Billy T Band

Out of the Muddy Waters Club

Billy T Band grew out of the house band at the Muddy Waters blues club in Oslo, where the New York-born bassist and singer Bill Troiani led the band for seven years. When the club closed, the band carried on, and from the early 2000s it has been one of the steadier blues and soul outfits in Norway.

Troiani holds down bass and vocals, Håkon Høye plays guitar and sings, Ian Fredrick Johannessen is on guitar and Alexander Pettersen on drums and percussion.

Two Spellemannprisen

The band has won the Spellemannprisen in the blues category twice, in 2010 for L.O.V.E. (Just a Silly Notion) and in 2012 for Mo-Billy-T. Later records have kept them in front of the jury: Reckoning was nominated for the 2016 release year and Hi Paradise for 2022.

Five albums

The discography runs to five studio albums — A Little Mixed Up (2007), L.O.V.E. (Just a Silly Notion) (2010), Mo-Billy-T (2012), Reckoning (2016) and Hi Paradise (2022) — built on a rhythm section that swings and a guitarist who knows when to leave space.