Rednex

In 1994 the Swedish pop group Rednex exploded onto the scene with the Eurodance-bluegrass novelty “Cotton Eye Joe,” which carried them to the forefront of European charts throughout the 1990s before they altered their sound and capitalized on nostalgia to remain active into the 2000s. Producers Patrick Edenberg, Janne Ericsson, and Orjan Oberg assembled the project that year, drawing together four Swedish musicians to form a country-folk dance ensemble. The original roster featured vocalist Mary Joe (Annika Ljungberg), vocalist/banjoist Ken Tacky (Arne Arstrand), and violinists Bobby Sue (Kent Olander) and Billie Ray (Jonas Nilsson). Edenberg, credited under the name Pat Reiniz with the additional alias M-Up, handled production duties.

Rednex issued the fiddling hoedown “Cotton Eye Joe,” a cover of “Cotton-Eyed Joe,” which scholars trace to a pre-Civil War plantation slave song; the track dominated charts for weeks in Norway, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Austria, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand. In the United States the single registered only as a one-hit wonder, reaching number 25 on the Billboard singles chart in 1995. Edenberg departed shortly after its release and was succeeded by BB Stiff (Urban Landgren) during promotion of the debut album, Sex & Violins.

Following several additional singles, Ljungberg exited in 1996 to launch a solo career. Arstrand withdrew the next year to concentrate on his prog-metal band Explode. Whippy (Mia Lofgren) assumed Ljungberg’s role in 1998. The revised lineup unveiled the second album, Farmout, in 2000. “The Spirit of the Hawk” achieved moderate success in Germany, yet the group soon pursued a fresh course. Edenberg redirected Rednex toward live entertainment rather than single-driven releases, prompting a complete overhaul that removed Lofgren, Olander, Nilsson, and Landgren. Incoming members included Scarlet (English vocalist Julie-Anne Tulley), Dagger (Swede Anders Sandberg), and the Dutch pair Joe Cagg (Roy van der Haagen) and Jay Lee (Jean-Paul Engeln). The 2002 compilation The Best of the West collected reworked versions of earlier material alongside the new song “The Chase.”

Further personnel shifts followed: the two Dutch musicians departed in 2003 and were replaced by Ace Ratclaw (Tor Penten) and Boneduster Crock (Bjorn Scheffler). Tulley exited a year later. Ljungberg rejoined a decade after her initial departure, swapping Scheffler for her husband, Jens Sylsjo, and Sandberg for Anders Lundstrom. Scheffler and Sandberg subsequently enlisted Tulley, van der Haagen, and Penten to create the touring side project Rednex Tribute.

The official Rednex trio maintained live dates, issued singles, and entered multiple European music competitions until 2009, when founding members regained control after an extended period of Ljungberg’s stewardship. She, Lundstrom, and Sylsjo were dismissed; the still-active Rednex Tribute configuration then assumed official status. Early that year the ensemble released a single intended to precede a new album, yet insufficient sales halted the project. Tulley departed once more and was replaced by the group’s female vocalist 4.0, Dakotah (Nadja Flood).

By 2012 cumulative roster turnover prompted a structural change: Rednex would thereafter draw from an affiliated pool of musicians to generate varied lineups and offshoots that preserved the long-standing female-vocalist-plus-three-male-performers format. Fresh tracks such as “Racing” and “The End” appeared that year, accompanied by the three-song EP Drinking & Pub Songs. At year’s end the brand expanded to Oceania through the launch of the Rednex NZ franchise, which serviced Australia and New Zealand. More than twenty years after formation, Rednex issued the 2016 single “Innit for the Money.”