Rune Walle

Norwegian guitarist and songwriter from Bergen, Hordaland. Internationally best known for his stint with The Ozark Mountain Daredevils. Rune Eugen Walle (born 2 November 1951) is a Norwegian musician known as a member of a number of bands; among others the country rock bands Flying Norwegians, Hole In the Wall and the American band The Ozark Mountain Daredevils. Walle's musical life began when he got a guitar at the age of nine. He learned "Oppi fjellveien" and visited NRK's offices in Bergen in the hope of being let in, and he got it. Walle eventually discovered Bob Dylan, he made a harmonica stand in the basement and was called Bergens unge Dylan by Bergens Arbeiderblad. He was a member of a number of local rock bands before he joined Manger Folkehøgskule towards the end of the 60s, where he met Nina Johansen. Rune and Nina started playing together, and chose a contemporary expression with acoustic guitar, sitar and two-part singing. One of the songs they rehearsed was a ballad entitled "Mother Nature", written by Hans-Jørgen Høines. It was with this song that the duo - who called themselves Oriental Sunshine - won "Talent 69" in NRK with. Together with a third member; an Indian named Satnam Singh - whom they had met at the art and craft school - they made the record "Dedicated to the Bird We Love" and two singles, both released in 1969. The trio was also noticed outside Norway's borders, among other things they were mentioned in the American industry magazine Billboard. But then Satnam was expelled from the country and Nina moved back to her hometown Skien. Their album was reissued on CD and LP by Pan Records in 1991, and in England it was released by Sunbeam in 2006. The next project for Rune was the country rock band Hole In the Wall - which he started together with Trygve Thue and Erik Moll (at the time His name was Møll). They lived together in a collective at Bønes, and made a ground-breaking album released in 1972, before the members went their separate ways. After this, Walle followed Thue into a new version of Saft. Together with fiddler Sigbjørn Bernhoft Osa, they played on Ragnarock, and some of the songs from the collaboration were included on what was to become Saft's last studio album, "Stev, Sull, Rock og Rull". For the album, the band received a Spellmann prize. At the turn of the year 1973–1974, Walle, together with Cato Sanden, among others, was in a new band. The quintet went to Denmark and settled in an annex in an old castle. Where the guys were doing long poker nights and a lot of practice, they didn't think about money, and at times they had no food. In 1974 came their debut album; "New Day". Their second album "Wounded Bird" is seen as a milestone in Norwegian rock. The American label A&M Records considered releasing it in the US, but it never got beyond the test pressing. But Walle later released records on the label, as guitarist in the American country rock band The Ozark Mountain Daredevils. He was discovered by the band during a visit to Bergen in the spring of 1976. Rune was suddenly mentioned in all the country's newspapers and weekly magazines; because it was sensational that an American band wanted a Norwegian guitarist in the line-up. Rune therefore went with them to the USA, even though he did not know what he was doing. Rune had no guarantee that this would work, but quickly discovered that the band consisted of fine people. The first gig with Ozark was at a club in Oklahoma, while the second was at a football stadium in Kansas City, in front of 50,000 people. Rune stayed in the USA for six years, and participated in a total of four records by Ozark Mountain Daredevils. Rune has been in Norway since 1982, and among other things was the leader of the band The Kamikazes, and resumed work with Hole In the Wall, Saft and Flying Norwegians. Married to Gunn Alstadhaug.