? (And you answer)
What is the message you choose to convey through your music?
I want to give hope, love, and freedom. I want people to feel that they are not alone.
This is a heartfelt, lovingly crafted album!
SEPTEMBER 2023
Review “My Precious Blues” / Bluestown Records
Rhythm & Booze (UK) / Graham Munn
An album featuring Norwegian Blues artists Rita Engedalen and Margit Bakken, 11 songs, 6 of which are written by Rita, drawing attention to the ladies of the blues and their struggles for recognition. You’ll find gospel, emotional risqué songs, driving blues, and freedom songs in this lovely collection.
The album opens with, ‘My Precious Blues’, Rita with Morten Omlid on acoustic guitar, is sparse, real, staking her claim in a male-dominated blues world. Rita has a wonderfully textured voice, lightly smoked, yet darkly shaded. The wonderful gospel call, ‘I Will Be Ready’, has Rita leading with guest singer Ester Mae Wilbourn responding on a song that throbs with passion and belief of a better life to follow, one of the many highlights on this album.
More upbeat with the band, ‘Struggling Woman Blues’, is a Clara Smith song, beautifully performed, a woman’s work is never done, always working for her man. Rita duets with Margit, to an acoustic-driven background including a very nice harp accompaniment. Atmospheric, electric, and superb, the hypnotic soundscape of, ‘I Wanna See You In The Light’ is an Engedalen song. This is a real highlight, plenty of echo builds the backdrop, Rita meets her man at night, but she wants to bring him with her into the light, a beautiful song. Another pick follows on, ‘Be A Good Man To Me’, an excellent electric blues setting, has Rita referencing some blues standards in the lyrics.
An excellent finger-picking Memphis Mini song, ‘I’m Talking ‘Bout You’, is superbly performed in stripped-back form by Rita and Margit. “I’m talking ‘bout you, I don’t care what you do”. ‘Nobody Can Take My Soul’, is more a modern-day gospel blues, where a black girl isn’t free to go anywhere, but nobody can take her soul. It’s sung with a passion, flowing through on a river of blues rhythm.
Can’t overlook an Alberta Hunter song, ‘You Can’t Tell The Difference After Dark’, which says it all, what difference does skin color matter, it’s about the connection, a delightful traditional blues to piano accompaniment, a simple message with a simple delivery. ‘Let The Freedom Come’, freedom for women to do and go where she pleases, without remorse. Beautifully played with solid rhythm stomped out, foot tambo ringing away, and the vocals layered over sweet acoustic guitar. A lovely song, carrying an important message. The album closes on a short acapela hymn, ‘Shine On Me’, has Ester Mae Wilbourn on lead vocal, with Rita and Margit backing, a beautiful closure with the sun beaming down.
This is a heartfelt, lovingly crafted album, from award-winning Norwegian artists, carrying its message about equality, regardless of sex or color, with grace and elegance, well worth seeking out a copy.
Down to the bone old-school, true delta blues!
Review “My Precious Blues” / Bluestown Records
SEPTEMBER 2023
Bluesnews nr. 131 / Johnny Andreassen
The actual acid test of whether you can call yourself a blues lover or not stands to fall. Just put on Dame i Blues, or Women In Blues as they choose to call themselves in an increasingly international company, with their new record release «My Precious Blues». Quickly you know whether you want to leave the room or lock the door and not let others in. But remember – if you leave the room, I will never let you in again.
A bit of a rambling introduction here, but only to emphasize how down to the bone old-school, true delta blues and the re-experiencing of gospel music’s roots in the African quarters of southern states through the last century, Damer i Blues are. Not everyone has heard these old roots, which are the origins of today’s pop and rock music, but for Rita Engedalen and Margit Bakken they have been mother’s milk, their gasoline, and the most important of things in life, which they convey as authentically and sincerely as possible. This is the music they have consumed for breakfast, lunch, late dinners, and evening snacks, throughout their lives, therefore it is both strange, and not so strange, that they sound more like authentic blues than many Americans themselves.
Clearly, you get these feelings when listening to Rita Engedalen’s previous album “Sun Will Come”, as of today, her most heartfelt completion of her journey with Afro-American blues. It is an album that made waves across blues bastions in the US and England. Now she takes it further with her partner in Damer i Blues, Margit Bakken, the lady who has some of the same soulful vocal expressions Norway’s first blues queen Kristin Berglund had. This makes great music.
They also cover Kristin Berglund’s song “Your Secret Box of Mysteries”, which hits the Americana radar on this otherwise rather blues-laden album. But for Kristin herself, blues and Americana/country folk went hand in hand. This Damer i Blues album is enriched by the fact that they have gone in directions other than the purely cultivated delta-blues sound and the music of Memphis Minnie and other old legends, music which they shaped from their own hearts with great success.
For example, there is a magnetic, Native American Buffy Sainte-Marie feeling on Rita Engedalen’s “Nobody Can Take My Soul”, and I wonder if Patti Smith, the rock queen of all rock queens, has been the mentor behind “Be A Good Man”, a song that pushes forward with heavy rhythm and suggestive power.
Memphis Minnie and the old female blues legends have been the basis for Rita Engedalen and Margit Bakken’s starting point for Damer i Blues, aiming to keep their legacy alive. They perform Memphis Minnie’s “I’m Talking ’bout You” as well as Clara Smith’s “Strugglin’ Woman Blues”, which will soon be 100 years old. It just doesn’t sound like it, although the song’s roots are old and deep. The timelessness and authenticity that lies in all these songs, both the new Rita Engedalen compositions of which there are six, and the older songs that have crawl under our skin, are captivating and refreshing at the same time. “The elders are the wisest”, is a slogan that has often found its impact through music. Rita and Margit’s travels have begun to take the form of a long journey that is a life’s work.
The recording “You Can’t Tell the Difference After Dark” is done in an old-style piano blues in the ragtime tradition. With an exciting title, it is a song penned by a male songwriter, Maceo Pinkard who was best known for “Sweet Georgia Brown”. But it was Alberta Hunter, a female blues artist, who recorded it as her first single back in 1935. It’s amazing how the distant past and present bond in Damer i Blues, a bit like Sapphire – The Uppity Blues Women did in the 90s. Only that Damer i Blues go deeper, travel further back in time, while they pull longer threads through their tapestry. This Autumn belongs to Women in Blues – short and sweet!
Ed Murphy – Thanks for translating the review!
The toughest ladies in the blues
are still the toughest!
Review “My Precious Blues”
PULS 04.08.2023 / Arild Rønsen
https://www.puls.no/19543.html
I am a woman,
I will always sing my blues
I want the sunshine
Don’t let the rain fall down on me
I am a woman – I will always sing my blues for you
(Lyrics by; Rita Engedalen)
Maybe that’s all it takes before you realize where this is going?
We’re talking plain blues – exactly as expected.
The late Kristin Berglund (1953-2006) is this project’s original initiator. She toured under the auspices of Norway’s National Concerts with the project “The Tough Ladies of the Blues” from 1991 to 2005.
Since then, Rita Engedalen and Margit Bakken have held the banner of female blues musicians high for the last 20 years. The Women in Blues anniversary is being celebrated and marked with the launch of a new album, a concert, and the exhibition “Women in Battle” as a part of this year’s Notodden Blues Festival’s 35th anniversary celebration.
On their new recording “My Precious Blues” Rita contributes six new songs, and we are introduced to gospel singer Ester Mae Wilbourn (73). Other key performers on the recording are guitarist Morten Omlid along with brothers Amund and Henrik Maarud who did their sessions at their Snaxville Studio.
When I write “plain blues,” I don’t mean exclusively 12-bar style. I mean, the spirit of the blues enshrouds all the compositions, no matter what form they have taken—even those in which banjo or acoustic piano are used as the main instrument in the composition.
The recording’s most beautiful moment comes with Kristin Berglund’s composition “You’re Secret Box Of Mysteries”. The composer’s regular guitarist, Espen Liland is featured as a guest. The quality of this recording is so beautiful that it’s reminiscent of Joni Mitchell’s live version of “A Case of You”.
In keeping with their tradition, Rita Engedalen and Margit Bakken vigilantly keep their rock-steady hands over this project.
The exhibition
“Women in Battle”
Notodden Blues Festival 3th – 6th August.
This year we’re celebrating our 20th anniversary with a brand-new album, “My Precious Blues” and this exhibition.
Our musical project is a work of love and passion where we honor some of the female blues pioneers in the history of the blues who have given us great inspiration.
“Women in Blues” is an ongoing tribute to the influential and relevant women who have contributed to the history of Blues music.
Contributions by these pioneering women have influenced the development of modern rhythmic music, and they deserve their just recognition and great respect!
These women wrote and performed songs about their lives, including important themes such as women’s rights and equality.
The exhibition Kvinner i Kamp (Women in Battle) was produced by Women in Blues in 2022 for the LO-congress in Norway!
Through historical retrospectives, current issues, and political activities, conscious women are presented while spotlighting these major and important topics.
The exhibition shows historical photographs, portraits, posters, objects, and an installation with quotes from several women from Norwegian culture.
Quotes from these voices of culture highlight the importance of continuing the work for equality and solidarity, and the many voices in the exhibition are filled with power and strength.
Thanks to the Notodden Blues Festival, congratulations on the 35th anniversary, and thanks to LO-Norway!
New Single Out!
A new single by Women in Blues is now released!
This is single No. 2 from the upcoming album which will be released at Notodden Blues Festival in August.
“Strugglin’ Woman’s Blues” has been recorded at the Juke Joint studio in Notodden together with:
Morten Omlid: Electric Guitar / Knut Ragnar Hem: Drums / Bård Gunnar Moe: Electric Bass and Jostein Forsberg: Harp
“Strugglin’ Woman’s Blues” was recorded by Clara Smith and her “Five Black Kittens” in 1927. Clara Smith was one of the best-known female blues singers of the 1920s!
“Sun Will Come”
– nominated –
Norwegian Grammy Award 2022
New Single by “Women in Blues!
A new single by Women in Blues is to be released on this coming Women’s Day March 8th!
“Let The Freedom Come” is a new self-penned song which has been recorded at the Juke Joint studio in Notodden together with guitarist Morten Omlid.
“Let The Freedom Come” is the first 2023 celebration marking their 20 years anniversary.
Photo: Christin Lund
Nominated
Norwegian Grammy Award 2022
Interview with Norwegian Blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist Rita Engedalen.
Jazz Blues News / Simon Sargsyan / February 2023.
I want people to feel that they are not alone!
First, let’s start out with where you grew up, and what got you interested in music. How exactly did your adventure take off? When did you realize that this was a passion you could make a living out of?
– The first time I was on stage was when I was 8 years old. I grew up with folk music and I yodeled. I am an only child and singing is what I like all the most in my life.
My first years I lived in Notodden, which is Clarksdale’s sister-city, and Norway’s blues capital, home to the Notodden Blues Festival. When I was 6 years old, my mother, father and I moved to Jondalen in Kongsberg, where I have lived ever since. It is a beautiful little village surrounded by mountains and forests – and a river I have often sat by, letting my thoughts turn into songs.
Through my parents I heard a lot of artists such as Johnny Cash. I was interested in music early on, especially folk music, and have pretty much always been singing. At first singing by myself in my room, then later with friends and others. When I was 8 my mom and dad took me to festivals and hotels where I sang with a country band. At the age of 15, I took part in a big talent competition, making it to the national finals. It was a boyfriend of mine who introduced me to the blues. I loved it from the start, especially artists such as Muddy Waters , Bonnie Raitt and Big Mama Thornton. A couple of years later I started performing in pubs, at parties and in restaurants all over Norway together with a friend who played the piano while I sang and played my guitar. We continued for 10 years as a duo, living off the money we made from our music for two years. Already at this time I sang some of my own songs, but our repertoire for the most part was well-known cover songs played to give the party goers a great night out on the town. The times were gratifying, but they were tough years filled with a lot of music. In 1993, I joined a blues band which became Backbone, all well-known musicians from Notodden. It was at that time that I went back to my blues roots, and the music that is closest to my heart. We performed at many festivals, clubs and such touring for over 20 years. One of the guitarists from this time is still with me to this day. Performing in my band, with me at my solo performances, and is often the guitarist used in our music concept project “Women in Blues” with my blues sister vocalist Margit Bakken from Notodden. This year 2023 “Women in Blues” will celebrate its 20th anniversary.
How has your sound evolved over time? What have you been doing to find and develop your own sound? What routine practices or exercises have you developed to maintain and improve your current musical proficiency, in terms of both rhythm and harmony?
The blues is totally natural for me, and in my case has developed through my time with Backbone, and its repertoire, which consists of cover songs from artists such as Ike & Tine Turner, Janis Joplin and others.
My great personal inspiration for blues comes from the late Norwegian blues artist Kristin Berglund. For me, she was not only inspirational, but also a good friend.
When I went on my first trip to Memphis and Clarksdale in 2004, I meet the blues legend Jessie Mae Hemphill in Como, Mississippi. I had been listening to Jessie Mae for quite some time, and her being a great inspiration for me with her North Mississippi hill country blues.
I have since written several songs about her, our meetings and experiences together. Hearing her made me find my own kind of blues, which I have since developed into a personal expression. In my blues, I also gather inspiration from gospel, Americana, rock, folk music, soul and roots. When I write songs, the form can be anything from a cappella to acoustic to full band. My lyrics are almost always very personal, but with opportunities for those who listen to fill in their own meaning and interpretation when they listen. I think that’s a nice way to do it. I do get a lot of feedback from my audience telling me that my songs mean a lot to them and have done so in difficult times in their lives. They tell me that I touch something in them.
In my sound-landscape, I am very fond of acoustic instruments, and have developed my own guitar style since I started playing at the age of 15. I like a backdrop of drums, guitar and bass, and if I feel for it, I like my songs to include a fiddle, choir, organ, piano, trumpet or even a mandolin.
How do you prepare for your recordings and performances to help you maintain both spiritual and musical stamina?
-From my first album recording in 2004, “Hear my song”, I have been concerned that the recordings should not be too polished, and often one of the first takes are used. Then they are the most natural and genuine. I have good friends who remind me of who I am. One of my good friends Ed Murphy has been very important for me, being helpful on my 7 albums.
What do you love most about your new album 2022: Rita Engedalen – Sun Will Come, how it was formed and what you are working on today?
I am most satisfied that I have managed to create an album with expressions and a musical landscape that I feel at home in, that is unpolished and has an honesty – just like what my songs are about! I am lucky to also have so many talented musicians with me who are able to create this musical statement. The recording has been worked on for almost two years, and has been created through all my musical expressions. Each song has its own language that takes it form in one or several of the varying blues’ voices such as gospel, rock, hill country blues, Americana, soul. The album has captured all my many musical landscapes! It feels credible.
Today I am working on our “Women In Blues” 20th anniversary project, and I am in the middle of mixing a new single that will be released on Women’s Day, March 8, it is called “Let the Freedom come”. In addition, I will be performing concerts in Norway with the new songs from my album.
How did you select the musicians who play on the album?
– It was natural for me to have my own band Morten Omlid, Eskil Aasland and Bård Gunnar Moe with me on “Sun Will Come”, and I chose guest artists who could provide extra colors and moods to the recordings. For the remake of “I am Changed” Nils Petter Molvær as he has the nerve and an expression I wanted. My inspiration of Billie Holliday was reinforced by him, exactly as I hoped and wanted. I’m very happy I recorded that song again, especially since I haven’t been able to play it live for 14 years, as it had gotten too personal, and I easily could start crying on stage.
In your opinion, what’s the balance in music between intellect and soul?
-Always the most important of all is the soul, but I think listening to music, and knowing the music and the history of the blues will make the balance come naturally. I’m not a good liar.
There’s a two-way relationship between audience and artist; are you okay with delivering people the emotion they long for?
-I am singing for the people! They make me feel, and they make me want to sing. I want them close; I want them to feel with me. When I feel them, I don’t feel alone. That’s why I really love small stages. I am sure that «Sun Will Come» will give hope and inspiration to people. And when it does, it is really meaningful to me, it keeps me going on as a musician.
Can you share any memories from gigs, jams, open acts and studio sessions over the years?
– There are so very many memories over my 25 years as a musician, but one that comes to mind is when I was on a TV-show in Memphis performing Janis Joplin’s song Turtle Blues. I had sung it on TV in Norway two times before without any problems. The song contains the lyrics «I know this goddamn life too well». That was shocking for the TV crew and the network, and they almost took me off the air, causing me to cry. But as my guitarist said at the time, «That’s Rock`n Roll!»
One of my warmest memories is from a jam-sessions when I sang and played together with the legend Jessie Mea Hemphill in her hometown of Sentobia MS. She my favorite one. Together we sang one of my early songs «Hear my song» in a duet, while she played her tambourine, and then spontaneously she sang her own personal verse in my song. A very strong moment! Her music has been a big influence on my music ever since.
I never forget my two gigs at The Sunflower River Blues Gospel Festival in Clarksdale, Mississippi. It is a free festival for everybody – I have great respect for that, it is for everybody. Also, I recorded a song at the studio in Clarksdale with the Community Gospel Choir, a soulful choir with young black singers – with a unique style of singing. They sing with me on my recording of «Holy Land» and «Mississippi Prayer».
How can we get young people interested in jazz when most of the standard tunes are half a century old?
–It is important that the blues and jazz-music and their history are shared with young people in schools. So that young people can listen and learn. My guitarist and I visited classrooms in Norwegian schools for several years now. In my songwriter-session with young people, I know it is important to include them! One very good example is taking place in Notodden during the festival there. Together with Steve Van Zant they have established the «Little Stevens Blues School». By lending his name to the existing music for youth school, Steve has made it possible to reach a broader audience, and now young people are coming to the school from all around the world.
If you could change one single thing in the musical world and that would become reality, what would that be?
-I would like to see and hear a greater diversity of music genres presented in the major media channels. I think our society would benefit from that. Music can give a lot of help and hope, so I would like that arena to be a bigger one.
Whom do you find yourself listening to these days?
-Right now, I am listening to Billie Holiday, Lucinda Williams, Betty Davys, Valerie June, Memphis Minnie, Rosa Lee Hill and Big Mama Thornton.
What is the message you choose to bring through your music?
-I want to give hope, love and freedom. I want people to feel that they are not alone.
Which lyrics/song has given you the most in life, and why?
-For me, it is «The Rose» by Bette Midler, because the song was in my life, and it was in the funeral when I lost somebody I loved.
Which song has been important to our community – I will say Strange Fruit.
Have you ever given a free concert during your entire concert career? At the bottom line, what are your expectations from our interview?
-I often do benefit concerts for children crisis centers and for women causes in Norway, for example benefit concerts for fundraising after the Tsunami in Thailand and benefit concerts funding support and meeting needs for drug addicts, and concerts in prisons.
I hope that this interview will give an honest picture of who I am, both as a person and as a blues musician.
Most played album Topp-40
# 2 Sun Will Come
The UK IBBA album playlist chart for November 2022.
Collated from the playlist of the UK Independent Blues Broadcasters Association members!
If you love blues in its truest sense, you will love this album!
Review “Sun Will Come” / Bluestown Records
Rhythm & Booze 04.11.22 / Graham Munn
Multi international award-winning Norwegian artist, Rita Engedalen, has come up with a very original and engaging selection of Blues on this 11-track album. Blues that are influenced by such artists as Ma Rainey, Billy Holiday and Jesse Mae Hemphill, they became close friend over the later years of Jesse’s life. The songs on this album reflect true Delta blues, Louisiana blues and country blues.
The album opens up with, ‘Let’s Go Down’, a beautifully stark acoustic, the guitar setting the groundwork, but what is immediately apparent is Rita’s stunning voice. The feel is almost tribal, with her arabica dark roast timbre, wonderfully textured, like tree bark that grips from the off. ‘Sunshine Devil’, has thumping bass and lively, kick-ass, thunderous drums, Rita picks up on the rhythm delivering her message, “I am a woman”, invulnerable to the works of the devil himself, as intoxicating as Tennessee whisky.
Equally lively is the fast tracking, ‘I Wanna Feel Good’, which features a harp buzzing around like a bee on a promise, Rita’s voice has that slight vibrato edge, as electric guitar sweeps in for a lead. Time to get up and groove, “black dress, blue night, I’m looking for me in your eyes”, a great line. Much more profound, dark even, ‘I’m Changed’, “but I’m still here”, deeply atmospheric percussion, is given a gilded edge with muted trumpet from Nils Petter Molvær, but the storm still rages. A phenomenal piece of music that says so much about the human condition, time moves ever on, but we can all change to find our way forward.
Title track, ‘Sun Will Come’, presents Rita’s awesome vocals in the starkest, most perfect way, just her guitar framing this blues lament, that drips with emotion. The sun can lift our spirit, the rich voice is for our soul. A good time to let rip with the cracking blues, Cajun empowered, ‘Black Cat Bone’, tambourine sparkles away, whilst the rhythm will have your feet moving, let the vibe carry you.
In contrast to much of this album, ‘North Mississippi Blues is an outright rocker, the band release their collective force for Engedalen to sing about a small town, small shack, up in the North, where she awaits Jesus, all night long.
Much as I want to unwrap more of the stunning songs in this album, I know space does not allow, but I’ll not ignore the closing song, ‘Wait For Me’, another wonderfully dark atmospheric song. That soundscape conjured up from the percussive spells cast by Olaf Olsen, veined throughout with Morten Omlid’s, guitar.
Engedalen’s album is superb start to finish, if you love blues in its truest sense, you will love this, like a Turner watercolour it is full of subtle shades, and wonderful stormy skies, its beautifully addictive.
Rita’s new album “Sun Will Come” gets airplay on 60 radio stations abroad!
We’re delighted to tell that Rita’s album ‘Sun Will Come’ has been selected as one of the UK’s Independent Blues Broadcasters Picks Association of the Month for November 2022.
As such it will receive considerable airplay across the radio shows presented by the IBBA’s 60 plus members’ shows through november.
Digital Blues airs 16 times per week on stations based in UK, France, New Zealand & USA and is available worldwide via the internet.
A Beautiful Record!
Review “Sun Will Come” / Bluestown Records
BN126 – SEPTEMBER 2022
Bluesnews 27.09. 2022 / Johnny Andreassen
On her new album, Rita Engedalen appears more ardently African-American and Native American in soul, song and blues than ever. It is a powerful performance in which nothing is indifferent or “mere entertainment.” The opening song is a timeless acoustic old school blues. The simple and magical Mississippi blues formula that she has refined into her very own style over a long life. The jangle in the guitar strings, the naked nerve, giving the feeling that this has been recorded in the most honest and direct production possible. Where the strong feelings of pain and hope merge, being powerful and magical. Just put away your cell phone, the newspaper and your deck of cards. Rita Engedalen will hand out the cards for you this time. She has a lot of emotions and a lot of strong blues to share with you on a wonderfully strong album. The bare acoustic opening immediately turns into a heavily rocked voodoo priestess in “Sunshine devil.” The menacing rumble of the bass, the African-American ominous and dense drumming, the voodoo B3 Hammond and Morten Omlid’s less-is-more electric guitar riffing, together with Rita’s foreboding vocal is a high-end of exceptional. There is nowhere to hide. Here you need to be strong. This is exactly how the world feels for many of us today. After pouring out naked emotions and painting herself with war paint, everything is subdued to a lingering country beat a la Rosanne Cash. It’s the hour of reckoning, a debt is to be paid, but we need God’s strength and help to make it. The crows circle above us while the sky turns black. You can put a lot into the lyrics and mood in a country tune that feels so relaxed and laid back as this song, a bit like Chris Rea in one of his melancholy moments. The variety of song material is enormous on this album, everything is surprisingly well connected, complete and not feeling cut or pasted, but rather like a whole lived life split into several chapters. I say astonishingly, because the album didn’t feel that way right away. You need three or four listens, preferably by yourself focusing on the music and details, before you are “home” at the center of this album. The experience of the album’s Zen. And I promise you: This feels like Rita’s best album to date. The album has a live recorded feel, just hearing Rita count in the title track confirms that. It is an album about survival, about rain and dark clouds. it is about a promise that the sun will break through one day. It is blues to the bone in the singer/songwriter’s presentation style of her mentor Jessie Mae Hemphill and on to John Prine’s country blues. She does one of Jessie Mae Hemphill’s truly iconic blues songs in “Black Cat Bone”, where Daniel Eriksen brings out his rattlesnake guitar which, together with Rita’s heartfelt vocals and timing, makes this a moment that feels bewitching and magical. Jessie Mae Hemphill is Rita Engedalen. Rita Engedalen is Jessie Mae Hemphill. Proud and magical blues, right up there with the best you’ve heard from treasure chests up north Mississippi. When Rita delivers the song which is about exactly what we’re talking about here “North Mississippi Blues.” the guitars are sharper, more rock ‘n’ roll, more CBGB’s than the time when a young Patti Smith ravaged there with intense ferocity in the mid-’70s. Things are turned upside down, and it works. The soul and spirit of this album is unlike that of anyone else’s.
“I am Changed”, which Rita first recorded in 2008, is one of her most personal and professing songs, which is done in a completely new version with Nils Petter Molvær on trumpet. The jazz feelings really dresses this song’s personal and almost religious message, where Morten Omlid’s guitars are delightfully withdrawn and more like a 50’s backdrop. Proof that things mature, and can always be done better. It is one of Rita’s strongest songs that has been lifted to someplace new and will make an impression on many, I think. The album is entirely recorded in Juke Joint Studio at Notodden, Rita has produced herself, Margit Bakken, Tuva Syvertsen and Kari Gjærum carefully. They are a chorus with 150 years of experience. Olaf Olsen from Bigbang delivers tasteful percussion, Notodden’s B3 magician Espen Fjelle performs on a number of songs, with Bård Gunnar Moe skilfully on bass, the foundation of Spoonful Of Blues, Eskil Aasland on drums and Morten Omlid providing guitars. Jostein Forsberg plays harmonica on “I want to feel good”. If there’s anything you feel after getting into this seventh album by Rita Engedalen, «it’s feeling good». Rita leaves the album with Native American nerve on “Wait for Me,” similar to the one she began with on “Let’s Go Down and Pray.” The mood from the introduction is there, the dark clouds, the lived life, the blues. “Time is running out now, like the water to the sea, wait for me”. No party record, no easy record, no incoherent record, but a lot of soul, blues and a Rita Engedalen who, in Norway, there only is one of. A lovely album – almost perfect as the material is completely there!
New album coming!
Release date 5th August.
Norway’s Blues Queen Rita Engedalen is back with her new album, “Sun Will Come”.
The new album “Sun Will Come” will be released at Notodden Blues Festival August 5th 2022.
Rita’s songs are original material she has written and which she performs in a distinctive and personal style
She is described as an artist owning a most unique presence. She often strikes the listener’s soul with her honest lyrics, strong melodies combined with her powerful and sensitive vocal.
“Sun Will Come” is a strong blues recording containing a wider musical horizon than her previous releases.
The style is directly inspired by music from the American South states. A solid mix of American Blues, Gospel, Roots Music and Hill-Country Music, Rock, and Norwegian Folk Music.
The album contains current and personal lyrics, and the first cut ” Let´s Go Down and Pray” which acoustically performed by guitarist Morten Omlid and Rita Engedalen creates a magical allusion of folk music, while at the same time as they are clearly within the concept of blues.
The song “Sun Will Come” brings the listener back to the original acoustic blues. “Sunshine Devil” is a rock-song where Rita and the band raises the temperature as audiences have learned to love during her live performances.
Rita Engedalen’s intensively personal song “I´m changed” reaches new heights in this new recording with musician Nils Petter Molvær on the trumpet.
On this recording Engedalen interprets Jessie Mae Hemphill’s “Black Cat Bone”. During her first pilgrimage to the Mississippi, Rita met this Hill-Countryblues legend who is one of her great inspirations. A natural chemistry and a close friendship developed between the two blues performers. In “Black Cat Bone” Rita is joined by Mattis Kleppen and Daniel Eriksen, both known for their unique and expressive styles in folk music and in the blues.
The album is defined by a talented band which has performed together for a long time and with appearances of skilled guest musicians that give the album its own dispersion of colors.
Musicians on Sun Will Come:
Engedalen on vocals and acoustic guitar, Morten Omlid (acoustic and electric guitar) Eskil Aasland (drums and percussion), Bård Gunnar Moe (bass), Margit Bakken (choir) Tuva Syvertsen (choir), Kari Gjærum (choir), Nils Petter Molvær, Olaf Olsen, Jostein Forsberg, Espen Fjelle, Mattis Kleppen, Halvor Halvorsen and Daniel Eriksen. The album is mixed by Christian Engfelt. Technicians are Halvor Halvorsen and Bård Gunnar Moe.
All songs are recorded in the Juke Joint studio in Notodden, but the new version Colors in Rain is recorded in Studio Paradiso in Oslo and is an acapella with Margit Bakken from Women in Blues, and the folk musician Tuva Syvertsen. The song is a tribute to some of the important African American blues women who fought for their freedom such as Billie Holiday and Ma Rainey.
The album “Sun Will Come” is Rita’s seventh album, and is produced by the blues queen herself, together with co-producer Bård Gunnar Moe. The album is released by Bluestown Records in Notodden.
More about Rita Engedalen
Rita Engedalen is one of the most high-profile female blues artists in Europe.
She has recently concentrated on the important and popular project “Women In Blues”, but now Rita is focusing on her solo career and her new album “Sun Will Come”.
Rita Engedalen debuted as a blues artist on record in 2004 with the album «Hear My Song». She has recorded six albums under her own name and has a remarkable and award-winning career. She received the Norwegian Grammy Prize for the album “Heaven Aint Ready For Me Yet” in 2006, and awarded the Notodden Blues Festival’s Blues Prize in 2010.
Rita Engedalen has an international audience and won the European Blues Challenge in Berlin in 2012.
In 2016 Engedalen became one of the few Norwegian artists who has headlined Sunflower River Gospel festival in Clarksdale.
Rita’s influences are mostly American folk music from districts and areas not very familiar to the mainstream audiences.
Dusty roads, back and forth from the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi Delta are areas she travels musically.
Her intense nerve, her strong and rich voice mixed with deeply rooted soul form her personal musical expression.
Many songs rooted in Rita’s musical landscape are often formed upon a simple, repetitive chord progression with intensely felt emotions and the raw power of trance. Making songs in these musical terms is for Rita very natural; she’s actually a natural born master.
Rita is a full range artist, both on CD and as a live performer. The combination of natural talent, a beautiful voice, solid song writing skills, original music and her outstanding musicians makes Rita’s live shows to amazing experiences!
New upcoming album!
Rita Engedalen is Norway’s definitive Blues Queen and one of the most profound female blues artists in Europe.
Rita has now making her solo-album number seven, who is about to be released August 5th at Notodden Bluesfestival 2022 .
She will perform with Morten Omlid guitar, Eskil Aasland drums, Bård Gunnar Moe bass and her long time musical partner and blues-sister Margit Bakken.
Engedalen debuted as a blues performer with the 2004 recording of her album “Hear My Song”.
She has since recorded five albums under her own name while receiving the Norwegian Grammy for her blues album “Heaven Aint Ready For Me Yet” in 2006.
Rita Engedalen has an international audience and she was the winner of the European Blues Challenge in Berlin in 2012.
The music: The style, directly inspired by music from the American South states.
Solid mix of American Blues, Gospel, Norwegian Folk Music, Roots Music and Hill-Country Music.
Rita’s songs are original material she has written and which she performs in a distinctive and personal style.
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