Biography

Ride that ‘Huckleberry Steamboat' and roll down the river from the banjo plucking snow capped mountains to the sea, snaking through the dry, dusty mallee scrub, the sun soaked towns where dirt road drifters seek the shade and the tarmac haze rises like a ritualised prayer to the rain gods!

Songs from an over idealistic imagining, from another time - about the love of fishing, pies, and sweethearts, songs of protest, underdog anthems and melancholic musings baked in a crust of roots, rock, folk, soul, and Americana.
Huckleberry Swedes, are a five piece featuring BJ Barker on drums, Sam Willoughby on bass/vocals, Richard "The Judge" Coates keyboards/accordion, Mark Elberg on guitars/banjo/mandolin/vocals and Troy Loakes on vocals/guitar.

A great live act, they play with heart, soul, and intensity, and have spent the last year criss-crossing the Eastern States, from Byron Bay Blues and Roots to Apollo Bay Festival to Gympie Music Muster, Fuse Festival, Tamworth and Robe Village Fair as well as organising their own tours.

Musical historian Glen A Baker calls Huckleberry Swedes' music “the sound of generations….stirring up from deep down”