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Magnus Wiik – banjo, guitar, vocals
Meade Richter – fiddle, vocals “The kinetic energy shows up in how, with each of their tunes, they take some very old roots many new places” -International Bluegrass Music Association on Done Gone One late summer evening in August 2015, Magnus brought his banjo to one of few bars that tolerates bluegrass picking in Oslo (to the horror of the guests at the hotel vis-à-vis). The jam was friendly and laid back, and he was called on to sing “John Hardy”. Singing lead also requires handing out solos, and in the middle of the song a stranger appeared with a fiddle, looking pretty eager to play a solo. Half a minute later the Norwegian bluegrass scene sat completely floored by fiddle playing you never hear on this side of the Atlantic, and Magnus realized he was going to have a lot to do with this guy, whether he liked it or not! Haley's Comet was formed shortly thereafter, and is a good candidate for Norway's most hyper-active bluegrass duo. Their debut album Done Gone was released in April 2017 to critical acclaim, and the duo has played a lot of shows since, as well as recorded both a studio and a live album scheduled for release during spring 2018 as well as appeared in a Checz documentary on Norwegian mountains! The duo started out as a dogmatic tribute to mythical fiddler Ed Haley, who refused to be professionally recorded out of fear of being exploited by record labels. Since then the band has evolved to pen their own tunes as well as started to sing. A concert with Haley's Comet spans from hard-driving bluegrass, harmony vocals, beautiful fiddle Texas waltzes and frenetic banjo picking! Meade Richter (fiddle and vocals) is one of the leading young Americana fiddlers, and after winning the prestigious fiddle contest during the Fiddlers Grove festival in North Carolina for three years straight, he wasn't allowed to compete any more! Magnus Wiik (banjo, guitar and vocals) is an award-winning Norwegian multi-instrumentalist who has made critics claim that he plays banjo, dobro and mandolin as if he's been playing since Bill Monroe's heyday. |