Sweden’s Cadillac Band returns to Chattanooga

Back in their native Sweden, The Cadillac Band is big. Fans flock to see them perform their particular brand of ’50s and ’60s rock ’n’ roll and rockabilly standards, often traveling with the group wherever they play, whether it’s in a bar across town or a couple of hours away.

They’ll even hop on a plane to tour the United States with the band. And I’m not talking about just a few folks. On Saturday, Aug. 13, the TCB tour of the U.S. will stop in Chattanooga for a show in the formal gardens at the Chattanooga Choo Choo. All 85 or so people.

That group will be in the states for about three weeks, stopping and playing in Nashville and Jackson, Tenn., and eventually making their way north through Virginia to New York before heading home. Another group of about 50 will then come over from Sweden and visit the same cities as the first, but in reverse.

“Everybody wants to come to Chattanooga,” says Ulf Nillson, the band’s drummer/tour guide/spokesman and leader.

The band will play at several places along the way, always for free.

“Any money we do get we give to a local charity,” Nillson says. “We don’t want to take anything away from local musicians.”

He says they also encourage the fans traveling with them to spend as much as they can in

the local shops and restaurants along the way.

They’ll do a 90- minute set featuring special guest Billy Burnette, who played guitar with Fleet wood Mac from Barry Courter 1987 to 1995, and later with John Fogerty.

“He’ll do four or five songs, including a John Fogerty song and some Elvis songs,” Nillson says.

Elvis is a big deal to TCB, as the name might suggest. The King’s former drummer DJ Fontana actually suggested it as a name for the group. Elvis was fond of the initials, an acronym for “taking care of business,” which he and his employees adopted as their motto. And he liked Cadillacs.

The group has even helped put together a museum called the TCB House of Music in Floda, Sweden, featuring instruments and memorabilia from Presley and musicians who played with him. The house itself is a replica of Presley’s Tupelo, Miss., birthplace.

There is also memorabilia from artists such as Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis.

The TCB U.S. tours started a decade ago and Nillson says they are already booking people for next year. Nillson’s next goal is to create some sort of exchange program, with people from here doing a similar tour in Sweden.