Artist profile - Jill Johnson (Sweden)

Jill Johnson is a country music singer from Sweden, who represented her homeland in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998 in Birmingham with the song 'Kärleken är', placing a respectable 10th. Her career since then has gone from strength to strength, culminating in the release of a second greatest hits package in 2010 and a #1 album at the end of last year. Throughout this entry you can click the links to listen to songs on YouTube or Spotify.

In contrast to her Eurovision entry, much of Johnson's music slots neatly into the genre of contemporary country.

Her first release, in 1995, was a cover of 'Shake the Sugartree', a hit for American singer Pam Tillis three years previously. Somewhat bizarrely, the accompanying album included a cover of 'As Dreams Go By', which placed second in the 1992 UK Song for Europe. It was her win in Melodifestivalen 1998 however which moved her into the mainstream, along with the album 'När hela världen ser på', Johnson's only collection in Swedish.

After two more moderately successful albums, but no hits on the Swedish singles charts, it took a second participation in Melodifestivalen to lift Johnson to the next level. By 2003, as we all know, Melodifestivalen had become one of Sweden's most-watched TV shows, and although 'Crazy In Love' only placed 4th in the final, the song was a hit and was accompanied by the platinum-selling compilation 'Discography, 1996-2003'.

Johnson's subsequent albums have been generally well-received, both by critics and the Swedish public. Much of her work has been recorded in Nashville, where she worked with well-known country songwriters like Lori McKenna and Liz Rose, and wouldn't sound out of place on today's US country radio. No attempt has been made to launch Johnson in the US though - probably a wise move when you consider that America certainly has enough country singers of its own without looking beyond its borders. And it certainly didn't work out for fellow Swedish country act Calaisa. As well as original material, Johnson has also paid homage to her own favourite classic country artists with two 'Music Row' collections.

As well as her successful recording career, Johnson tours frequently around Sweden, presenting both her regular material and 'Jill Johnsons jul', a celebration of Christmas music that has become a fixture of Swedish TV during the festive period. After a stint supporting Toby Keith on his European tour, Johnson's most recently been spotted on Swedish TV helping Lionel Richie promote his country album 'Tuskegee', with features a duet between Richie and Johnson on a re-interpretation of the Commodores hit 'Sail On'.

Her most recent album, 'Flirting with Disaster', was released in October 2011, and immediately topped the Swedish album charts. In One Piece is taken from that album.

Artist profile - C.H. (Switzerland)

C.H.'s music has all the ingredients needed to succeed on contemporary country radio. They have strong, poppy melodies, their guitar-led arrangements are reminiscent of Keith Urban and the male-female vocal combination has echoes of acts like Steel Magnolia.

There's one slight obstacle however. And that's the fact that C.H. perform all their music in the dialect of Swiss German.

In international standard codes, C.H. represents Switzerland. But for this group, those initials stand for Country Helvetia. They're a country music band from Switzerland, who released their debut album in 2011, after taking part in the Swiss preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest with their song 'Gib nid uf' (Don't Give Up).

The origins of the group lie in Swiss singer-songwriter Reto Burrell's visit to Nashville in 2008, where he discovered country music, and notably the growing mainstream popularity of acts like Lady Antebellum, being particularly impressed by the male/female lead vocals. He decided to transfer this template to Switzerland and brought in Nori Rickenbacher to perform lead male vocals, along with Kisha, a pop singer who had a few solo hits in Switzerland in the '90s.

Burrell has stated that his biggest challenge was to bring the storytelling nature of country music over into the Swiss German dialect, but was determined to do so. "These are our stories, our stories of Swiss life, and everyone should understand it," he says. Refreshingly, they don't dress up and put on cowboy hats for their gigs either: "To make country music you need more than just a banjo or a cowboy hat". They're clearly determined to be authentic in their own terms, and I think they succeed in this.

As well as their own compositions, the album Country Helvetia also contains covers of established country songs adapted into Swiss German. These include Tim McGraw's 'Telluride', which is admirably transported almost line-for-line to the Swiss ski resort of Saas Fee, as well as the frankly odd choice of Jewel's 'Everybody Needs Someone Sometime'.

In researching this group, I've discovered that country music in Swiss German is surprisingly enjoyable. Go on, give it a try. Watch the video to their first single 'Gib nid uf' below, along with a live performance of 'Saas Fee' (Telluride), and check out their album on Spotify

Artist profile - Abalone Dots (Sweden)

In 2012, Västervik trio Abalone Dots will become the latest country act to try to qualify to the Eurovision Song Contest from Sweden's Melodifestivalen. Groups like Calaisa and Cookies 'N' Beans could only place 5th in their semi-finals, while in 2011 Pernilla Andersson dropped out in the second chance round. Can Abalone Dots be the first to make it to the Swedish final, or even further?

The three members of Abalone Dots are Rebecka Hjukström, Sophia Hogman and Louise Holmer. A fourth member, Elin Mörk, left the group in 2010. An abalone dot is, so I learned today, a little spot made of mother of pearl that is placed on guitar or banjo necks. There you go, who said the internet wasn't educational?

Among others, the group has collaborated with Marit Bergman, Kristofer Åström and Al Perkins, and have released four albums. Softgrass Music and Avalanche Music were independently published, but two albums have followed for Sony BMG, both of which charted in the Top 10 in Sweden. From A Safe Distance came out in 2007, followed by Traveler in 2008, the latter of which won them a Swedish Grammis for Best Folk Music.

They describe their style of music with their own term, 'softgrass', which personally think is doing themselves a disservice, as that makes it sound rather bland and un-edgy. On the contrary, there's something very authentic about their output, with expert picking and folk and bluegrass sounds adding to the Nashville vibe of their country, reminiscent of acts like SHeDAISY or even Alison Krauss, with more than a little taste of the alt-country of Kasey Chambers. The fact that the biography on their website mentions the fact that Hjukström plays the dobro in its first line is telling, and very encouraging.

The group is now reportedly working on a third album and, in a slight change of direction, some of the tracks will be recorded in Swedish, and it is one of these that has been submitted for Melodifestivalen 2012. Abalone Dots will take part in the first semi-final in Växjö on 4th February with the song 'På väg'.

Watch the video for their single 'Solo' below, and if you like that, you can check out their 2008 album Traveler on Spotify.

Eurovision goes country

Those of you who know me will probably know that my two great musical passions are country music and the Eurovision Song Contest. Not two genres that naturally fit well together, I admit, but in this blog entry I'll take a look at nine of the songs that were entered for this year's contest (though didn't get there), which wouldn't necessarily sound out of place on US country radio.

Babel Fish – Depend On Me
Who'd sing it? Rascal Flatts

The first time I heard this song, I was immediately reminded of the group Rascal Flatts. The slightly straining falsetto in the chorus and the sentimental lyrics are very reminiscent of their work, and this song would fit right in on one of their recent albums. I'm not sure they've ever had a stage show that involved looking through the window of a cardboard house though.

Dalma – Song for Him
Who'd sing it? Gretchen Wilson

Dalma puts on the growls a little too much for them to sound authentic, but there's a decent country song at the heart of this – or possibly two or three different country songs. There's a bit of a kiss-off and there's a couple of broken hearts; I'm not so sure about the silliness at the end though – it works well enough as a song without having to be a pastiche.

Evija Sloka – Don't Stop the Dance
Who'd sing it? Pam Tillis

The lyrics are a little questionable, and the accent is all over the place, but there's no mistaking the country influences on this song that never really stood much chance of making it through a Latvian selection. Sloka lists Brad Paisley and Alan Jackson as her dream duet partners.

Hanne Sørvaag – You're Like A Melody
Who'd sing it? Jewel

In 2010, Eurovision fans were comparing Swedish singer Anna Bergendahl and her song 'This Is My Life' to Jewel's earlier work, but nowadays she'd be more likely to record songs like this Norwegian finalist. It's very much at the pop end of pop country, right where Jewel's recent albums have positioned her, and the feelgood similes hold together very well and would fit right in on contemporary country radio.

CH – Gid nid uf
Who'd sing it? Keith Urban (he basically already did!)

Other than being sung in Swiss German, this song sits right in the Keith Urban-school of country music, with pumping beats and a prominent electric guitar line, but it's grounded by the fiddle that runs right through the arrangement. The song's so committed to sounding like Keith Urban that it even steals the entire chorus melody of the Australian's 'I Told You So'.

Yohanna – Nótt
Who'd sing it? Carrie Underwood

It's not really country, but this track would fit right in on a Carrie Underwood album, particularly in its English version, with its considered lyrics and a silky melody that takes off into a crescendo for the last chorus.

Carmel Eckman - Nosa'at el ga'agu'ay
Who'd sing it? Sarah Jarosz

To be honest with you, Israel is more or less the last place where I'd expect to find a song like this. It's a gentle, acoustic ballad, with a lovely strummy guitar and a fiddle break in the middle. Unsurprisingly, it came almost last.

The Lucky Bullets – Fire Below
Who'd sing it? Justin Townes Earle

I was absolutely astounded when I first heard this in the Norwegian preselection, as it sounds so authentically rockabilly – not a hint of the slight 'foreignness' that often blights Eurovision songs that are trying to be very American. I was even more impressed when the Norwegians voted it into third place in the final, and I even got to cheer for it in person!

Pernilla Andersson – Desperados
Who'd sing it? Kathleen Edwards

Perhaps less country and more Americana than some of the songs on this list, 'Desperados' was one step away from making it into the Melodifestivalen final. The gentle chugging beat, the savoured chords and Andersson's velvety voice combine to make this my favourite song of the Eurovision season.

I'm sure many of you will disagree with the singers I've chosen to record these songs, so I invite you to post your suggestions below. And clearly, some of them would need quite a bit of changing and improvement before the singers mentioned would even consider going near them, and they might not take too kindly to being connected to them (sorry Pam Tillis!). But this is Eurovision, I have to take what I can get!