It's been more than a decade since Ian Fisher left his home state of Missouri and moved to Europe, forever changing his life and his music.A prolific, independent songwriter who combines an international lyrical perspective and a world-traveler’s musical influences with Americana roots, Fisher has remained on the road ever since emigrating,

It's been more than a decade since Ian Fisher left his home state of Missouri and moved to Europe, forever changing his life and his music. A prolific, independent songwriter who combines an international lyrical perspective and a world-traveler’s musical influences with Americana roots, Fisher has remained on the road ever since emigrating, penning over one and a half thousand songs while also playing hundreds of concerts around Europe, North America, and Africa.

That experience fuels Fisher's latest album, a socially-conscious record that finds the expatriate looking back on a country he's left behind, remaining both skeptical about and nostalgic for a place that is no longer his only home. Inspired by the musical diversity of albums like the Beatles’ White Album or Neil Young's Harvest — records that, like Fisher's, encompass everything from acoustic, stripped-down songs to full-band performances — and the hooked-filled sonics of bands like Foxygen, this is Ian Fisher at his most dynamic.

The making of the album started when Fisher shared over 300 song demos with producer René Mühlberger (AKA Pressyes) and musicians/co-arrangers Ryan Thomas Carpenter, Andreas Laudwein, and Camillo Jenny. They then whittled that list down to their ten favorite tracks and took them to a picturesque studio in the Austrian countryside where they created a sound that roots itself in Fisher's sharp songwriting while still reaching far beyond the confines of the solo-artist world. This isn't an intimate singer-songwriter record. Instead, it builds on his Rolling Stone acclaimed 2017 release, Idle Hands, and shows not only the range of Fisher's influences, but the broad scope of his abilities.

At times, the album reads like a cautious love letter to Nashville, whose influence looms large on tracks like "Be Thankful" and "Winterwind." Elsewhere, songs such as "AAA Station" and "American Standards" shine a light on some of the political and social issues that forced him to emigrate. Even though this record finds Fisher writing with class and compelling charm about the place of his birth, there is no mistaking him for a hyper-patriotic songwriter — the title "American Standards" slyly references a toilet brand, after all.

"This is the least country-sounding album I've ever made, but I can’t deny that it's still related to that genre that I love through its lyrics and the songs' influences," says Fisher, who grew up listening to Nashville hitmakers of the 1990s and his father's vinyl collection of 1970s songwriters.  "The theme of Nashville plays into my political ideas and how I want to take back the meaning of country music for people like me. It doesn’t just belong to NRA members. Country music doesn’t need countries to exist. It's bigger than that."

It's bigger than that, indeed. Over diverse arrangements that make room for guitar, synthesizer, piano, pedal steel, and layers of vocal harmonies, Fisher sings songs about taking stock of the modern world, letting go of past grudges, listening to independent radio, and balancing the starry-eyed ideals of his 20s with the sober groundedness of his 30s. "Three Chords" delivers a potent punch with little more than an acoustic guitar and Fisher's vibrato-laced vocals, and "It Ain't Me" mixes a Wings-worthy groove with funky bass, swooning steel, and an anthemic refrain. The sadly elegant "Melody in Nashville," with its slide guitar riffs and late-night ambiance, nods to icons like George Harrison and Harry Nilsson, while the album closer, "Ghosts of the Ryman," pays tribute to the iconic Nashville venue with call-and-response vocals and a grandly cinematic outro.

An independent self-starter who handles his own management, Ian Fisher has remained inspired and busy over the years, touring far-flung cities in South Africa one minute and writing original music for a handful of theater projects (including Shakespeare productions at the Residenz Theater in Munich and Chekhov plays at the Theater in der Josefstadt in Vienna) the next. Luckily he saved some of his best work yet for this record. An album that, like the artist himself, resonates far beyond the borders of genres and countries.

Credits:

Ian Fisher - lead vocals / guitar René Mühlberger - lead guitar / bass / drums / synth / backing vocals Ryan Thomas Carpenter - piano / synth / backing vocals Camillo Jenny - drums / percussion / synth Andreas Laudwein - bass Ollie Samland - pedal steel guitar / synth Ida Wenøe - backing vocals Marlene Lacherstorfer - bass on “Melody in Nashville”

Produced & Engineered by René Mühlberger Mixed by Ben Majchrzak at Native Sound Recording Except “AAA Station” Mixed by René Mühlberger Mastered by Sam Irl Manufactured in the EU by AustroVinyl

All Songs Written by Ian Fisher Except “Be Thankful” Co-written with Sarah Clanton & “It Ain’t Me” Co-written with Adam James

Cover Photo by Andreas Jakwerth Album Layout by Ryan McArthur

Thanks to Our Friends, Families, & Fans / Jean, Brad, Morgan & The Fisher-Kraenzle Families / Donna & The Carpenter Family / Marlene Lacherstorfer / Maria, Peter, Jakob, & Christine Lenk / Sonja, Stephan, Annelies, Emanuel & Isabell Mayer / Chris & Heike Baranowsky / Palina, Linda, & Alex Stolar / Caspar, Liz, & Christoph “the dad” Baldinger / Alina Nock / Ana Kohler / Angie Mancuso / Angelika Klee / Bjørn Strømme / Carl Bonn / Chris Koether / Christine Pätzold / Daniela Tangl / Fred Tosi / Guido Weidner / Hagen Tepper / Heinz Odehnal / Helmut Stemmer / Janine Nakotte / Julia Zoephel / Justus Annika / Kathrin Willmek / Kaycia Turner / Leni Steindl / Lisa Maria Lobeck / Magdalena & David / Matthias Gaßmann / Nadja Gluch / Nina Kren / Patrick Vacek / Philipp in Europe / Philipp Haubold / Phillip Sulke / Ralph Degenkolb / Ragna & Reinhard Janssen / Ruben Schauer / Sebastian & Patrycja Król / Sophie & The Stemmer Family / Tamara Thiehoff / William Kumke

Ian Fisher is always writing and always traveling. With over a thousand songs under his belt and hundreds of concerts behind him, his new album Koffer highlights the diversity of his songwriting and captures some of the electric energy of his live performance. Koffer, which is the German word for “suitcase”, is Fisher’s most uptempo record yet

Ian Fisher is always writing and always traveling. With over a thousand songs under his belt and hundreds of concerts behind him, his new album Koffer highlights the diversity of his songwriting and captures some of the electric energy of his live performance. Koffer, which is the German word for “suitcase”, is Fisher’s most uptempo record yet with a one-of-a-kind mixture of Viennese flirtatiousness, Berliner grit, and Midwestern Country longing that only a farm-raised American boy living in Europe for the last decade can pull off. It is a collection of singles written over the last ten years and recorded over the last five. As Ian says, “A song that I can’t share feels like dead weight. Like a bag you carry around but never unpack.”

‘Nero’ was born in early 2014 when Ian brought a few dozen songs to Berlin. Before the album was done it had spilled over into three different studios, two bedrooms, andoneconcrete basement (with no toilet) in Berlin, Hamburg, and Vienna.“The album has a lot to do with the destruction of who you once were in order to become something different.”

‘Nero’ was born in early 2014 when Ian brought a few dozen songs to Berlin. Before the album was done it had spilled over into three different studios, two bedrooms, and one concrete basement (with no toilet) in Berlin, Hamburg, and Vienna. “The album has a lot to do with the destruction of who you once were in order to become something different.” Fisher explains. “I’ve really lost my Americanism, the majority of it anyway, and one of the reasons why I’ve turned back to country music is in an attempt to find a part of me that I lost.” Nero is steeped in the homegrown country and folk roots of Ian’s songwriting and shaped by a tasteful, “no fancy stuff”, German production approach. The tracks are largely lead by Fisher’s pristine voice with a consistent backdrop of close acoustic guitars and spacious piano and pedal steel guitar. Percussion is also quite present throughout the album, allowing the acoustic guitar to fall into the groove while the rhythmic burden is carried by someone else, á la Johnny Cash. Nero’s palette is broad and the variety between tracks is very rich with uncluttered and poignant arrangements that always put the songs first. Songs of a young man who has traveled so long that he is a stranger in his hometown. What’s more heroically country than that?

Ian Fisher - vocals / acoustic guitar / banjo Ryan Thomas Carpenter - piano / wurlitzer / acoustic guitar / synth / bass guitar / percussion / banjo / backing vocals Ollie Samland - pedal steel guitar / dobro / mandolin Alexia Peniguel - backing vocals Fabian Kalker - bass guitar / synth Heta Salkolahti - fiddle on "All Ya Need" Sven Fritz - fiddle on "Almost Darlin'" Harmen Ridderbos - backing vocals on "Almost Darlin'"

Produced by Fabian Kalker Co-produced by Carpenter, Samland, Peniguel, & Fisher Mixed by Hannes Bieger Mastered by Tammo Kersbergen

All Songs Written by Ian Fisher Recorded in Berlin

"These songs were recorded in a wooden and red tin cabin that my dad and I built on a farm where my grandpa Cletus worked his entire life like his father before him. The place matched the songs or maybe I should say that that place made those songs."

Ian Fisher - Ste. Genevieve, MO, USA - March 6th, 2012

released March 1, 2013

Ian Fisher - Lead

"These songs were recorded in a wooden and red tin cabin that my dad and I built on a farm where my grandpa Cletus worked his entire life like his father before him. The place matched the songs or maybe I should say that that place made those songs."

Ian Fisher - Ste. Genevieve, MO, USA - March 6th, 2012

released March 1, 2013

Ian Fisher - Lead Vocals & Guitar Ryan Thomas Carpenter - Vocals & Guitar Engineered, Mixed, & Mastered by Ben Majchrzak Produced by Majchrzak, Carpenter, & Fisher

Jarred Gastreich - Photographer Anna Kohlweis - Painter Ollie Samland - Layout

Recorded in Ste. Genevieve, MO All Songs Written by Ian Fisher