Weeping Willows

The Weeping Willows released their debut album in 1997 and were quickly associated with the growing interest in country in Sweden. But unlike the bands that would lead the actual country revival a few years later -- for example Alimony -- they never really played country, but a strange brew of different sentimental American styles. The result could be described as sentimental rock with thick string and horn arrangements. Their debut album sold very well, and through a lot of airplay, they quickly reached nationwide fame. In 1993, singer Magnus Carlson and percussionist Thomas Sundgren played country and rockabilly covers and were invited by members of Stefan Sundström's band Apache to play with them. In 1994, the project was named Weeping Willows but was nothing more than a side project, now playing covers of Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, and similar artists. The coming years were spent doing club gigs in Stockholm and recruiting a seventh member, guitarist Nico Röhlcke. The other members of the band were drummer Anders Hernestam, bassist Stefan Axelsen, guitarist Ola Nyström, and pianist Mats Hedén. In 1997, they finally released an album with original songs, Broken Promise Land, which quickly reached a big audience, also selling well in Norway and Germany. The timing was perfect since in the mid-'90s country had started to be an acceptable genre in Sweden, after being scorned at for almost two decades. The Weeping Willows, with their extremely sentimental music, fit perfectly into this, even if the rock ballads they played only had streaks of country, leaning more on entertainment music. That Elvis is the number one influence is easy to hear when you listen to Magnus Carlson's singing. But the music style isn't as easily defined and takes as much from '50s rock as from...