When I heard her EP Alonesome for the first time, I knew I had to film with Norwegian singer Malin Pettersen at some point. I’d heard about her before, from Judy Blank I think (Judy Blank knows everybody, doesn’t she?), and listening to her songs confirmed she is something special. Pettersen has an incredible voice and is a gifted songwriter who – like her hero Emmylou Harris – doesn’t let herself get confined by any genre. A quick listen through her body of work will tell you, from the mentioned EP to albums Wildhorse and 2023’s Trouble Finding Words. While touring with Andrew Combs, Malin Pettersen joined us at the Mailmen studio in Utrecht and recorded Lonely With You and covers of Emmylou Harris’ Boulder To Birmingham and Iris DeMent’s Hotter Than Mojave In My Heart.

“Emmylou Harris is such an inspiration as she is never afraid to try out things she wants to do.”

“This song is one of the songs I have been singing for the longest time. My dad suggested it at an early stage when he took me out to play with his band. He introduced me to Emmylou Harris’ music, and that same band introduced me to Gram Parsons. A thing I love about the song is that it makes you feel like you know exactly what she is singing about even though some of the lines are so personal and specific that there is no way you can actually know unless you know. But we can all feel the resonance of it still and it mirrors how all of us have stories about loss and ways of going through grief. The line that gets me every single time is: ‘Well, you really got me this time’.”

“Emmylou in general is such an inspiration as she has done so many different projects, seemingly never afraid to try out things she wants to do. And she always communicates a hundred percent what she’s singing about – whether that be songs written by other songwriter and two more bottles of wine or her own words about the loss of a close friend.”

Malin Pettersen: “Iris DeMent’s music is a part of me.”

“I just love Iris Dement’s writing and musicianship so much. She has a way with words forged in melodies that seem to be as natural part of the world as a flower blooming in spring. It can be surprising, to the bone, smart, very specific but yet so far stretching – and always always so beautiful. Her music is a part of me.”

Photos

Keep watching

Thank you for watching and enjoying this session. You’ll probably like some other sessions from The Influences’ archive too, like these earlier ones by fellow Norwegian acts Siv Jakobsen, Darling West and Ole Kirkeng.