Evi Tausen, Country singer: A Country girl with grace, charm and a Golden Voice

Evi
Tausen
, Country
singer: A Country girl with grace, charm and a Golden Voice
Evi Tausen
was untill
august 2010 an everyday mother
of two studying to be a social worker in the little town of Porkeri
in The Faroe Islands. The population of Porkeri is about 450 and she
was about to get married to her boyfriend of nine years.
An
upcoming country star called Hallur Joensen who was making his mark
in the Faroese Country community after recording an album in
Nashville was a big hit in the Faroe Islands and Evi loved his music.
Noting this Evi’s
fiancée
booked Hallur Joensen to play at
their August 2010 wedding. So Hallur wanted to meet Evi to discuss
any special songs that Evi wants him to play. Evi has a song that
Hallur does not know and he wants her to sing it to him and Hallur is
amazed with her country voice, and tells her that she has to sing the
song herself to her husband. This is a turn of events for Evi and she
politely declines, telling him she is too nervous as she has never
sang in front of anyone except her parents at home and there is no
chance that she can do it at the wedding in front of so many people.
But,
Hallur has heard something that he is not going to let go of. He
begins to sing some songs with Evi and as her confidence grows after
some hours he convinces Evi that she has a very special country voice
and that she must perform for her husband and guests. So Evi sang at
her wedding and it was a huge success, her husband was so thrilled
and pleased he rewarded her by giving her a guitar which she began
learning to play at home.
As weeks passed
rehearsing
Evi had an urge and a feeling to
sing Country and she started to work to improve her art every day.
One thing about Evi,
says her husband Gudmundur, is that when she sets herself a goal she
is willing to go through thick and thin to achieve it. And after
some months of rigorous practice singing and playing the guitar, she
set for herself the biggest goal she ever has attempted in her life
and that is to be a professional country singer! Evi wanted to go to
Nashville to record an album with the best of the best. 
 
But first she
needed something to show what she can do! She needed to record a demo
to take with her to Nashville, to show producers of Country Music
that she means business and is a serious artist.
In
November 2010 Evi’s husband talks to a producer who resides in the
Islands who has produced artistes in Nashville, about making a
backtrack of the song “How’s the world treating you” by James
Taylor and Allison Kraus and Evi also sends him her own version of
“He’ll have to go”, that she recorded on her laptop with her
webcam. Also Evi asks her friend Pætur við Keldu if he would sing
the James Taylor part of the song and off they go to the studio,
excited and with high hopes…
Being
Evi’s first time in a studio it took a few false starts but Evi
soon got the confidence and performed the songs beautifully and her
timing and feel are impeccable and the result is so good that they
decide to release a single CD in the Faroe Islands that was
immediately a total hit and on their trip to Nashville in March the
following year they took the single as a demo to play to the Country
recording community.
Evi
and her husband arranged the trip and were going to visit a singing
instructor called Kathy Chaviola to whom they have been introduced by
a journalist from the Faroe Islands. Kathy had visited the Faroe’s
in 2003.
Once in
Nashville they were introduced to a lot of good people and before
leaving, to return home, Kathy had set up a visit to the Grand Ole
Opry were they were the guests of Country veteran Jim Ed Brown
backstage. Jim Ed was a long time friend of Kathy’s; And there, Evi
got the chance to give Jim Ed her single of the two Jim Reeves songs
and he was enthralled by the singing and the fact that Evi sang two
Jim Reeves songs because Jim was Ed’s best friend when he was
alive. Jim Ed was so moved by this and he played the single on his
Opry Radio weekly
two-hour Country Music Greats Radio Show
 
Once back
in the Faroe Islands Evi and her husband Gudmundur started to work on
all the contacts they got in Nashville. Evi had received several
offers from producers but the most interesting offer came from guitar
legend Brent Mason.
Brent had heard
Evi’s single through a friend in Nashville that Gudmundur had
contacted on the internet and had explained to him that Evi was
looking for a producer. And because Brent had been in the Faroe
Island the year before and fallen for the people there, he got very
interested in Evi’s singing and wanted to produce the album.
Brent contacted some
friends
for new songs and through Gerald
Smith; Evi got several very good songs that suited her voice. But Evi
did get one very special song herself from Glen Douglas Tubb. Thro
Facebook Evi got in touch with and old songwriter called Glenn
Douglas Tubb, who used to tour with Johnny Cash and also wrote him
some songs, one being Home Of The Blues. 
 
Evi told Glenn
that she was going to record an album with Brent Mason and wanted to
hear if he had some songs that would suit her voice. And after
listening to Evi’s single he sent her a song called Wishing Well,
saying he thought that Evi’s voice would do justice to the song and
wanted to know what she thought of it. Evi listen to it for a few
days and after a while began to feel it and thought that it could
really become her own. But she had never even imagined how this song
would change her life, because of the background of the song, which
she had not heard yet.
Evi told
Glenn that the song had become really special to her and she asked
him if she could record it. Glenn was happy to hear that, but wanted
to be sure that Evi had fallen for the song, because he had a really
special story to tell Evi. Evi assured him that this was a song she
wanted to record because she could feel the heart break and sorrow in
the lyric and so Glenn began to tell Evi the amazing story behind the
song.
Glenn told Evi
that in 1956, when he was touring with Johnny Cash, he was very good
friends with both Johnny and Vivian Cash and spent a lot of time at
their home. One day Vivian came to him and asked him if he could help
her write a song that she had in her heart and had written some
lyrics for. Glenn asked Vivian why she did not ask Johnny, he was
sitting right in the living room watching TV. Vivian pulled him away
and said that this song was not for Johnny’s ears because of the
content. Then Glenn realised that this was a song about Vivian’s
heart break because she had found out that Johnny was involved
romantically with June Carter. Glenn was not sure what to do but then
agreed to help Vivian write the song.
When the song was
finished Glenn could not believe how sincere and honest the song had
become, reflecting Vivian’s desperate situation in her marriage
with Johnny, and he
was very happy with the
result and so was Vivian but then came the shock! Vivian wanted the
song, as good as it was, never to be played for anyone, ever, as long
she was alive. And the most important thing was that Johnny never
heard it, he was never to hear the song or to know Vivian’s
feelings in this terrible situation. You can hear it the lyric as she
wrote: “Wishing Well, you know its Hell, to know the truth and
still not let it show” This was Vivian’s first and last song she
ever wrote.
Glenn promised to
keep the song a secret and he put it away in a safe place for 55
years.
Until he heard Evi’s voice and
remembered the song, and then he knew he had found the right artist
to sing it. Both Vivian and Johnny had passed away so he felt he was
released from the promise that he had given Vivian so he presented
the song to Evi to record.
Evi was amazed and
she could almost not believe that a totally unknown newcomer from the
Faroe Island that came from a tiny village of 450 people had be given
a son to sing that Johnny Cash’s wife at the time, had written to
him, and that it was hidden away from Johnny and keep a secret for 55
years. No one had heard it. This was truly history in the making. So
Evi recorded the song and the result you can hear on her debut album
named after the song: “Wishing Well”.
Brent Mason did a
fantastic job as producer and
managed to
get some of the best studio musicians in Nashville to record for Evi
and he and everyone were completely happy with the result.
It is worth to
mention that there is a duet on the album
with Gran Ole Opry legend Jim Ed Brown. After Evi meet him at the
Opry they kept in contact and Evi asked if he could sing an old Jim
Reeves song with her on the album. He was very happy to do so and the
result is “Oh how I miss you tonight”. Which has been acclaimed
to be the best version ever of this song ever and Evi says it is a
real honour to sing with Jim Ed Brown on her debut album.
Since the release
Evi is being played
around the world and
has had great reviews from the country media. The latest honour is
that she was nominated in two categories at the ICMA Awards. The Jim
Ed duet was nominated as Best International Country Event of the
year, and Evi herself was nominated as Best International Country
Artist of the year which she WON.
Evi is now
planning a European tour as soon as possible.
To sum up Evi’s
story
one must congratulate and admire her
for her fantastic perseverance. All this was done with no help from
any backers, inside Nashville friends or any record label. This was
achieved with help from her husband and her family. She set out to
Nashville, after only singing for six months, with only a demo single
in her hand and a fire in her heart that she had it in herself to
make it as a country singer. Evi can truly say that Fairytales do
come true!!Evi Tausen truly represents Country Music in its purest
form and deserves to be heard by Country fans throughout the
world….
“From the first
demo I received from Evi to the album I now play regularly on my
Radio shows to the world I have always thought and believed that Evi
should do well. She has a purity of voice and a feel for Country
Music like she was born and bred to it and lived what she sings about
with emotion and heart. She has also the determination to bring her
beautiful voice to the Country World at large and they should in my
humble opinion be proud to receive this beautiful Faroese lady of
song!”
Dave
Weston
Country
Recording Artist and DJ
“Feel
the Country” 40 years of Country Music
West
Coast fm 107.5

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