If you got it you got it. It’s that simple. And some just got a bigger bite of musical talent than others.
When listening to the songs of Buford Pope it’s a fact hard to deny. His unique voice and undisputable talent for solid melodies put him along the best contemporary singers and songwriters around.
Buford Pope a.k.a. Mikael Liljeborg was born in 1971 on Gotland, a Swedish limestone island in the Baltic Sea. With a small population and isolated from mainland of Sweden, the world of music soon became an inspiring and mindopening resort for him.
As for many musicians and artists before him discovering Bob Dylan was a milestone. “I was 15 years old and was totally blown away by his attitude, he sang like no one else I’ve heard before.”
Through Mr. Zimmerman he soon learned to love the songs of other related storytellers – like Neil Young, Tom Petty, Jackson Browne, Robert Johnson and Bruce Springsteen.
In 1992 he took his bags and moved to Helsingborg, a coastal town in the south of Sweden. But making music wasn’t the first thing on his mind. Far from it.
“Frankly, I was quite a peddler. I made a living out of buying and selling just about everything I got my hands on – furniture, tools, jeans, shirts, Christmas trees, you name it.”
Later, he and a friend set up a business selling used luxury cars, which immediately turned out to be a success. Work was good. Money too. And why change a winning concept?
In beginning of 2001, he broke up with his girlfriend (they later got back together).
“When that happened, I went through a period of constant reflection and introspection.”
One day he decided to buy himself a guitar.
“Sitting there, with my first complete song – releasing all those feelings I had inside – was an amazing sensation. It felt just like salvation. A musical salvation.”
Everything took off from then on. The songs just bursted out, and the thought of recording them became more and more intrusive. In the spring of 2001, he began searching the telephone catalogue for recording studios nearby. The first he set his eyes on was called YLA studios in Malmö, a half an hour drive from Helsingborg. A few days later he hooked up with the owner, played a couple of songs and told him about the plans. He and Amir Aly, the owner and producer, immediately connected and two months later they began to produce Buford Pope’s first album.
The self-titled record was ready in the beginning of 2002, and it didn’t take long before Danish record company, Sand, wanted to cut a deal. The record was released soon after and received quite a lot of good reviews, as well as spins on Danish national radio. The success inspired him. From this point on he knew: music was his business.