The Llano Idea

It seems that most philanthropy done these days by the music community is either in the form of mega-benefit concerts or charity compilations. Since the former has been adequately exhausted due to Obama’s campaign trail, independent music listeners will have to settle for a handful of recently released albums featuring a jaw-dropping collection of musicians. The two such pieces that have caught my eye (and no doubt others’ as well) recently have been the Dark Was the Night two-disc set benefiting the Red Hot Organization in their fight against AIDS and the War Child Presents Heroes compilation helping children who live in war-torn regions.

Dark Was the Night is the brainchild of The National’s brother guitarists Aaron and Bryce Dessner whose aim is to use “music as a great vehicle to raise both money and awareness for AIDS.” With a who’s who list of popular “indie” artists that are sure to make any music hipster giddy with joy (Andrew Bird, Beirut, and Spoon to name a few) the album was destined to move a lot of copies with or without the added incentive of helping a good cause. As a much-heralded bonus, artists featured on Dark don’t contribute throwaway tracks and forgettable B-sides but rather songs which would fit nicely on any of their individual “proper” LPs.
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Copenhagen, Denmark, seems an unlikely place to come across good ol’ fashioned country western tunes. However, this past July I stumbled across a Danish artist that cured my West Texas homesickness with just a strum of his guitar. In a region better known for its electronic acts, CS Nielsen has been able to make a name for himself with powerful singing and intelligent songwriting reminiscent of past Americana greats such as Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan. I caught up with CS recently to ask him a few questions concerning his unlikely choice of sound and whether he had any plans of making a pilgrimage stateside.

How did you first get exposed to traditional country music living in Denmark?
First of all, I’m a little uneasy about categories and genres. I’m not too sure my music fits the label ‘traditional country’ – maybe it’s not even country, possibly Americana or folk music. All I know is that I’m a huge fan of classic 20th Century Americana, from Harry Smith’s “Anthology of American Folk Music” to Hank Williams, to Robert Johnson, to Louis Armstrong, to Woody Guthrie, to Bill Monroe, to Muddy Waters, to Billie Holliday, to Elvis Presley… I dig Appalachian ballads, Delta Blues, Tin Pan Alley standards, old jazz, hillbilly, gospel, bluegrass, rhythm & blues, rockabilly and certainly also country & western. I’m sure some or all of these influences are evident in my music, and if you hear me as traditional country more than any of the others, maybe it’s because that was my earliest influence.

Do you remember that first album that got you intrigued with country music — the one that made you think you wanted to do something like this?
I think my first introduction to hardcore country music was some old reel-to-reel tapes of my father’s that I got exposed to at a very early age. It was mainly Johnny Horton, Buck Owens, Marty Robbins and Johnny Cash. As a small kid I didn’t understand a word of English, but I was totally captured by the drama and fatalism of it all. Marty Robbins’ gunfighter ballads, for example – that was frightening stuff! It wasn’t too long after that that I discovered Hank Williams, and I still remember the first time I heard “Alone and Forsaken” and “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”.
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