The Waltons "Goin' Rodeo" (Korea Records, 1987) (LP)
Cowpunky countrybilly from Berlin -- the first full album from Jason Walton, Jim-Bob Walton and John-Boy Walton, following several singles and EPs. All the songs were credited to John-Boy, other than that I haven't got a lot of info on this German trio...I'll keep poking around though.
Magret Wessel "Just For What I Am" (WAM Records, 1975) (LP)
(Produced by Jurgen Maas & Peter Wehrspann)
A country set showcasing vocalist Magret Wessel, a then-22-year old German gal whose family had Ukrainian roots. According to the liner notes, Wessel started out as a folk singer, but was encouraged to switch to country by Australian twangster Allan Jackson, and recorded what appears to be her lone album with backing from the WAM Records house band. As on other WAM albums, this features several songs written by label owner Peter Wehrspann, who was a real country evangelist. (The liner notes also charmingly recount how German country fans like Wehrspann would scour the used record bins for anything twangy... wish I coulda been there, too!) In addition to the original material, there are also plenty of well-chosen covers of American tunes, including some "girl" songs such as Loretta Lynn's "You Ain't Woman Enough" and Dolly Parton's aching Appalachian memoir, "In The Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad)," as well as some pleasantly more obscure numbers from the likes of Dallas Frazier, Ira Louvin, Buck Owens and Harlan Howard. This seems to have been Magret Wessel's only solo album, though she was still performing in the late 'Seventies, and was on at least one live festival album a few years after this set came out.
Bill West & His Wild Riders "Country And Western" (Carmen Records, 1970-?) (LP)
How do you say "cheesecake" in Dutch? Or even just, "hubba, hubba"? I rather doubt that the athletic-looking meisje pictured on the cover was actually in the band, but I do admire the way she wears that holster. Nice boots, too. Yet another anonymous European band pretending to be wild-west Americans... go figure! I guess these guys were from the Netherlands... Apparently this same set came out in the UK as well, with the band going by the name of "Rudi And Trudi And The Continental Wranglers," and an entirely different gal on the cover, this time decked out in an "Indian" buckskin jacket, with plenty of fringes. Honestly, I did try to track this one down, but like most of these Euro-cheapo releases, it's pretty much impossible to find out who was actually performing on this album. The repertoire is a little goofy, too... Like, why pair up "We Shall Not Be Moved" with "Down In The Valley" and "He'll Have To Go." Some of these songs may have actually been originals ("Come And Go With Me," "I Long To Hear You," "I'll Take A Chance On Loving You," "The Prettiest Girl," and "She Left Me") but I couldn't say for sure. The Dutch version seems to have been sold in the Vroom & Dreesmann department store chain.
West Virginian Railroad "The Way We Are" (MMP, 1984)
(Produced by Karel De Greef & Ton Masseurs)
This Dutch twangband first formed in the 1970s, though apparently this was their first album, with a lineup that included lead singer and primary songwriter Kees Van Der Loo, along with Bob Beugeling (steel guitar), Willem Bruens (guitar), Arie De Vought (lead guitar) and drummer Andre Hendriks. An interesting side note is that one of the album's producers is rock/fusion guitarist Karel De Greef, who doesn't play on this album though he formed his own country band, Buntline, which recorded a couple of albums around this same time.
West Virginian Railroad "West Virginian Railroad" (Sweet Lake Records, 1991)
West Virginian Railroad "Dance The Last Dance" (Sweet Lake Records, 1993)
West Virginian Railroad "Dixie Highway" (Sweet Lake Records, 1994)
West Virginian Railroad "Essential" (Sweet Lake Records, 2000)
Henk Wijngaard "Zingende Wielen" (Testar Records, 1978) (LP)
Dutch country singer Henk Wijngaard, who specialized in trucker songs, made literally fourteen million bazillion albums, some of which may overlap, some of which might be more pop vocals than pure country, and all of which have crazy Dutch song titles that make my head swim after a while. So perhaps for now at least I'm going to keep it simple and just stick to his earlier albums. And that's still a lot of records! This is the earliest one I could fid, though it seems highly likely that, like many country artists, he put out some earlier singles before graduating to full LPs... Anyway, it's pretty darn truckerdelic, and fans of dudes like Red Simpson and Dave Dudley may find a kindred spirit here as well. Plus: "zingende wielen"? "Sixteen wheeler," right? You learn something new every day!
Henk Wijngaard "Kilometervreters" (Telstar Records, 1979) (LP)
(Produced by Johnny Hoes, Jean Kraft & Fred Limpens)
Henk Wijngaard "De Henk Wijngaard Show" (Telstar Records, 1979) (LP)
(Produced by Fred Limpens)
A lot of American country covers (possibly sung in English?) alongside tons of Dutch-language material... and German-language songs as well! As with his other albums, though, there are still no credits for the backing musicians. Darn it.
Henk Wijngaard "Volle Bak" (Telstar Records, 1980) (LP)
(Produced by Jean Kraft & Fred Limpens)
This set was all originals, written by Wijngaard, producers Johnny Hoes, Jean Kraft and Fred Limpens, and a couple of others. One of the singles was "Container Song," and all others were in Dutch. There's a great clip of Wijngaard somewhere, rolling onto the set of a TV show driving a big yellow Mack, hopping out and half-heartedly lip-syncing the lyrics to "Ik Heb 'N Truck Als M'n Woning," all while pulling down the truck's portable stage and smiling for the camera. Super corny and a little bit Hee Haw. I guess he was kind of like a Dutch Kenny Price?
Henk Wijngaard "Und Es Heult Der Motor" (Telstar/Lorelei Records, 1980) (LP)
Henk Wijngaard "Ponypark Slagharen 'N Wereld van Plezier" (Telstar Records, 1980) (LP)
Jaunty, slightly rinky-dink, country schlager, apparently recorded at (or in conjunction with) an amusement park called Ponypark, which also seems to have been the site of a TV show, no doubt starring Henk Wijngaard himself. This album includes two versions of the show's theme song, as well as a bunch of western-themed cowboy tunes, and Wijngaard clearly the star of this album. Also on board are Disco Henke, a disc-twang parodist, methinks, as well as Henny de Munnik, aka Rick Demunck, who sang in a pop-covers band called Black Lake, which did versions of really bad '80s pop songs - stuff like "Easy Lover," "Sussudio," and "Rosanna." (Not here thank goodness! But, whew! that was close!)
Henk Wijngaard "Als Chauffeur Ben Ik Geboren" (Telstar Records, 1981) (LP)
(Produced by Fred Limpens)
Yeesh. I'm starting to get the impression that, maybe Henk Wijngaard was kinda a little scary, musically speaking. I mean, yeah, there's country stuff going on, but all that weird schlager stuff as well, which I don't really understand, and then all of a sudden, I'm singing along in Dutch, and it's kinda weird. The arrangements are just so gosh-darn poppy and corny... but then again, who can resist a tune like "Moeders, Ik Smeek Je" -- a syrupy Dutch rendition of "Mama's Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys"? But the buoyant singalong schlager-pop tracks are a bit much. I think I'm gonna stop for now. Check back later.
Max Wolff "I'm Bonafide" (2003) (LP)
(Produced by Max Wolff, Carsten Nielsen & Hans Henrik Ruus)
A self-released roots-music CD from Danish singer-picker Max Wolff. Though there's a folk-blues bent, he also covers distinctly country material, such as Johnny Cash's classic "Hey Porter," and the Jimmie Rodgers oldie, "Peach Picking Time Down In Georgia." Old-time stuff!
Nancy Wood "Imagine That" (Lovelight Music, 1984) (LP)
(Produced by Byron Hill & Nancy Wood)
This double LP set collects work by Bremen, Germany's Renate Hildebrandt (aka Renate Kern) a European pop singer who "went country" in the early '80s in an effort to bump-start her flagging career. This was her second album working with Nashville songwriter-producer Byron Hill, and she sings a lot of his material as well as songs by relatively obscure writers such as Red Lane and Ava Aldridge, along with a couple by Marc Molen, who was affiliated with the Lovelight label, and I suspect was a German country artist as well. Although these tracks seldom really catch fire, it's a pretty solid set overall, with backing by a ton of Nashville studio pros: Sonny Garrish, Doyle Grisham, Fred Newell, Buddy Spicher, Chip Young and the like. Wood sings with a convincingly American accent, though she often seems a bit too controlled -- I imagine she sounded looser when singing auf Deutsch. Anyway, this is okay stuff, a little slick, but twangy enough for a spin or two. She also recorded an album under her German stage name -- Renate Kern -- in 1981, also with Byron Hill on board as producer.
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!)
