Lars Nagel – “Old Photographs”
Americana Highways presents this premiere of Lars Nagel’s song “Old Photographs” from his forthcoming album Tomorrow Never Knows, due to be released on December 8. The album was produced by Daniel Groover (Snoop Dog, Toni Braxton) Diane Coll and Lars Nagel; recorded and mixed by Daniel Groover at Blue Door Studio in Atlanta.
“Old Photographs” is Lars Nagel on lead vocals and acoustic guitar; Andrew Vickery on pedal steel and Diane Coll on backing vocals.
This song recounts a trip across the ocean from Sweden to Los Angeles that the young musician took with his father in the mid 70’s, a decade before ultimately more permanently relocating to the US. Listen and flow with the tender, loving song and its arrangement that carries that feeling with bright strings and echoey pedal steel. “747 touching down, a long way from Stockholm.” Now that his father has passed on, the nostalgia here is doubled and the result is quite lovely.
I was born in Sweden, and the first time I came to the States, I was just a kid tagging along on a business trip with my Dad. It was in March of 1976—I’ve still got the airline tickets. “Old Photographs” recounts that first journey. People always ask me, ‘How did you end up in America?’ And the experience of that trip is constantly in the back of my mind. We took a print of the airline ticket, and it’s on the Tomorrow Never Knows CD art—it says “Stockholm, Copenhagen, LAX 1976” on it. I thought it was a cool little added touch to the record. When we came to L.A. that first time, Elvis was playing at The Forum—we didn’t go to the show, but we did go to Disneyland, which I loved.
My Dad passed away a few years back, and “Old Photographs” is a tribute to him. It was a beautiful thing, what he did for me on that trip. So I wanted to document the experience, which was a big part of what ultimately led me to move to America. From that first time I set foot on American soil in 1976, I knew that someday I’d move here. Though it didn’t happen until 1987, when I moved to California, so it was a long time in between.
“Old photographs is written from a very pure, childlike perspective, from a kid’s point of view, coming from a very snowy, dark and cold land in March where we have snow up to the windows… to renting a Pinto at LAX and cruising down Hollywood Boulevard under the palm trees. It was like wow—and there’s this place called Disneyland? And I get pancakes with syrup? Are you kidding me? Are you out of your mind? In Sweden it’s a Bjorn Borg breakfast—you chop up wasa bread in sour milk and you eat like a damn viking. But in America, I get a stack of pancakes, Saturday morning cartoons and Elvis at the Forum. With “Old Photographs,” I wanted to document the reason why I’m still here today—what’s left of those visions. – Lars
Find more music and follow Lars on Bandcamp here: https://larsnagel.bandcamp.com