Trond Kallevåg Explores Norwegian Coastal Roots and American Dreams on New Album Minnesota

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With Minnesota, guitarist and composer Trond Kallevåg deepens his image-rich sound – a warm, wistful universe where the atmosphere of Norway’s rugged west coast drifts seamlessly into the wide horizons of the American Midwest.

Drawing inspiration from traditional music, jazz, ambient folk, emigration stories, and rare photographs unearthed during an artist residency on the unique and remote island of Træna in Northern Norway , Kallevåg weaves a sound world rooted in the Norwegian Coast – yet forever gazing westward.

Minnesota marks Kallevåg’s fourth album on the acclaimed Hubro label, following Bedehus & Hawaii (2019), Fengselsfugl (2021), and Amerikabåten (2023). As on his previous releases, historical curiosity meets personal presence, resulting in instrumental storytelling of rare depth and resonance.

Kallevåg is joined by three of Norway’s most in-demand musicians – ECM artists, Gard Nilssen (drums, vibraphone), Mats Eilertsen (double bass), and the exceptionally talented young violinist Tuva Halse – alongside his own guitar, pedal steel, and a delicate layer of production, mixing, and overdubs. Together, they create a soundscape as much shaped by American folk music and cinematic jazz as by the devotional music and understated beauty of Norway’s west coast.

The album continues Kallevåg’s exploration of the ties between Norway and America – a terrain of cowboy ballads, murder ballads, immigrant sagas, and coastal lives that never returned home. Tracks such as Edward Curtis Portraits and Pine Ridge take inspiration from Edward Curtis’ iconic photographic portraits of Native Americans, adding another layer to the album’s transatlantic narrative.

The cover features Rune Johansen’s photograph Jeg var så forbanna lykkelig (“I Was So Damn Happy”) – an image that captures the album’s emotional heart.

Originally commissioned for the Sildajazz Festival in 2022, much of the music was developed further during Kallevåg’s month-long stay on Træna in autumn 2024. There, he created Træna Hawaii, a project inspired by old letters and photographs exchanged between Alma Sandøy and her brother in Hawaii – a meeting that never happened, yet lived on in images and memory.

2025 marks 200 years since the first organized Norwegian emigrants sailed from Stavanger to New York aboard the sloop Restauration, with many eventually settling in Minnesota. While not intended as a historical commemoration, the album bears the imprint of that ongoing movement – between places, between memories, between longing and belonging.

“I love that balance – being fully present with the musicians in the moment, making quick decisions on the spot, then returning to the material later to shape it further. More than ever, I enjoyed producing this record, playing with the mix and adding subtle details after the sessions. It’s the tension between the spontaneous and the dreamlike where I feel most at home.” – Trond Kallevåg

Trond Kallevåg: guitar, pedal steel guitar, electronics and overdubs (synths, bells and piano)

Tuva Halse: violin

Mats Eilertsen: double bass

Gard Nilssen: drums and vibraphone

Music videos from the recording: https://www.trondkallevag.com/musicvideos