Smack dab in the middle of the milling crowds at the Notodden Blues Festival is the stage where the Little Steven’s Band Camp students play. “It’s very important for us to do that,” Festival Director Jostein Forsberg explained. “You’re going to see the kids one way or the other.” The youth seminar has been part of the festival since its first year in 1989, long enough ago that some of its alums have joined the Band Camp’s management staff and others are well into their professional music careers – Kid Andersen, for one.
Audun Haukvik attended in 1996, became a professional musician, and started managing BC I five years ago. He explained that the purpose is to inspire youth interested in music: “In Norway, parents have every kid in sports and drag them around to practice and games. With music, many young people have to fight for themselves. The kids don’t have places to play, and they don’t have p.a. equipment.”
With space for 40 students, Audun has had to turn away applicants in some years, but in 2024, he accepted all 30 applicants. “I want, maybe not the beginner, but a little bit of a beginner; I don’t want only the best,” he said. “Some kids are really good at a young age, and other kids are ok, but they rehearse a lot more. They might become much better and have more to contribute to music instead of the guys who know everything from the first note.”
In BC I, Audun said the most important thing is the socialization with other aspiring musicians as they learn to build a band, play in a band, and have respect for each other. “They live at the BC I area from Monday to Sunday and play every day, so they have sore fingers and throats. It’s like they build a network. It’s not as specialized in the blues as BC II, but we always have blues in the bottom. If they play AC/DC, we can tell them about the blues connections and techniques. We want them to make their own songs in the band. My instructors tell them, if they make songs, they have to have blues in the bottom.” There are two instructors for guitar and one each for bass, keys, horns, and vocals.
Bård Gunnar Moe has managed BC II since 2016. He teaches the history of blues music plus studio and music production at the University of SE Norway and is working on his PhD. His thesis focuses on the Band Camp and how kids communicate and create through playing and making music connected to the blues. “I did some research this year in the studio investigating the students. What is blues? What kind of features in the playing and in the recording are blues?” The students spend the week learning music production in a vintage studio that features an Audiotronics mixing board on loan from the Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis, and the tape machines are similar to those at the legendary Sun Studios.
Although Bård teaches his university students the socio-cultural-environmental aspects of blues music from pre-war blues until the 1970s, he allows the BC II students to acquire their own understanding of the genre. “Some of them have a lot of knowledge about Chicago and Piedmont style blues and ragtime,” he said. “And some have no knowledge at all. We have a historic lesson about Chicago blues, the beginning of electric blues. The first recorded song with Muddy [Waters] on electronic guitar was ‘Catfish Blues.’”
Bård found that the focus of most conversations is the students’ finding their own groove and getting the right swing. “When you are 20 and 25, you are very concerned about getting your own style, having your own imprint on the music. I think that’s a very nice development about our kids, our young people. They have their wish to have their own personality within the music and also get in the blues. That’s better than copying something.”
Andrew Sullivan, a 19-year-old from Van Cleave, Mississippi, started playing guitar very early in life and fell in love with the blues at age 5 during a trip to Clarksdale with his dad. He first attended the Pinetop Perkins Foundation’s Annual Workshop when he was 8 where he learned improvisation from Bob Margolin, and he has returned every year since. The Foundation sent him to the 2024 Band Camp where he produced his own music. “There was something about being with the same people for 24 hours. We would be in the blues house, go back to the high school [which serves as BC II’s housing], talk until 2 a.m. and sometimes 5 a.m., wake up and be super tired but ready to go. Something about building really strong connections with a bunch of like-minded blues musicians was important to me. I think my stage presence and social skills improved a lot over the week.”
When asked whether other Band Camp students from European countries understand the origins of blues music, Andrew replied they did, particularly those from Sweden, guitarist Viggo Bjerkhagen and harpist Branko Bergstrand. “They have almost more of a grasp of the blues than some Mississippians do,” he said. “I’ve never seen someone so passionate about the blues than Branko.”
Andrew is currently studying jazz with a focus on improvisation at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg and plans a career in music. He said that, while jazz is quite a bit different than blues, it’s easy to see how they’re related.
Odin Sokac, a 16-year-old guitarist and singer/songwriter from Croatia, attended Band Camp for the second time this year and was assigned to the older group due to his style and maturity. He began writing songs several years ago but did not realize he was composing blues music until others told him. “When I found out it was blues, it was so amazing. I can play blues! I thought it was so hard. People had told me you cannot learn to play the blues; it just comes out of you. I was positively shocked.”
Odin described himself as “the weird kid” in school. When a teacher learned he played blues, she asked his classmates if they knew what that meant, but they guessed it was some kind of a car due to Odin’s other automotive passion. When they found out that blues is music, they asked, “How can you listen to such old music? How isn’t it boring to you?” He told them, “I don’t know; I just love it.”
At age 13, while exploring how to get his music recorded, Odin met a Croatian harp player who had been to the International Blues Festival in Memphis a few times, and that introduction led to an invitation three years in a row to play the Thrill Blues Festival, the largest of its kind in Croatia. His third year there, Odin met Davide Grandi from the European Blues Union who gave him a scholarship to attend Band Camp in 2023 and another to attend the Pinetop Perkins Workshop in 2024. Odin was also part of a large contingent of youthful Croatian musicians at the 2024 IBC. He plans to record in Los Angeles early next year with producer Fabrizio Grossi, someone he met through his fellow Band Camp participant Matt Pascale from Italy.
Although it’s apparent that Odin was already skilled in building connections, he described the opportunity to meet great people and develop a network as his top benefit from Band Camp. He encourages other young artists to attend to gain the experience of playing onstage in front of big crowds, learning blues history, and recording in the vintage studio.
Each year, professional musicians mentor the students throughout the week. This year, Earl Thomas Bridgeman and Johnny Burgin served in that role. Earl said he loves the Band Camp experience even more than performing. “All I do really is give them a few pointers here and there. I don’t tell them what to play or how to play it because they’re so enthusiastic. They’ll spend all day rehearsing.” In 2025, Jostein hopes to bring onboard the iconic Chicago bluesmen John Primer and Bob Stroger as well as award-winning old school harp player, producer, and radio show host Bob Corritore, who also owns the Rhythm Room in Phoenix.
For those interested in attending Little Steven’s Band Camp, additional information is located here for Band Camp I and here for Band Camp II.
