August 1, 2019: We regret to announce that the “Geir Bertheussen Blues Express” concerts scheduled for this year’s Dark Season Blues have been canceled.
This band, whose members are spread across Central and Northern Norway, has received a new boost after placing second in the European Blues Challenge in the Azores in April. A Norwegian cheering squad of about 60 people followed the popular band to the Portuguese island far out in the Atlantic Ocean.
It’s been three years since their last visit to the festival. The band is led by Geir “Milkman” Bertheussen from Senja, formerly known as NoFish, who sings in the slightly gravelly “Howlin’ Wolf tradition” and plays the harmonica. Joining him in Blues Express are guitarist Kai “Sugar Ray” Fjellberg, Trond “Boogieman” Hansen on bass, Kåre “Lefty” Amundsen on drums, and Rune Karlsen on keyboard. The band bases its sound on Chicago blues but incorporates elements of jump blues, delta blues, rock, soul, and swamp rock. Last fall, they released the album “Southside,” which received rave reviews and was nominated for the Spellemann Award in the blues category. Four years earlier, they traveled to the birthplace of the blues, Clarksdale, to record “Live at the Shack Inn, Mississippi.”
