Receive Weekly Email and Text Message Updates:
Sign up for latest info on concerts, dining, promotions and more!
Go!

Most Popular

Reader's Picks

Top Recommendations

A short list of Dallas's most popular hot spots.
user content provided by: LikeMe.net & Dallas Observer

National Features >

  • Village Voice

    The Great Walls of Chinatown

    With the exception of the electric rice cookers, this Bowery tenement could have come straight from the Nineteenth Century.

    By Elizabeth Dwoskin

  • Houston Press

    Getting Off

    DUI attorney Tyler Flood wins 80 percent of his trials--even if his clients were 100 percent drunk.

    By Mike Giglio

  • Miami New Times

    Park or Die Tryin'

    From the homeless parking mafia to the meter fairy, finding a spot in Miami has taken a turn toward the surreal.

    By Gus Garcia-Roberts

  • City Pages

    The Baddest Men on the Planet

    Straight from the Sam's Club tire shop, Brett Rogers prepares to meet Fedor Emelianenko in mortal combat.

    By Bradley Campbell

Olav Larsen & The Alabama Rodeo Stars

Love's Come to Town (Hyena)

Share

  • rss

By Darryl Smyers

Published on May 02, 2007 at 3:44pm

While he was growing up, Olav Larsen would search the record stores of his native Norway for imported records by Jimmie Rodgers, Neil Young and John Prine. It only takes one listen to Larsen's impressive debut, Love's Come to Town, to appreciate the capability of the Scandinavian import/export trade.

Although it is not totally necessary to point out that Larsen is African-Norwegian, the fact that he plies his craft as a country singer makes such knowledge intrinsically more fascinating. It's not as if, even in these modern times, many folks playing roots music differ in ethnicity from icons such as Cash, Haggard, Jennings and Nelson. And before anyone starts talking about Charley Pride, let me assure you that this Larsen fellow is a whole different matter.

Not only does he write and sing like Gram Parsons, Larsen also shares Parsons' affinity for the bizarre, creating decidedly unfashionable gems such as "Atomic Bombs and Wine" and "Sweet Savior's Arms." With a rough-hewed, gloriously underproduced backing, Larsen digs into the American musical experience with a determined glee reminiscent of acts as disparate as Giant Sand and The Band. Perhaps it takes someone from such a great distance to authentically come to grips with the true breadth of Americana.