Christmas time coming up, all of us in the Hallur Joensen Band, are sending you the best wishes for a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Hallur was at the Thomas Fraser Festival in Shetland this year, performing with local artists, as can be seen on the picture. Hallur also met the Australian countryradio host Tubby Dyer and his son Christopher, visiting the North Atlantic. Locally, Hallur and band is playing lots of gigs during the festive season. See you around!
Merry Christmas from Hallur
From Silkeborg to Norröna
After last weekend’s sucess at Scandinavian Country Club’s (SCC) festival in Silkeborg, Hallur embarks on motor ferry Norröna, heading the sold out North Atlantic country trip from Tórshavn to Hirtshals. Both gigs coincides with Hallur’s new release Enn stendur hurð mín opin available on this website.
Hallur on G Festival
Saturday night July 16, after Blind Boys of Alabama and the Tennessee Mafia Jug Band, Hallur Joensen and his seven piece band will give a late night danceshow on the playground of the G! Festival venue on the sands of Syðrugøta, Faroe Islands.
Hallur’s third album is around the corner and he will perform material from the new thirteen song release in the Faroese language. Then he will have a gig on the Danish Silkeborg Country Festival, before Hallur and his crew will sign on the North Atlantic ferry Norrøna on a festive country cruise. A highly enjoyable season for Hallur Joensen is at hand.
Third album due in August
Hallur’s third album with Faroese title Enn stendur hurð mín opin, is due in August 2011. With Jákup Zachariassen, left in picture, as producer the album title Still my Door is Open is to be taken seriously, says Hallur: On this album I am opening the door for a wide range of music, not only Hank Williams, but all genres, he says in Kristuff Studio, Hoyvík, while Paul Leim, right on picture, is taking care of the rhythm section.
13 new song will be on Hallur’s up coming album, 11 Faroese compositions, plus 2 cover songs, Put me on the Trail to Carolina by the Delmore Brothers and In a Town This Size by John Prine, translated into Faroese.
Besides Jákup Zachariassen, writers are Martin Joensen, Niclas Johannessen, Steintór Rasmussen and Kristoffer Mørkøre. On Steintór’s song Um tú hevur tað sum eg Kristina Bærendsen will be heard in a thrilling duet with Hallur Joensen.
One from the top in Italy and Belgium
On this months European Country Music Association’s Chart, Hallur Joensen takes second place on both the Italian and the Belgian national charts with Ernest Tubb’s classic swinger Walking the Floor Over You from his second album Smile (2009). Keep fingers crossed, while waiting for Hallur’s third album, Enn stendur hurð mín opin, due in May 2011.
Sunday in Silkeborg
Prepare for a sunny afternoon in the green, when Hallur and band will give an amazing Sunday-show at the 26th Country Festival in Silkeborg, Denmark, august 14th 2011. During three festive summerdays a regular crowd of 10.000 have welcomed main stream names like Tanya Tucker, Carlene Carter, Don Williams and Mark Chesnutt, but also hard hitting alternative acts like Dale Watson, BR549, DAD and Faroese The Reverends. Festival arranger is Scandinavian Country Club and programme will appear on www.sccdk.com
Cream of the crop
Modest Hallur has one or two things to brag about. Besides being home market bestsellers, nominated for a Faroese Planet Award, it’s a fact that both of his albums Pickin’ time in Nashville and Smile, are served by the cream of the Nashville crop. Among the Academy of Country Music winners, serving Hallur, are top guitarist Brent Mason and top steel player Paul Franklin. Among the Academy of Country Music nominees are best keybord player John Hobbs, best specialty instrument player Bryan Sutton and best audio engineer Ed Seay.
Duet with Dawn Sears
On album Smile Hallur meets Nashville singer Dawn Sears in the wonderful duet My Sweetest Hello, written by Jákup Zachariassen and Lena Anderssen. Besides being Vince Gill’s unique backing voice, she is the front singer of large and legendary bluegrass band The Time Jumpers, appearing on a regular basis at The Station Inn, Nashville. With her rich vocal, Dawn Sears has recorded three solo albums on major labels and has appeared on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts.
Hallur nominated for Planet Awards
Hallur Joensen is nominated for a Planet Award as best male vocalist 2010. Planet Awards is an annual Faroese award, presented by the Media House Miðlahúsið, running the newspaper Sosialurin, radio station Rás2 and the on-line news portal Portal.fo. Readers and listeners are participating in the final results, divided in several categories, each with their own Planet Award.
The most Country album of the year
Scottish dj Stewart Fenwick says in magazine Country Music & Dance that Hallur Joensen’s debut album Pickin’ Time in Nashville is the most Country album of the year. “It really is a stunning performance. Most of the songs, like the CD booklet, is in English, although he has Faroese versions of Fraulain and Kiss an Angel Good Morning. Even though I don’t understand the words, they both sounds superb. This has to be the most Country album of the year – in any language,” says Stewart Fenwick. “When we’ve been in Caithness, we always make a point of listening to a superb Saturday morning Country music programme that booms in on medium wave from the Faroe Islands. They seem to like their country music very traditonal. And Hallur Joensen backs up this theory with his excellent album,” Fenwick states in the Country Music & Dance magazine, concluding with these words: “We in Britain tend to discount European Country acts (like we do our own), but check these albums out. They’re as good as the Americans any day!”
Duet with Charley Pride
November 2009, Hallur met his long time star and mentor, Charley Pride. “It was a dream come true, when I met Charley and his Pridesmen on their Faroe tour and we sang Kiss an Angel Good Morning on stage in Tórshavn. A great man and a great song, also for me on the Faroese market,” says… Continue Reading
Hallur in studio for new album
Hallur Joensen is in Kristuff Studio, Hoyvík Faroe Islands, working on his third album. While the two previous bestsellers Pickin’ Time in Nashville (2008) and Smile (2009) contained international material and country classics, the upcoming release will be in Faroese language only, targeted for the home market. Original penned songs are from writers like Jákup… Continue Reading