Knut Reiersrud

Knut Reiersrud is one of Norway's most recorded and most restless guitarists — a player who came up in the blues and then spent four decades folding Norwegian folk music, African rhythm and Middle Eastern modes into it without ever losing the blues at the centre.

Born in Oslo on 12 February 1961 and raised in Oslo and Bærum, he picked up piano, congas and guitar as a child. By 1979, at eighteen, he was already in Chicago playing alongside Buddy Guy and Otis Rush. He made his first mark at home with groups such as Hartvik & The Heartbreakers and Four Roosters.

A guitarist without a plectrum

Reiersrud plays electric guitar with his fingers rather than a pick, a technique that gives his lines their vocal, sliding quality. He is a multi-instrumentalist as well, working on harmonica, mandolin, langeleik, oud and the Turkish saz. That range explains why his records move so easily between a Chicago shuffle and a Norwegian hymn.

With Iver Kleive and beyond

His long partnership with the organist Iver Kleive began with Blå koral in 1991 and took them to the opening ceremony of the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics. Alongside that he has built a solo catalogue of some seventeen albums and contributed to more than three hundred recordings, touring internationally for decades. He also hosts the long-running NRK radio programme Bluesasylet.

Recognition

Reiersrud has won the Spellemannprisen three times: in 1991 in the open class for Blå koral, in 2004 in blues/country for Pretty Ugly, and in 2015 in blues for Tears of the World with Mighty Sam McClain. Further honours include the Gammleng Prize in 1992, the Notodden Blues Festival blues prize in 1995, a Danish Grammy in 2006, the Riksmålsforbundet listener prize in 2023 for Bluesasylet and the Anders Jahre Culture Prize in 2025.

Spellemannprisen 1991 (Open Class, Blå koral); Spellemannprisen 2004 (Blues/Country, Pretty Ugly); Spellemannprisen 2015 (Blues, Tears of the World); Gammleng Prize 1992; Notodden Blues Festival Blues Prize 1995; Danish Grammy 2006; Riksmålsforbundet Listener Prize 2023; Anders Jahre Culture Prize 2025