Ledfoot – Outsiders
Ledfoot – Outsiders
Format: CD – Vinyl LP – Digital
Label: TBC Records
Release: 2024
Release date: May 3, 2024
Ledfoot came into existence in 2006, when Tim Scott McConnell (an American guitarist and singer-songwriter living in Norway for more than 30 years) put together all the different techniques from over 40 years of playing with The Rockats (starting out in 1980, debuting on the live-album “Live At The Ritz” on Island Records)
And The Havalinas (which he co-founded with Smutty Smiff and Chalo Quintana -ex-Social Distortion-, and self-titled debut-album was released in 1990 on Elektra Records). After his The Rockats- & The Havalinas-periods he also released 5 albums under his own name, on labels as Sire Records (“Swear”-1983), Geffen (“High Lonesome”-1985) and Warner Music (“Deceivers & Believers”-1995).
As Ledfoot he combined a 12-string guitar with steel fingerpicks, a brass slide, open-tunings, very heavy strings and a stomp box. Mixing this with a dark lyrical and melodic sense, he dubbed it ‘Gothic Blues’, a sound close to the murder ballad tradition. Since then Ledfoot has released 6 solo-albums (his fourth and last one – “White Crow” & “Coffin Nails” – were both awarded with the Norwegian Grammy for ‘Best Blues Album’ of 2019 and 2022) and toured the whole of Europe many times.
During his career he opened live for Bob Dylan (during his “Oh Mercy”-tour), Crowded House, Tina Turner and Chris Isaak, and was covered by Bruce Springsteen (the “High Hopes”-title track), as by the likes as Sheena Easton and TNT.
He also released the more melodic duo-albums “A Death Divine” and “Limited Edition Lava Lamp” with the Norwegian guitarist Ronni Le Tekro. Besides writing and performing most of the music for all three seasons of the Norwegian hit-tv-series Exit, he plays an important role of mafia hitman in it as well.
His new album “Outsiders” contains 9 brand new tracks, all originally written by Tim himself. This isn’t a solo-album though, his seventh album under the Ledfoot moniker is his first real band album. Although undoubtedly Ledfoot, joined by a band, a wider musical spectrum opens up. Rooted in Ledfoot’s 12-string sound, the songs move effortlessly between related musical expressions, from Johnny Cash via Gram Parsons to Mink DeVille and Bruce Springsteen, and everything in between.
“Outsiders” was recorded in only four days, engineered and mixed by Kjartan Hesthagen at Studio Nyhagen and mastered by Winter Lazerus at Mohlenpris Studio, and is a testimony to real musicianship. You can feel the ‘live-vibe’ coming from these four excellent musicians. Ledfoot was joined by Markus Klyve on keys (Ronni Le Tekro), bass-player Bjorn Holm (Vidar Busk, Paal Flaata, Ronnie Jacobsen, Kid Andersen, Knut Reiersrud a.o.) and Tobby Johansen on drums (Dan Reed, Age Sten Nilsen, Vamp, TNT a.o.).
Ledfoot: “The new album is about losers, outcasts and wannebees; small people with big dreams. I grew up listening to gunfighter and murder ballads. This is a record for all the hopeless, their stories and the dreams that keep them going…. Like me”.
“Outsiders” is a collection of songs about people on the edges; humans who might get lost and come out on the losing end in life, but are unwilling to accept defeat without a fight. Once again, Ledfoot stands out as an excellent songwriter, a unique storyteller with the necessary integrity and authority in his performance.
Website: https://www.ledfoot.net/
Tracks:
01. Thunder And Rain
02. Destiny
03. Dead Is Dead
04. Turn Me Into You
05. I Do Believe
06. I’m The Outsider
07. Old Brown Bar
08. Better Side
09. Here In My Head