Jonas Fjeld Releases New Album 'To the Bone'

A few days shy of his 70th birthday, Norwegian folk treasure Jonas Fjeld, regarded as the Doc Watson of Norway, celebrated the release of To The Bone, his first solo English album in 20+years, with a performance in Oslo, Norway.

Prior to it, Jonas was concentrating on acoustic music sung in his native language. But all that changed with the release of 2019s Winter Stories, a collaboration with celebrated American singer/songwriter Judy Collins and Americana band Chatham County Line.

The album was #1 on the Billboard Bluegrass chart for four weeks in December 2019, nominated for a Spelman Prize (a Norwegian Grammy) and produced its own PBS Special that first aired in February 2020.

"I never thought I would release another English album," he emphasizes. "But things went so well with the [Winter Stories]'s reception and the shows, I decided what the hell? Let's do a new album!" Jonas continues: "The expression 'to the bone' means honesty, and this is a very honest album. I feel at home on this album."

"The songs on To The Bone run the gamut of rootsy sounds, cast occasionally under a shroud of cold north wind." - Folk Alley

"It is primarily an album of quietly moving, warmly intimate ballads. There's the pedal steel guitar-laced manifesto for centring love and affection Place for Warm, and the gentle deathbed lament of Electric Lung. Rosie is in the folk storytelling tradition, while Savannah makes the epic imagery of the American South seem fresh rather than a well-worn trope." The New European

Following the release of To The Bone, Fjeld is celebrating on tour throughout Norway before returning stateside for a handful of dates with Judy Collins and Chatham County Line in February 2023.

Listen to the new album here:

U.S. TOUR DATES

FEB 8 / GRAND JUNCTION, CO @ Avalon Theater
FEB 9 / TELLURIDE, CO @ Sheridan Opera House
FEB 11 / GREELEY, CO @ Monfort Concert Hall
FEB 13 BILLINGS, MT @ Alberta Bair Theater
FEB 14 / RAPID CITY, SD @ Fine Arts Center
all dates with Judy Collins and Chatham County Line

Photo Credit: Agnete Brun