Shandon Sahm

Now his son is coming back to Norway on the initiative of The Contenders and Notodden Blues Festival to honor the legacy of Doug Sahm who died in 1999. There will be a set of classics from Doug Sahm's large catalog performed by his son Shandon and new and old songs from The Contenders. Just get ready for big Texas country and Americanafest on the Rootsville stage of the Notodden Blues Festival with this concert.

Shandon Sahm is the son of Doug Sahm and is best known for his two stints as drummer for the Meat Puppets. In 2009, he played drums on the release Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm (which featured contributions from, among others, A Los Lobos, Alejandro Escovedo, Jimmie Vaughan, Dave Alvin and Joe "King" Carrasco.

Shandon Sahm has released two solo albums, "Good Thoughts Are Better Than Laxatives" (2006) and "Knock Yourself Out" from (2011) and has been living in the Netherlands since 2019. In recent years he has been keen to honor his father's material and released two albums with his interpretations, "Sahm ​​Covers Sahm vol 1 + vol 2.

Look forward to meeting a charming rocker with great empathy for his father's repertoire, and with his own energetic radiance and interpretation.

The Contenders, as die-hard Doug fans, lined up in 2021 under the auspices of Norsk Americana Forum, for a sold-out tribute concert on Doug's 80th birthday with high-profile guests such as Henning Kvitnes, Jan Dahlen and Elisabeth Andreassen.

The Contenders were formed in 1988 and started as a house band at the legendary Cruise Café in Oslo - inspired by the Americana and roots wave of the time and as a Norwegian variant of NRBQ, Sir Douglas Quintet, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Los Lobos, Dr. Feelgood and Rock pile. The repertoire was a mixture of New Orleans rhythm & blues, southern R&B and honky-tonk country-rock - at first well-known and unknown cover songs, but with more and more self-written songs.

In 1992, their first major album, "Radioland", came out, which sold 15,000 albums and in the same year the Contenders got to warm up for Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers at two concerts in Sweden. In 1994 came the album "Amors Bil" where the band debuted with an entire album of Norwegian lyrics. The same year they played on the Olympic stage in Lillehammer.

The Contenders calmed down their activity beyond the 90s, but the members have for a number of years contributed to a number of records and concerts with, among others, Trond Granlund, Roy Lønhøiden, Martin Hagfors, Casino Steel and as backing musicians at several of the Norsk Americana Forum's concerts in recent years .

Now The Contenders are relevant with new songs and a new album after the summer.