V Modrem Stinu "77" (Agentura Duo Cis, 1998) (LP)
(Produced by Marc Bozonnet)
A Czech bluegrass band, made up of Dalibor Cidlinsky (lead vocals and guitar), Jan Nikendey (bass), Tomas Slavicek (banjo), Jiri Malach (guitar), Miroslav Silhan (dobro and mandolin), fiddler Martin Zima. A lot of modern bluegrass covers, including a couple of tunes from Pete Wernick, one from Alan Munde, another by Tony Trischka, balanced by a slew of originals by various members of the band. This appears to be their only album... but who knows? Several members came from or headed into different bands; Dalibor Cidlinsky has a whole solo career, with several albums of his own.
Virginia Truckee "Virginia Truckee" (Rockhouse Records, 1981) (LP)
(Produced by Marc Bozonnet)
An intriguing Parisian honkytonk band, connected to something in Paris called Country Music Memorial, which was perhaps a concert venue. The group included Luc Bertin (piano), Marc Bozonnet (lead guitar and pedal steel), Jacques Mercier (guitar and vocals), Jean-Louis Mongin (guitar and harmonica), Henri Sere (bass), Danny Vriet (fiddle and guitar), and Alain Weiss on drums -- many of them had taken part in various rock and pop bands throughout the 1970s, for what that's worth. Almost all of the songs are the band's own originals, although they also translated a Paul Davis song into French ("Vas-y Cow-Boy"). Don't know much about these folks, but I'm eager to find out more.
Virginia Truckee "Album" (Truckee Records, 1984) (LP)
(Produced by Vincent Bund)
The band's second (and final?) record, with a lineup that was almost identical to the album above, except that Jacques Mercier seems to have departed the band. Includes a lot of well-chosen, emblematic country covers from American artists such as Dave Dudley, Merle Haggard, Hank Williams and Bob Wills, as well as troix originals penned by Jean-Louis Mongin, as well as un du Luc Bertin.
Francois Vola "Francois Vola" (Francois Vola, 1983) (LP)
(Produced by Francois Vola)
A flat-picker from France, guitarist Francois Vola emigrated to the US around 1974 and made his way into the North Carolina bluegrass scene. Bill Keith contributes liner notes (as well as Dan Crary) and among the musicians backing him are fiddler Byron Berline and John Hickman on banjo... so he musta been doing something right! Not sure how many records he's made or played on... he also self-released a CD in 1995 or thereabouts...
Country music is everywhere, even in the erudite intellectual aeries of Europe... In fact, there's so much of the stuff, I barely know a fraction of it. This section includes a bunch of random bluegrass and country bands from across the European continent, although I'm aware there are many, many other artists and albums not currently on my radar. Also, separate sections exist for Germany and The United Kingdom and Ireland which have their own large, impressive country scenes, though many of those albums may also be included here. And trust me, once I crack the code and find all the records, France, Croatia and Lichtenstein will all get their own twang guides, too! (PS: I apologize for not being able to support umlauts and schwas and other special characters and for making all your languages look so very not right. I'm just not smart enough for all that technical-type stuff!)
