Alimony

During the closing years of the 1990s, country music regained respectability in Sweden after two decades of neglect. An initial phase of rising enthusiasm for American country paved the way for several domestic lo-fi and alternative country outfits, which helped spark a broader surge toward more traditional country sounds. Alimony formed part of this movement when singer Fredrik Öster, keyboard player Bjarne Karlsson, and guitarist Anders Lindström—previously members of the obscure rock band Road Apples—launched the group in 1998. Pedal steel player Gunnar Frick soon joined, and for the band’s first performance a temporary drummer plus bassist Tommy Moodigan were added. While performing at cafés and bars throughout Göteborg, the quartet attracted an uncommon level of press coverage even before issuing its debut recording. Their melancholy alternative country style, shaped by Gram Parsons and No Depression acts such as Son Volt and the Jayhawks, remained uncommon in Sweden then, prompting Ramblin' Records of Lund to offer a contract. The resulting album, Bottomless, presented a somewhat smoother production than the group’s live sound and strayed farther from strict country origins. Even so, it earned strong notices as the year’s most accomplished debut. Festival tours across Sweden followed, generating additional favorable coverage. In the years afterward, however, the band never reached a wider audience and remained a critically respected yet modestly successful act—a trajectory shared by nearly every Swedish country outfit of the period.