Les Farwesters "A La Vallee Des Peaux-Rouges" (Disques Pegase, 196--?) (7") (EP)
A four-song EP with covers of generic "western" tunes, with some song titles delightfully mangled by the lackadaisical French printers (i.e., "Polly Wo Oly Doodle" and "That Menphis Train") Alas, no information about the guys playing in the band, or an exact date for when this came out.

Larry Finnigan "My Kind Of Country" (Svensk American, 1966) (LP)
American-born John Lawrence Finneran (1939-1973) was a teenpop/rockabilly singer from New York whose big hit, "Dear One," came out back in 1961, during the Kennedy administration. "Dear One" almost cracked the Top Ten, but subsequent singles flopped, so though he started out on American labels, Finneran found his biggest fans in Europe, and soon signed to Sonet Records in Denmark. He cut numerous singles for Sonet before moving to Sweden and starting his own label, Svensk American, which was based in Stockholm, and also had some kind of licensing deal in the UK. The title of this LP is entirely accurate: all the songs were Finneran originals, part of his new career as a songwriter, with his biggest successes from pitching material to European artists. Though he released a slew of singles under the Larry Finnegan stage name, this seems to have been his only full album of English-language material; a posthumous double album was released several years after his death in 1973.

Fifteen String Band & Jean-Yves Lozac'h "Methode De Banjo Bluegrass" (Expression Spontanee Records, 1974) (LP)
(Produced by Denis Phan, Paul Berniel & Jean-Paul Malek)
A stripped-down French bluegrass set, led by Jean-Yves Lozac'h (banjo), along with Christian D'Amato (guitar), Herve De Saint Foy (bass), and Mick Larie on mandolin.

Larry Finnigan "Larry Finnegans Basta" (Svensk American, 1968) (LP)
Mr. Finneran recorded a fair amount of Swedish-language material as well, with numerous songs written by or with Swedish collaborators such as Olle Bergman, Ingvar Hellberg and Rune Walleborn, who were all pop musicians with careers of their own. Not sure how much of a country vibe is in any of these tracks, though. (Note: this was re-released in the 1970s under the title Larry Finnegan Pa Svenska.)

Larry Finnigan "In Memoriam" (Sonet Records, 1979) (LP)
After living in Sweden for much of the 'Sixties, Finneran returned to the United States in 1970, retiring to South Bend, Indiana and passing away in 1973 as the result of a brain tumor. This posthumously-released, two-disc retrospective includes many (if not all) of his singles on Sonet and Svensk American, as well as earlier stuff like "Dear One" and his other American recordings; the last ten tracks were the entire My Kind Of Country album.

Flying Norwegians "New Day" (Sonet Records, 1974) (LP)
(Produced by Hallvard Kvale)
The first album from the Flying Norwegians (aka Flyvende Nordmenn) a country-rock band formed by former folkie Rune Walle and rocker Jarle Zimmermann, rounded out by Gunnar Bergstrom, bassist Johannes Torkelsen and singer Cato Sanden, who went on to a long and prolific solo career. Interestingly, Rune Walle left the group in 1976 to join the American country-rock/AOR band Ozark Mountain Daredevils(!) and the group kept going for a few more years before disbanding. A couple of reunions were to follow, of course, with a total of five albums released over the years. Despite the super-prog-looking cover art, this is definitely a country-oriented album.

Flying Norwegians "Wounded Bird" (Sonet Records, 1976) (LP)
(Produced by Nils Bjarne Kvam & Bjorn Lillehagen)

Flying Norwegians "Live" (Sonet Records, 1977) (LP)
(Produced by Hallvard Kvale, Nils Bjarne Kvam & Tore Skille)

Flying Norwegians & Teddy Nelson "Point Of Departure" (Sonet Records, 1978) (LP)
(Produced by Cato Sanden, Per H. Sveinson & Tore Tambs-Lyche)
Here the band backs Norwegian honkytonker Teddy Nelson (aka Terje Nielsen, 1939-1992) a singer from Bergen who had been cutting singles since 1970. The Flying Norwegians actually backed Nelson on his first album, Diggy Liggy, a couple of years earlier, though they got equal billing on this disc, and Cato Sanden became Nelson's go-to producer for the rest of the decade. A lifelong cigarette smoker, Nelson was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1991, but continued to record and tour until he passed away -- waiting backstage at a show -- in 1992.

Flying Norwegians "This Time Around" (Sonet Records, 1979) (LP)
(Produced by Rune Walle & Rolf Kjernet)

Flying Norwegians "Du Star I Veien" (Sonet Records, 1981) (LP)
(Produced by Rolf Kjernet)
Although they often recorded in English, for this album, the band sang all the songs in Norwegian...

Flying Norwegians "Still Riding" (Sonet Records, 1996) (LP)
(Produced by Kal Andersen, Andrew Hardin & Dan Kincaid)
A reunion album featuring Cato Sanden, Rune Walle, Jarle Zimmerman and others... In the intervening years, Cato Sanden successfully established himself as a solo artist; the group split up again after this album came out, then re-formed in 2005, although Sanden passed away from a heart attack while the group was on tour.

Fonograf "Fonograf 1" (Pepita Records, 1974) (LP)
(Produced by Ferenc Dobo)
A challenging, even somewhat problematic band from Hungary, Fonograf was founded in 1973 and continued performing together for over a decade. Though they always incorporated country music elements into their albums -- mostly via steel player Brody Janos (aka Janos Brody) -- it's also fair to say that this was very much a rock band, particularly on this first album, which rests on a frequently jarring blend of jangly-to-hard-edged pop-rock and vaguely proggy krautrock... And yet that breezy pedal steel keeps creeping in to soften the sound, often woven into the mix in very unique and creative ways. On later albums their affinity for American-style country-rock is more firmly asserted, though this album is one of their most rock-oriented. The two styles can sound very disconnected from track to track, though I think a strong case could be made for someone to comb through their catalog and put together a retrospective highlighting the country-based material; the same would be true for their wildly eclectic rock repertoire as well. Not that accessible at first, but if you enjoy difficult music, this band might be worth further exploration.

Fonograf "Na Mi Ujsag Wagner Ur?" (Pepita Records, 1975) (LP)
(Produced by Ferenc Dobo)
Here they take a sharp turn towards American-style country-rock, with mellow twang and plenty of airy harmony vocals, presumably influenced by groups such as America, Pure Prairie League and Poco. The album opens on a bit of southern rock, quickly shifts into a harder, proggier style, then eases up and basically goes country for most of the rest of the record. Again, some very creative integration of very disparate genres, not always easy on the ear, but probably not meant to be. One song even sounds like a Ringo Starr out-take... well, if Ringo spoke Hungarian, that is.

Fonograf "FG-4" (Pepita Records, 1976) (LP)
(Produced by Ferenc Dobo)

Fonograf "Edison Fonograf Album" (Pepita Records, 1977) (LP)
(Produced by Ferenc Dobo & Karoly Peller)

Fonograf "Utkozben" (Pepita Records, 1978) (LP)
(Produced by Ferenc Dobo)
This was a very weird band. The album opens aggressively with a brazen, distinctly commercial power-pop tune, "1978," then moves into a country boogie number with a curious new wave undercurrent ("Kiraly Nagy Agi") and continues to ping-pong around into gooey soft-rock AOR, jittery punk-tinged rock, and boogie blues, with sort of a Zappa-does-southern rock feel. Not as much twang this time around, although Brody Janos is still on board playing steel and acoustic guitar, as is banjo player Nagy Jeno. I wouldn't recommend this one to country fans, though there are two or three tracks worth considering... If you like weird, difficult rock music though, this might be worth a spin.

Fonograf "Country And Eastern" (Pepita Records, 1980) (LP)
(Produced by Ferenc Dobo & Karoly Peller)
A pretty dreadful album from this Hungarian band, which started out as an edgy, country-tinged art-rock group in the mid-1970s, leaned into twang later on, and was perhaps in the middle of a stylistic identity crisis by the time the '80s rolled around. This set opens with a couple of absolutely awful, manic, new wave-y rock tunes, dominated by tinny electric guitars and a driving, krautrock-ish beat: it's interesting how their sound anticipated MTV-era groups such as A-Ha, but don't take that as a recommendation. A couple of songs in, though, they abruptly shift into a country-rock mode, with an airy Byrds-meets-America sound, punctuated by solid pedal steel (courtesy of Janos Brody) and while the country stuff is far more listenable, it's still a little rough going, with the band dipping back into bad pop-rock at the start of Side Two, then shifting back into country halfway through. The songs are all in English, albeit with slightly odd accents, and a shrill, treble-heavy mix that you may find a little taxing. They had a few other records after this, but I haven't checked them out.

Emile Ford "My Kind Of Country Music" (Transdisc, 1979) (LP)
(Produced by Simon Sullivan)
Dutch pop star Emile Ford was not primarily a country singer, though he gave it a go on this folk-and-country set... Normally Ford stuck to pop and soul tunes, and gave off a vaguely Jackie Washington-esque vibe, but here he tackled classics like "Blue Side Of Lonesome," "Green, Green Grass Of Home," and "Sunday Morning Coming Down," though pop and folk material was also in the mix, as heard on his covers of "South Of The Border," "Red, Red Wine" and Tom Paxton's "The Last Thing On My Mind." No information about the backing musicians, other than a back-cover mention that UK steel player B. J. Cole helped anchor the band. Sadly, the songs are all still in English, much as many of us would have enjoyed hearing them sung in Dutch.

Freud, Marx, Engels & Jung "Rintaan Pistaa, Sukat Haisee, Enka Pida Jeesuksesta" (Megamania Records, 1986)
(Produced by Atte Blom, Kessu Kalen & Jimi Sumen)
It is, I have to confess, a little disappointing that this wasn't actually a band made up of guys whose last names were Freud, Marx, Engels and Jung -- seems like that might not have been that hard, even in Finland. Instead this was a group packed with a bunch of rockers-gone-country with kooky, unpronounceable Finnish names that I can't even read correctly, much less render with the properly coded diacritical marks. (Again, apologies to all concerned.) The group was formed in 1984 and stayed together on-again/off-again for over thirty years, with an initial lineup that included Markku Austi (guitar and vocals), Olli Haavisto (accordion, dobro and steel guitar), Heikki Hynynen (drums), Ahti Marja-aho (violin), Pekka Myllykoski (harmonica), Arto Pajukallio (guitar and vocals), Mikko Saarela (bass and vocals), and Ari Vaananen on guitar. Of particular note are steel player Olli Haavisto (son of jazz musician Jukka Haavisto) who played in several different bands and later toured and recorded with American indiebilly Dallas Wayne and bassist Mikko Saarela (1958-2019) a veteran rocker who was actually one of Finland's most influential, pioneering punk/new wave artists. He wrote three of the album's four originals -- the rest of the record is made up of no less than five(!) David Allan Coe songs, as well as outlaw-adjacent tunes from Guy Clark and Billy Joe Shaver, and one from top forty singer R. C. Bannon, balanced by the somewhat obscure British expat Wes McGhee. All of it sung in Finnish, of course, which is pretty frickin' cool.

Freud, Marx, Engels & Jung "Siunattu Hulluus" (Megamania Records, 1987)

Freud, Marx, Engels & Jung "Takamehtien Mekatahtia" (Megamania Records, 1988)
Can't say as I'm super-into the cover cartoon art of some dude picking his nose, but you sure gotta give these guys credit for great song selection, with covers of tunes from Hoyt Axton ("Boney Fingers"); Warren Smith ("Ubangi Stomp"); "Country Honk" by the Rolling Stones; John Prine's "Bruised Orange" ("Bruised Orange"? really?); Michael Murphey ("Cosmic Cowboy," naturally); George Jones's mega-raunchy "Leaving Love All Over The Place" -- all of which are translated into Finnish. Indeed, perhaps the most intriguing of these translations is "Ei Semmoisia Judeja Kuin Jeesus Enaa Oo," aka Kinky Friedman's "They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore," a song that, well, seems even maybe a little more uncomfortable teleported into an Eastern European context, but bold, nonetheless. Downright kooky, even!

Freud, Marx, Engels & Jung "Jokainen Hakee Juomansa Itse" (Megamania Records, 1989)

Freud, Marx, Engels & Jung "Aina Ja Iankaiken" (Megamania Records, 1990)
(Produced by Tipi Toikka)

Freud, Marx, Engels & Jung "Huomenna Paiva On Uus" (Megamania Records, 1992)

Freud, Marx, Engels & Jung "Anjovissalaattia" (Megamania Records, 1993)

Freud, Marx, Engels & Jung "Hittihokkeli" (Megamania Records, 1999)
(Produced by Janne Haavisto & Olli Haavisto)
Once again, a groovy mix of originals and well-chosen covers, including tunes from Guy Clark, Dr. John, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and an all-star jam-session rendition of Hank Williams' "I Saw The Light." Hearing "LA Freeway" in Finnish is a real hoot, but even better is that the Finnish translation of "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" ("A-V-I-O-E-R-O") still fits into the original meter!

Freud, Marx, Engels & Jung "Paikkoi Ja Pleisei" (Megamania Records, 2002)

Freud, Marx, Engels & Jung "Sattuipa Hassusti Matkalla Forumiin..." (Megamania Records, 2004)

Hick Music Index