Rolf Wikström

Rolf "Roffe" Wikström has been called the Blues King of Sweden, and over more than fifty years he has earned the title. Born in Stockholm on 5 April 1949 and raised in modest circumstances, he came to the music at thirteen through Champion Jack Dupree and guitarists Otis Rush, Albert King and Roy Buchanan.

He is largely self-taught. He learned first by imitating melodies off the radio, and developed a style defined by a heavy pick attack and an unconventional downward string bend he worked out for himself. He took a university degree in cultural geography, economics and economic history and worked as an economist in the mid-1970s before choosing music for good.

Slim's Blues Gang and a solo career

His breakthrough came with Slim's Blues Gang in the early 1970s. After leaving the collective projects behind he began a prolific solo run with the 1975 debut Sjung svenska folk. The 1989 album Mitt hjärta är ditt, setting the poetry of Nils Ferlin, became both a commercial and artistic turning point, going gold with more than 50,000 copies sold. He followed it with further literary interpretations including ...din längtans blå anemone (1996).

His discography runs past twenty-five studio and live albums, including Ballader och bröl in 2021. He has performed for decades with his backing band Hjärtslag and has shared stages with Albert Collins and Charles Brown. His lyrics carry his working-class upbringing, pairing social criticism with personal vulnerability.

Recognition

Wikström has received the Nils Ferlin-Sällskapets trubadurpris (1989), the City of Stockholm Bellman Prize (1995), the Cornelis Vreeswijk Scholarship (2015) and the Guitar People's Prize in 2018, awarded to him as a legend in the service of the guitar. He is an inductee of the Blues Hall of Fame.

Cornelis Vreeswijk-stipendiet 2015; Guitar People's Prize 2018; Stockholms stads Bellmanpris 1995; Nils Ferlin-Sällskapets trubadurpris 1989; Blues Hall of Fame inductee