Doug Seegers

A street musician on a Nashville park bench was an unlikely candidate for Swedish chart success, yet that is where Doug Seegers's story turned. Born on Long Island around 1952, the American country guitarist and songwriter had played in New York, Austin and upstate New York before going to Nashville alone. There he played the streets and became a regular at The Little Pantry That Could, a West Nashville charity with songwriter nights, while living as a homeless musician.

In December 2012 the Nashville singer-songwriter Aaron Espe posted a clip of him singing "Going Down to the River", but it drew little notice. The breakthrough came in March 2014, when Jill Johnson, filming her Swedish series Jills veranda, heard him on a park bench and invited him to record the song in Johnny Cash's old studio. Swedish listeners embraced it: the track topped the iTunes chart there for twelve consecutive days. His debut album, released on Lionheart Music Group in May 2014, featured Emmylou Harris and Buddy Miller, reached number one in Sweden and was certified gold. A joint album with Johnson, In Tandem, followed in March 2015.