Town Rill's Page - LiveBluesWorld

Town Rill's Friends

About Me:: Town Rill is the alias and band name of songwriter Birger Olsen. Birger has been writing and performing his singular brand of blues for several years now--melding upbeat finger-style guitar grooves with a rough baritone voice, lending a timelessness to even the most contemporary of his songs.

After studying classical guitar for six years, Birger spent some time exploring electric blues but, in the end, wound up putting the pick back down and returning to the sound of an acoustic guitar plucked only by fingertips. His inspiration was his discovery of the current crop of acoustic blues musicians who are pushing the genre farther than ever before. The new cross-genre blues, pioneered by artists such as Taj Mahal (hula blues), is the world Birger finds himself exploring now--a world which has allowed him ample room to grow as a songwriter and performer.

During a recent three year stint in San Francisco, Birger formed a gypsy blues duo with guitarist Travis Magrane called the Rustics, and worked as a side man to folk singer Anna Laube. Currently, Birger is a member of country singer Alison Rice's band in addition to performing solo and with his band all over the Northwest.

Favorite Artists and Bands: Taj Mahal, Eric Bibb, Greg Brown, Keb Mo, Corey Harris, Howard Armstrong, David Grisman, Townes Van Zandt

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At 11:05am on March 11, 2008, Mississippi Blue said…: Hi,
I like your picking too.
I´ve posted some videos of your favorite Artists :-)
Have a great week :-)
Blue

At 12:39pm on February 19, 2008, Ed Vadas said…: Birger, When I hear your stuff...it reminds me of the stuff Sue Burkhart (member here) and I do, when we duo up "Ameri-MF-cana" Welcome!