JP: But you don\u2019t play Prince-music exactly\u2026.?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SR: No, but it was the thing that he was very creative and was his own that inspired me. I loved R\u2019n\u2019B and Soul.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n JP: And then you met Mr. Reed there?<\/p>\n\n\n\n SR: Yes, but that was ten years later. We were married and an item for seven years, and then, well it was enough of that. \u201cSnuff\u2019s enough\u201d \u2026 But it gave me the Green Card when I married.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n JP: So, how come you moved into the wilderness then? I guess that\u2019s what it\u2019s called where you live?<\/p>\n\n\n\n SR: Yes, I moved to Colorado because I missed the forest. I needed a change.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n JP: So, you missed Dalarna then? (Dalarna is the part of Sweden where she was born).<\/p>\n\n\n\n SR (with a happy voice): Yeees, with forests and such! It was hard in Minnesota because one had to travel far in order to walk in a wood. So, I moved there first because I found a house I could rent. Now I lived there for 18 years and lives in my fifth house. I have stayed because the house where I live is really cheap. I only pay 200<\/em>$<\/em> a month. It\u2019s an unsheltered house from the 17th<\/sup> century.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n JP: Doesn\u2019t it get cold in the wintertime?<\/p>\n\n\n\n SR: Oh yeas, last winter it was 0\u00b0C inside. It can easily become -20\u00b0C outside, so I must burn a lot of fire-wood.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n JP: What about your relation to wild animals then? There are some videos on YouTube where it\u2019s obvious that you love wolves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SR: There is a lot of wild animals around the neighborhood. Wolves, bears and cougars and all kinds. I feel really comfortable with the wild and the free. We all descend from nature, as I see it, and I like this interaction with nature, it\u2019s really inspiring. Just to observe how they are moving is so rewarding!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n JP: Is there nothing that frightens you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n SR (with a smile): Yes, money. Money scares the shit out of me!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n JP: This feeling for and the interaction with the wild, do you think that\u2019s reflected in your music? Your music can be rather expressive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SR: Yes, I do write a lot where I use nature as a metaphor for my own emotions. Like, there\u2019s a song called \u201cOwl\u201d, about how smart it is. That returns to this with finding the kernel of yourself and what you do and in that way nature and the animals helps me. One gets closer to the root so to say. This with just being, not the learned and practiced, but just to be as one is. That\u2019s hard in the world we live in today. That\u2019s what I believe is the healthiest. I\u2019m afraid of systems that Tells you and Talks about you.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n JP: So why the dulcimer and the harmonica? That\u2019s a unique combo, especially in blues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SR: It\u2019s a bit special to pick up an instrument when you\u2019re a bit older. The harmonica I have been using a long time when I write songs in order to pick up a rhythm. I have always been writing songs just by bellowing out and stamping my foot on the floor. Dulcimer, well I was looking for an instrument, it was around 2006. I think I first looked for a cigar-box guitar you know, but then I found a dulcimer and remembered, \u201cHell, that\u2019s what Joni Mitchell used.\u201d Thought I might try it and bought a cheap one to see if that was something I could get together. I chose it because it has just tree strings and is easy to travel with. It soon came to a more expensive and better one.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n JP: So, it never came to a cigar box then?<\/p>\n\n\n\n SR: Mm mm, no but I do have a lap-steel and it\u2019s better to alternate the dulcimer with that.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n JP: Last question, how did you get in contact with our Malmoe-Copenhagen Blues Connexion?<\/p>\n\n\n\n SR: How? Well I think it was at the \u00c5m\u00e5l Blues Fest (Sweden\u2019s largest annual Blues festival). Most of my contacts I have from there. Malm\u00f6 is fantastic, it\u2019s friendly, got a nerve and a belonging.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sofie Reed has later added her equipment with a custom built resophonic dulcimer. She frequently plays with bassist Marc A. Haynes and occasionally with violinist Anne Harris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By Johnny Petersen In the wilderness of Colorado lives a quite eccentric woman of Swedish origin. When she\u2019s not playing with the wolves and cougars, she\u2019s playing blues on the dulcimer and the harmonica. Occasionally she plays an acoustic guitar as well. Doing that she\u2019s frequently touring Europe and the U.S. I met with her… Forts\u00e4tt l\u00e4sa Sofie Reed<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-87","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/folksyblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/87","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/folksyblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/folksyblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/folksyblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/folksyblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=87"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/folksyblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/87\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89,"href":"http:\/\/folksyblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/87\/revisions\/89"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/folksyblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=87"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.stonedponycountryandblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/IMG_0341b-811x1024.jpg\"){kind=spacer}