The biggest compliment any musician can give me, is to come back for another session. Truly. So, when Robert Ellis reached out to record a third session, it was a ...
Christopher Paul Stelling is coming back to Utrecht to play our live show at Café de Stad on Sunday September 4th. Get your tickets now.
What do you do when filming a session before the show isn’t an option? You film it after midnight. With that solution, Christopher Paul Stelling and I walked into Utrecht’s ...
Days before the world ground to a halt, Kentuckian songwriter Ian Noe recorded a session for The Influences. We met at Paradiso Noord in Amsterdam and filmed three songs after ...
Filming with Blitzen Trapper was a dream come true for me, honestly. They’ve been one of the bands I keep listening to for well over a decade now. I remember ...
British songwriter Sam Brookes covers Father John Misty and John Martyn for The Influences and played ‘Ekarma’ off his new LP Black Feathers.
I’m extremely glad to finally share the session in which Nadine Khouri played ‘You Got A Fire’ and covers of Sparklehorse and Leonard Cohen.
One of the songs I might have played most in the past years, is ‘1922’ by Phil Cook from his album Southland Mission. I soon found out it was a ...
If you’re interested in music and based in Utrecht like I am, Robin Kester isn’t a new name. She still only has one ep and a handful of singles out, ...
There aren’t many surprises and secrets left in life. Not of the good kind anyway. Remember when you’d read about an artist in some magazine, or just found an unknown ...
Caleb Elliott and I spoke about staying hungry for music, discovering fairly late there’s more than just classical music and the important people in his development; his high school orchestra ...
Back when traveling and going to shows were still things people did, I met up with Kentuckian artist Senora May in Utrecht. Her self-released debut ‘Lainhart’ has been a very ...
Sofie Winterson and I only film in musea it seems. Last year we had the honor of filming at Panorama Mesdag in The Hague – find her Unknown Mortal Orchestra ...
Earlier this week I dreamed of walking through Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Park. I looked at the wild squirrels, sat on a bench, ate a curry at Mother India’s Cafe, strolled through ...
Mikaela Davis is a harpist and singer from Rochester New York, USA. She released a stunning record called Delivery in 2018. And she’s toured with The Staves and Bon Iver ...
The first time I heard Alela Diane was live at the Motel Mozaique festival in Rotterdam, back in 2008. ‘The Pirate’s Gospel’ got a European release in 2007. Here was ...
Some time in the Spring of 2017 I flew to Glasgow Scotland to film Ryan Joseph Burns’ album launch. That night in Saint Luke’s, I single-handedly filmed with six cameras. ...
Two years ago, Dutch comedian and radio dj Dolf Jansen asked me to film a show he was doing with a band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. That night, the band ...
I’ve been filming sessions for this website for twelve years. In all those years, there isn’t a singer I’ve heard more peers express their admiration off than Erin Rae. The ...
About ten years ago, Dutch drummer Kees Schaper (from Tim Knol’s band) toured with American songwriter Tim Easton. A perfect chance for me to film with Easton I thought. We ...
New York City-based songwriter Anthony D’Amato has been on a streak in the past seven years and released three full-length records and two ep’s. And now also two sessions for ...
It was Anthony D’Amato who introduced me to American Aquarium. The singer from New York – who’s releasing a new EP soon – said I had to check them out ...
The times have been good for Israel Nash. He’s focusing on the positive, rather than the negative. In this session he covered Neil Young and Radiohead. ‘I’ve always known there ...
After spending most of his childhood years living in Zimbabwe, Nicaragua and Ghana, Sam van Ommen moved to Amsterdam, where he attended a local jam session and met singer Julia ...
The Austin-based songwriter Carson McHone visited us in Utrecht’s finest record store Plato with her band to record two originals and a dangerously addictive Teddy Thompson cover.
John Martyn has somehow never before been covered in The Influences sessions. Until now, because Jon Allen recorded an addictive version of ‘May You Never’ for us, as well as ...
‘The first time I really listened to Bob Dylan changed my life.’ The Canadian folk band The Deep Dark Woods produces some of the loveliest modern folk songs I’ve heard ...
Los Angeles-based songwriter Gregory Ackerman covered Jack Johnson and Neil Young for The Influences. ‘I’m inspired by anyone who is writing music that people can really connect to – music ...
‘When I see The Wood Brothers play, I know: this is it. Seeing them makes it easier for me to not care about things. Fuck that shit, I’m doing what ...
Jerry Leger’s records stand side by side to John Lennon’s in my living room. It’s only fitting because Lennon’s the first association I got from ‘Coat On The Rack’, the ...
Ryan Joseph Burns couldn’t believe his eyes, when we entered the Soesterduinen, a stunning nature reserve just East of Utrecht. It’s a surreal sight at first. As you’ll know by ...
After sitting directly in front of him, focussing on filming him the best I know how to, I’m happy to report Roald van Oosten’s voice and songs still manage to ...
Christopher Paul Stelling has quickly become one of my very favourite folk singers from the last decade. The American already recorded a session for The Influences some years ago and ...
‘John Prine is the finest lyricist I know, up there with Bob Dylan and Townes Van Zandt. Every sentence he writes hits the spot and it’s admirable how much Prine ...
About a year ago, I met up with The Mastersons in my hometown Utrecht. They were about to release their strong new album Transient Lullaby and were touring Europe with ...
Sometimes a voice simply forces me to keep listening. Luckily, combined with Michaela Anne’s songwriting that’s hardly an ordeal. Anthony D’Amato told me to check out her most recent record ...
If you’d asked Laura and Lydia Rogers some time ago, they’d have told you that there might never be a third The Secret Sisters album. They really didn’t know if ...
”Jolene’ is such a stunning piece of music – the lyric is incredible and really draws me into the atmosphere of the song. It makes me feel like I’m singing ...
Up until a couple of years ago, Frontier Ruckus was just a band that I had heard of. Without stopping to take a moment and really give them a listen. ...
Last November, I had a short visit in Glasgow to film with Doghouse Roses and asked Alasdair Roberts if we could meet up the following morning and film a couple ...
Last November, I was invited by the Scottish alt-folk duo Doghouse Roses to attend the launch of their third record Lost Is Not Losing in Glasgow and to film a ...
As almost every year since the start of Onder Invloed (The Influences) in 2008, last year has often managed to surprise me. After many sessions I found myself listening to ...
There aren’t many better folk guitarists around than Paul Tasker, however subjective such a statement might be. He’s often compared to his great hero and influence Bert Jansch or named ...
Last week brought some terrible news, including the passing of Leonard Cohen; the writer of Hallelujah, probably one of the most covered songs in history, and so many other magnificent ...
Jenny Berkel’s got one of these voices that you’ll end up recognizing instantly and there’s a timeless quality to her songs that often have poetic lyrics and original instrumentation. Listening ...
Paul Tasker has been one of my favourite guitar players for a good amount of years and still manages to surprise me whenever I hear him play. Earlier this year ...
It’s hard not to think of Sandy Denny and Fairport Convention when listening to Kacy Lee Anderson’s voice, but luckily there’s a lot more to Kacy & Clayton than just ...
Born and raised in Texas, but now a resident of Nashville, it is no surprise Cale Tyson sings country songs. But, he does it very very well.
Aaron Livingston can hear the different places he’s lived in his songs and he doesn’t shy away from political topics, although written from his personal perspective. The LP has very ...
It’s a small crime that nowhere near enough people know Small Houses’ latest LP ‘Still Talk; Second City’ yet. Nowhere near enough people are enjoying this record by Jeremy Quentin ...
There used to be a time when certain Dutch people would look down on Dutch bands, and considered any band from abroad to be automatically better and more interesting. Obviously ...
Ryan O’Reilly covered Lissie and Loudon Wainwright III for The Influences in this session, filmed before his show in Amsterdam.
Early in 2015 I met The Young Folk from Dublin and filmed a session with them in Amsterdam. Later in the year we got to hang out a couple more ...
Although still only 19 years old, Demi Knight says she has discovered her own style and sound. The country singer from Tiel – who in everyday life listens to the ...
In November it’ll be four years since I joined Bertolf Lentink in Carpentras in the south of France where he recorded his third, self-titled record. Filming and witnessing that process ...
Ever since Jeremy Quentin, aka Small Houses, recorded his session for Onder Invloed two years ago, I’ve become a frequent listener of his music. Just about anything he’s released is ...
After stumbling upon a video on YouTube of Christopher Paul Stelling playing one of his songs live, I was rather impressed by the vigour and drive the Brooklyn-based songwriter radiated. ...
The first person to introduce me to the Irish band The Young Folk was Davie Lawson, who you might know of one of his hundred sessions for Onder Invloed. Not ...
When I was talking to Grasnapolsky promoter Jelte Heringa about filming sessions during the festival, the first act on his line up he talked about was Stephen Steinbrink. I didn’t ...
It started as a rather sucky day when I went to Amsterdam to film this session. It was the first really sunny day in a while, but my head was ...
It’s hard to keep up with the productivity of Peter Broderick, who’s released over fifteen records, EP’s and cassettes in about seven years, one of them being a website that’s ...
My bubba is another one of those acts that I’ve seen and read about for a couple of years, and when I heard their latest records Goes Abroader, it was ...
Whenever musicians that I like announce shows in The Netherlands, I tend to keep an eye on who their support act will be. Especially when they’re bringing someone with them ...
It’s taking me crazy long to edit all these wonderful sessions some of Glasgow’s finest musicians performed during our The Influences night at The Glad Cafe in November 2013. But ...
‘When I die, I wanna be sent back to try, try again.’ (From: Neon Tombstone) It’s one of many beautiful sentences in the lyrics by Nashville-based group The Wood Brothers, ...
If you don’t know the Dutch booking agency Belmont Bookings, you should check their roster, because it’s an overload of great acts to go and discover. One of them is ...
During the Onder Invloed shows at festival Into The Great Wide Open in September, Broeder Dieleman made a surprise appearance. At the end of the interview with Meindert Talma – ...
On the promotion tour for her third record Tall Tall Shadow, out now on Secret City Records, Canadian songwriter Basia Bulat made some time to record a session in Amsterdam. ...
The first time I met Ben Caplan, I was seated about two meters from his piano and obviously wasn’t acquainted with the volume of his voice yet. It was Record ...
I’ve posted many times before about Theo Sieben and how good his songs are. He was one of the musicians on the second Traditionals album and both his session and ...
The album ‘Traditionals II’ is out now. You’ve seen videos of some of the songs appear on this website over the last six or seven weeks, but in this post ...
Today is a good day. We as Onder Invloed launch a new series within the project. Producer Martijn Groeneveld has a studio in Utrecht called Mailmen Studio. Every now and ...
The last session we recorded in Glasgow in March 2009, made producer Ro Halfhide smile for more than the week to come. Alasdair Roberts was the man who played some ...