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I met Norwegian lapsteel guitarist Steinar Gregertsen  a number of years ago online in an internet music forum and we began a long distance collaborative effort playing on both of our recordings.  Sadly, Steinar passed away in Feb. 2012.  The following includes some  biographical information and two of the reviews received from his last CD, "Standing Next to a Mountain".

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About Steinar

 

Since the turn of the millenium Norwegian Lapsteel guitarist, Steinar Gregertsen, wrote music for a wide variety of clients.  In 2001 he wrote, performed and later recorded “Canal Street Suite” for the opening of the Canal Street Jazz And Blues festival in Arendal, where he had the pleasure of collaborating with one of Norway’s finest interpretors of traditional folk music: Kirsten Bråten Berg.  In 2002 he wrote all music for the ballet “Olav Liljekrans”, again collaborating with Kirsten Bråten Berg.

 

Later that year he wrote and recorded all the music for a multimedia show, designed for the closing arrangement of the “Sørlandet i 100” jubilee. It was performed live in an outdoors setting on Dec. 21, in a freezing minus 10C....   He participated as a composer and guitarist on the CD “spor.sørland” which was well received by the press (a ‘5’ on the dice in “Dagbladet”).

 

He produced music for commercials and jingles, and finished writing and producing music for a six-episode TV documentary, “Kripos”, which aired on Norwegian national TV (NRK1) in 2004.  

 

In 2006 he released his first solo CD, called "Southern Moon Northern Lights" - an album of mostly instrumental music.

 

In 2010 Steinar produced his 2nd CD, called "Standing Next to a Mountain".   

 

Here are some reviews:

 

Guitar Player Magazine, February 2011

 

"Covering Hendrix tunes - let alone recording a whole album of them - is risky business. Yet in this case, the superb musicianship, sublime tones, and superlative arrangements justify the effort. Gregertsen's lap-steel and weissenborn playing are particularly majestic, effectively evoking Jimi's aestethic without becoming derivative."

 

Barry Cleveland

 

 

The Absolute Sound Magazine, Sept. 2010

 

"Countless guitar slingers have paid heartfelt tributes to guitar god Jimi Hendrix. None, however, surpasses this one by Norwegian guitarist Steinar Gregertsen. He has the requisite chops to pull off such an audacious project, and his deep love of Hendrix’s music comes across in every soulful reading of every

potent tune. But it’s his creative arranging and inventive layering of guitars that make this far more than just another wellmeaning collection of Jimi covers.

A slide guitar demon, Gregertsen flaunts jaw-dropping command throughout. His version of “I Don’t Live Today” opens as a haunting acoustic guitar Delta blues meditation before erupting into a full-blown, heavy-metal barrage with his lap steel fed through distortion and wah-wah pedals. His lyrical reading of “Angel” cleverly opens with the riff from “Burning of the Midnight Lamp” before smoothly segueing to the oft-covered power ballad. An intimate reading of one of Jimi’s loveliest ballads, “May This Be Love,” features the fragile, forlorn voice of Claudia Scott, who also appears on a gentle lap steel-vocal duet of “Bold as Love.” Gregertsen lets his guitar sing the plaintive melody of “Drifting,” which he delivers with uncanny feeling. On the quirky side is a bluegrassy version of “Manic Depression” played by dobro and banjo."

 

Bill Milkowski

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