Last summer in Falkenberg, Sweden, videographers from I Know We Should shot a series of gorgeous sessions during Rootsy Summer Fest ’23, peeling off from the festival with artists from the lineup to capture intimate recordings of fleeting live performances. For the latest in our Rootsy Summer Sessions series, singer-songwriter and filmmaker Scott Ballew performed two songs on the banks of the Ätran overlooking the historic Tullbron bridge and fly fishermen stalking their quarry in the fast flowing water.
“Alright, I’ll try a river song…” Ballew says, introducing an original with a perfect subject for the setting. The selection is “Tent Song” from his 2021 critically-acclaimed debut album, Talking to Mountains. He continues with “Blue Eyes,” from 2022’s follow up to Talking to Mountains, entitled Leisure Rodeo.
Ballew, who was born and raised in Austin, Texas, relays textures and colors of the proverbial Wild West through a modern and slightly sardonic lens. His upcoming project, Rio Bravo, will continue his subversion and celebration of cowboy and Western aesthetics through a down home, countryfied string band sound. In our sessions, Ballew’s voice is passionate and unpolished, reminding of old school, itinerant troubadours – not only of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, but of the century prior, too.
For his Rootsy Summer Sessions, Ballew brings the beauty and the dust of Texas to Sweden and the North Sea with his two solo performances in downtown Falkenberg. Watch for more Rootsy Summer Sessions coming to BGS soon.
Video Credit: Brad Wagner, I Know We Should
Audio Credit: Juan Soria, I Know We Should
