"Rebecca Drive" is a collection of 13 original songs so immediate you almost wonder why nobody has written them before. The album, recorded in 2005 in Nashville, is produced by Will Kimbrough (Rodney Crowell, Jimmy Buffett, Billy Joe Shaver, Steve Forbert, etc) and features guest performances by the legendary Garth Hudson (The Band) and pedal-steel virtuoso Bucky Baxter (Bob Dylan, Steve Earle, etc.).The band¹s strengths are many:- Great songwriting; Tony Björkenvall, Björn Pettersson and Reine Touremaa, each add their own personal touch.
- The considerable vocal talents of all three writers, who take turns singing lead and joining in with heavenly harmonies.
- Solid support of guitar wizard Örjan Mäki on lap steel, dobro and electric guitar, and the tasteful drumming of young, Fredrik Elenius.At first listen you might be tempted to label their style as classic Americana; in the same vein as The Band or early Eagles, yet spiced with influences of alternative country. Listen closer and you¹ll find that the Willy Clay Band has translated the genre, colored it with their own reality from way up north in Sweden to create a sound all their own.When they sing about travelling down the highway, it¹s not Route 66 or the I10 but the road between Kiruna and Karesuando. When you hear the sound of loneliness it¹s not an echo from the Arizona desert, it¹s the emptiness of the endless plains in the land of the midnight sun.All five band members hail from the far north with Kiruna as their home-base, a mining town famous for it¹s northern lights, it¹s fabulous Ice Hotel and before too long the Willy Clay Band."Rebecca Drive" was released August 15 in Scandinavia and the reviews so far have been exceptional. "The best thing that happened to country rock since the Eagles", according to a Norwegian newspaper. The Maverick Magazine in UK gave the album a five star review in the December issue -05."...One of the classiest things to come out of Sweden since Greta Garbo"
Loudon Temple, Maverick Magazine"...Sweden proves it has more to offer than ABBA, Volvo and IKEA"
Phil Edwards, Americana-UK
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