Buster Sledge

After 5 years and some change, 4 releases (really 3 full-length albums and some change), a bunch of fantastic collaboration to make album art and music videos, many many shows (we got the opportunity to play from Tromsø to Stavanger, in Sweden, Denmark, France, Portugal and the United States) for many many wonderful people and a bunch of support from our family and friends, we've decided to lay the project down and dedicate ourselves to other musical pursuits.

With just a measly 2 hours and 37 minutes of recorded music to look back on, I can say very earnestly that I'm proud of what we've been able to achieve in what has been a relatively short period of time.

It's been a fantastic experience and we are very thankful for the people that have contributed to our art and their contributions and we're honored to have had the opportunity to share our music with our fans.

You can hear our catalogue here:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/17iVcfy60rxIY6ySiH8QZe?si=2dc82ee4bceb4797

Thank you to our many collaborators: Sjur Lyseid (our invaluable producer and recording engineer), William Hay (for the tremendous contribution of two beatuiful album covers and designs), to Håvard Christensen (for fast, reliable, high-quality mastering for EVERY one of our releases), to Ane Østrem (for her stellar job embroidering the cover to "Dreamer"), to Frøydis Bergheim Ruud (for being a fantastic contact, providing counsel, and supporting the band via her position at Heilo), to Heilo (for signing our band and supporting three of our releases), to Megan Bishop (for our first logo, first album design and her steady penwork - a fantastic juxtapositive to all of our other albums so bursting with color), to Taylor Pearl (for managing to cleverly and tastefully fit Ane Østrem's embroidery onto a cassette case) and Emmaly Crimmel (for our t-shirt and GLOW IN THE DARK sticker design)

Thanks to James Simmons (for an inspired video-editing job that made "The Wind", "I Love This Road", and "Other Side" what they are), James Adam Taylor (for driving a huge stretch of California 101 to get us the raw footage for "I Love This Road"), Vera Sonne (for our magnificent video for "Call Home", which she both illustrated and conceptualized) and Stian Thilert (for getting the whole music-video process started with the raw footage for "The Wind" and "Other Side" - there probably wouldn't be a single video if not for that initial kick!) for helping us make 4 very cool music videos! You can see them here: https://youtu.be/LwaxYEgKPKU?si=bHX617TPKB87VvK6

And to Jorgen Nordby, Ingvil Skeie Ljones, and Nikolai Grasaasen for taking lovely pictures and and video of us. Getting a good picture of this band can be like squeezing blood from a stone but all three of you somehow managed!

I would like to say more and to thank more people, and I'd like to somehow be certain I've remembered everyone I intended to remember, and it's hard to say that with all certainty, but something I can say with very much certainty is THANK YOU. Thank you, Mikael, Jakob and Vidar for being my bandmates and elevating the music I've written to a level that made me feel a level of confidence in myself as a creative person I will take with me the rest of my life. Thank you - to everyone whom it concerns - for your reactions, comments, compliments, things that I'm not sure what they were despite my certainty they weren't compliments, support, for buying our records, for giving us a place to stay, for pointing us towards a place to play, for coming to our shows and for even maybe coming to MULTIPLE SHOWS.

This has been an absolute treat - we're all still playing, so just come see us somewhere else, we'd like to see you.

All the very best to you on the behalf of Buster Sledge,
Michael Barrett Donovan

Buster Sledge - Call Home (Official Video) Video by Vera Sonne

Summer shows:

July 27 Vinterviken Country & Bluegrass Festival Stockholm, Sweden

August 1 & 4 La Roche Bluegrass festival, La Roche, France

August 16 Bobuska Copenhagen, Denmark

August 17 Foxtail Festival Copenhagen, Denmark

August 18 Wintercoat Aarhus, Denmark

August 21 St.Pauli Biergarten Oslo, Norway

Jakob Folke Ossum
Mikael Jonassen
Vidar Starheimsæter
Michael Barrett Donovan

Buster Sledge merch, spring cleaning sale - summer edition!

All three CD’s 400,-

All three CD’s and shirt 550,-

Two LP’s and CD 525,-

Two LP’s, CD and shirt 625,-

Will throw in any sticker for 5,- 🙂

Happy to ship to you as long as you cover the postage!

Send orders to [email protected]

Nice review in RnR magazine! Nice to see mention of Sjur Lyseid’s production. Have you heard our album Nice Time on Earth Today?

Brookfield-Knights
Mikael Jonassen
Michael Barrett Donovan
Vidar Starheimsæter
Jakob Folke Ossum

Første gig i Stockholm! Vi gleder oss :)

🥁🥁🥁 Femte bandet ut är: BUSTER SLEDGE!!!

Buster Sledge är en akustisk kammarkvartett med fyra röster, fiol, banjo, gitarr och kontrabas. Frontmannen är från Kalifornien men bosatt i Norge och är uppbackad av tre norrmän med olika musikalisk bakgrund.

Med en utgångspunkt i bluegrass, tillsammans med element från jazz, indie och jamband skapar de ett samtida uttryck av urgamla traditioner.

Thanks Mike Wistow of Folking.com for reviewing our last record! We're glad you like the name :)

And for the rest of yous, feel free to read it for yourselfs:

BUSTER SLEDGE – Nice Time On Earth Today (HCD7406) Buster Sledge (great name) released Nice Time On Earth Today at the beginning of February. It’s their fourth album, but their first official release in the UK. It’s not often that you get an album …

We're excited to announce that we'll be working with Brookfield-Knights for UK and Ireland bookings under the stewardship of Mr.Loudon Temple - we're looking forward to touring the land of the Celts, the land of eternal winter, and of course, the land of Greenwich Mean Time! Which, in the meantime:

Have you listened to every Buster Sledge in order as a playlist?

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/17iVcfy60rxIY6ySiH8QZe?si=abf4390d830b4eb4

Every Buster Sledge Song in Order as a Playlist Playlist · deebcooper · 36 items · 3 saves

Thank for us!

(For English-speakers: we sold out our album release concert!)

We’d like to say “thanks” to Lee Zimmerman of Bluegrass Today for his review of our coming album!

Nice Time On Earth Today - Buster Sledge - Bluegrass Today Credit Buster Sledge with creating a sound that bends the boundaries while still adhering to the spirit and sentiment of its archival origins.