Billy Jones

Sláinte Slàinte play Irish, Scottish, and American folk music, mixed in with country, blues, and rock, as well as their own original song compositions. The singer and guitarist in the band is the Scottish singer/songwriter Billy Jones. He has been living and working in Sweden since the early 1990s but already had a long career in Scotland behind him. The core group consists of Billy Jones and fiddle player Jonas Liljeström. Depending on the venue, their duo line-up can and has been augmented with other musicians playing mandolin, banjo, accordion, drums, and bass. Slàinte have played literally thousands of gigs in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland. On the way, they have established themselves as one of the most popular bands in The Dubliner and other establishments in Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Stockholm, and Malmö. They have also done several highly successful shows at the Edinburgh International Festival Fringe. Billy has also released a considerable number of records (vinyl and CD) under his own name. This band is perfectly suited to shows in clubs, pubs, company parties, and wedding and birthday parties, as well as libraries, art centres, and festival stages. History Slàinte is a Gaelic word meaning "health" or, more popularly, "cheers/skål." The group Slàinte began life in Sweden in the early 1990s as Billy and the Boys, and the founder Billy Jones has worked since then in a changing constellation of excellent musicians. With himself and Jonas Liljeström on fiddle, the band is now basically a duo which can be augmented, depending on the venue, with banjo, guitar, mandolin, accordion, percussion, and/or drums. Their latest in a series of records, “Roy on the Hill,” features Billy's own songs with this line-up, as well as duo pieces. The musical style is based on Celtic and American folk, roots music - played with a rocky beat and always with feeling. They have performed three times, with great success, at the prestigious Edinburgh Festival. The members Guitarist, singer, songwriter Billy Jones began playing in rock/pop bands in the early 1960s. Born in Edinburgh, he grew up nearby in Bathgate, a small town in the Scottish Lowlands where, as a young teenager, he worked with various school bands. At university and afterwards, he continued playing rockabilly, rock'n'roll, and blues - then, as his musical tastes widened, Celtic roots and American folk/country music. After years and thousands of gigs throughout Europe and the USA, several LPs, singles, and CDs, he moved to Sweden. Resident there, he has established himself as a worker in song - recording original material and playing countless numbers of shows in Scandinavia and, of course, back home in Scotland. Jonas Liljeström (fiddle) was born in Kungälv on the west coast of Sweden in 1973. He grew up in a music-loving family and learned to appreciate various folk music traditions at an early age, and in the early 90s, he started playing the fiddle on a professional level. He is proficient in many different musical styles, including Nordic, Jewish, Romani, British and Irish folk music, jazz, blues, bluegrass, klezmer, and various kinds of East European folk music. Video clips from some of Sláinte's concerts can be seen here. Music examples from Sláinte's debut album are here. A gallery is here. Press photos can be downloaded below. DSC06072.jpg 3.1 MB DSC06089.jpg 3.7 MB A full-length video from a concert at Varberg Theatre, Sweden, on July 15, 2020, can be seen here. Streaming concert! On August 23, 2020, Sláinte gave a streaming concert organized by Soundino Music. It is archived in its entirety here. Enjoy!