Episode 16: Bror Gunnar Jannson
Our guest is Swedish musician, songwriter, and one person band Bror Gunnar Jansson. How did a Swedish born and bred musician find his way to becoming an authentic interpreter and creator of songs steeped in the traditions of the American blues, channeling legends such as John Lee Hooker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Muddy Waters? In addition, Gunnar has written a series of songs revolving around the lives of fictional characters of his creation: criminals, murderers, and their mothers, who seemingly walked out of a Tarantino script. His latest album, “They Found My Body in a Bag” is a concept album of sorts, with a number of songs concerning true crime stories; however Gunnar’s diverse musical interests show through on various tracks including two instrumental numbers. A fascinating discussion with an intriguing musician.
Bror Gunnar Jansson was introduced to the great world of music before he even was born. He is, together with his sister, the fourth generation of musicians in his bloodline. His father is a well renowned bass player who toured with jazz legends such as Chet Baker, Toots Thielemans and Dexter Gordon.
Bror Gunnar released his self-titled debut solo album (an album with the band Serve You Right to Suffer) in 2012. Two years later he released an 8" EP on wax (on the German indie label Stencil Trash Records, limited in 49 handmade copies that sold out in one day), and signed with French label Normandeep Blues, which later that year released his second solo album Moan Snake Moan. This album was much more of a success. It was chosen for the Canal+ program "Album of the week" (Album de la semaine), it was given Coup de Coeur 2014/15 by Academie Charles Cros, and Bror Gunnar was named as "the revelation of the year" in Les Inrockuptibles, 2014.
In 2017 he released both an EP and a full length album, And The Great Unknown Part I & Part II. This release has been a success both in sales and critical acclaim. The ‘Part II’ was for a while the best selling jazz/blues album in France - with more than 5000 physical copies sold in just 3 weeks. And The Great Unknown was co-produced and recorded by Christoffer Johansson (BGs previous albums) and Filip Leyman (producer and band member with Anna von Hausswolff) and released on Normandeep Blues Records.
During the summer of 2018 Bror Gunnar headed back into the studio again to work on his fourth solo album, “They Found My Body in A Bag”, released September 20, 2019.
