A discography spanning three decades. Five bands. Dozens of songwriting and producing credits. Countless collaborations across genres and media.

Ed Pettersen is one of those hidden gems whose music is for those who listen in the moment rather than search out music according to trends. As a performer, songwriter, musician, and producer, he has had some notable breakthroughs—visible high points, like icebergs, resting on a vast body of mostly unseen work.  The music is the work of artist for whom genre isn’t a constraint but a series of interconnected worlds.

A top-twenty-charting American artist in the early ’90s, Pettersen drew praise for his second release Somewhere South of Here, blending traditional Americana with the rocking slide-guitar sound of country radio. The tongue-in-cheek single “DWIOU” (Driving While Intoxicated on You) found its way into jukeboxes worldwide and onto country line-dance charts.

Drawing on several members of his crack NYC band the High Line Riders, he formed The Strangelys, a power-pop project fusing melodic hooks with lyrical edge. Just as momentum was really gathering, life imposed its own challenges. A serious yet mysterious illness struck, limiting his ability to perform. From there, writing, producing, and exploring the architecture of sound took center stage.

Nashville became his proving ground in 2002. There, he built a reputation as both a songwriter’s songwriter and meticulous producer, assembling what he dubbed The Great American Rhythm Section—legends from Motown and Muscle Shoals including Reggie Young, Bob Babbitt, Dave Hungate, Bobby Wood, and Ed Greene. As Pettersen explains their willingness to convene: “They liked to play with each other and I didn't tell them what to do.”

Working outside the traditional country contours of Nashville, he produced Song of America (2007), a monumental three-disc anthology chronicling American history through song. Nine years in the making, it featured a staggering array of artists, from John Mellencamp and Andrew Bird to the Blind Boys of Alabama, Old Crow Medicine Show, and the Robinson brothers of the Black Crowes.

He continued writing for himself and others, his words resonating through some of the most emotive voices in American music. Bettye LaVette's Grammy-nominated The Scene of the Crime featured his “I Guess We Shouldn't Talk About That Now,” while Candi Staton delivered his haunting “I Don't Want Anything” on her 2009 Who's Hurting Now?  Each cut reveals Pettersen's rare ability to distill complex emotions into crystalline simplicity.

An appearance at the Down on the Farm Festival in Norway became the catalyst for what many regard as his finest solo album I Curse the River of Time: A Norwegian American Tale (2013).  The songs delve into myth, folklore, and the rhythms of small-town Norwegian life. Released as a limited-edition fine-art book, it reveals secrets of Pettersen's indigenous lineage while weaving together explorations of Norwegian literature and original artwork.

Even as his roots remained in Americana storytelling, Pettersen's early love of experimental music re-emerged with Happening: A Movement in 12 Acts (2016) on ESP-Disk.  Conceived and recorded while awaiting the final proofs for I Curse the River, it marked an important shift in his career—a free jazz libretto featuring Mary Gauthier, Freedy Johnston, Cooper-Moore, and Suzy Bogguss, functioning as both protest and performance, chronicling the spirit of the 99%. 

From there, the borders dissolved entirely. Under the moniker Mad King Edmund, Pettersen embraced ambient soundscapes and experimental, abstract textures. Joined by world-class free improvisers Eddie Prévost, Frode Gjerstad, Henry Kaiser, Roger Turner, Martin Küchen, Ståle Liavik Solberg, and Ray Russell, a series of unique recordings emerged, not least of which was an entire cast improvising to the eerie, tuneful hum of the Voyager space recordings.

Under his aegis, the London Experimental Ensemble, of which he is a founding member, recorded a half-dozen albums around unique themes. The latest of which, The Child Ballads: The Final Six, saw an international cast of stars including Richard Thompson, Sivert Høyem (Madrugada), and Marissa Nadler graciously lend their voices to the ancient ballads.

Pettersen’s discography, now spanning over three decades, reads like a map of energetic invention. What ties it all together is both his instinct for storytelling and his desire to make connections.  His work ranges from touchstone albums like The New Punk Blues (2007), to the long-awaited reunion of the High Line Riders with Bumping into Nothing (2015) and Walking Home (2018) on the venerable Blue Rose label, to founding groups such as the Norwegian band The Black Country and the exploratory Nashville Electric.

Meanwhile, new chapters continue to gather form: the project Tiny Shiny Humans in 2025, created alongside Gary Goodlow and Alex Carter, and the upcoming Midnight Sons, anticipated for 2026, a collaboration with Gary Heffern of The Penetrators. As a new generation discovers his songs, there is a chance that he may yet find his way into the limelight. Yet he’s not holding his breath, he has to get on with things - he has an opera to complete and a concerto for electric guitar to realize.

Links

Ed Pettersen has appeared on:
Good Morning America
World Café
NPR
WFUV City Folk Morning
The Bob Edwards Show

contact information
e-mail theedpettersen@gmail.com


Discography (writer/artist)
Desperate Times EP (DIM Records), 1995
Somewhere South of Here (Tangible Music), 1997
Spare Bedroom (Split Rock), 2002
Desperate Times (Split Rock), 2002
Unguided Missile (Split Rock) unreleased
Two T's All E's (Split Rock), 2003
The New Punk Blues (Split Rock), 2007
Mad King Edmund (Split Rock) 2011
I Curse the River of Time (Split Rock) 2013
Nashville Electric (Edgetone) 2014
Bumping Into Nothing/The High Line Riders (Blue Rose) 2015
Orson's Folly/Nashville Electric (Edgetone) 2015
Happening:A Movement in 12 Acts (ESP Disk) 2016
The Reverend Eddie Bones (Gearbox Records) 2017
We Call All Times Soon (Split Rock) 2018
Treatise/London Experimental Ensemble (Split Rock) 2018
Interstellar Transmissions/Various Artists (Split Rock) 2018
Walking Home/The High Line Riders (Blue Rose) 2018
Music Merchants/Ed Pettersen and Andy Pitcher (Bandcamp) 2018
Live at Grimey's Records/Nashville Electric (Bandcamp) 2018
The End of the Universe/Küchen-Pettersen-Turner (Split Rock) 2018
Best True Stories/Mad King Edmund Band (Safe and Sound Recordings) 2019
Child Ballads/The London Experimental Ensemble (Split Rock) 2019
The Cooper Moore Sessions (Split Rock) 2019
Plumes of Ash in Moonlight (Split Rock) 2020
The Interloper/Massimo Magee and Ed Pettersen (Bandcamp) 2020
Child Ballads Bonus Tracks/The London Experimental Ensemble (Bandcamp) 2020
Vigeland (Split Rock Records) 2020
Collected Abstractions (Bandcamp) 2020
Plastic Oceans (Bandcamp Subscriber Exclusive) 2020
Transparency (Bandcamp) 2020
You Are Not Alone/Mad King Edmund Band (Safe and Sound Recordings) 2020
The Relativity Drones Vol. 1/E, K, T +G (Bandcamp) 2020
Velour Works on Neptune/Scott Amendola and Ed Pettersen (Bandcamp) 2020
The Relativity Drones Vol. 2/E, K, T +E (Bandcamp (2020)
The Relativity Drones Vol. 3/E, K, T   (Bandcamp (2020)
Dark Before Dark/The London Experimental Ensemble (577 Records) 2021
Installation (Bandcamp) 2021
The Problem With Livia (577 Records) 2021
Crystal Palace/Edwards-Matsui-Muscatello-Pettersen (Bandcamp) 2022
Warnings/Ed Pettersen (Bandcamp) 2023
The Black Country /Self-titled (Safe and Sound Recordings and Halden New Noise) 2023
Heroes of Space and Time/Henry Kaiser and Ed Pettersen (Bandcamp) 2023
The Weekend Away (1 track)/Henry Kaiser and Ed Pettersen (Bandcamp) 2023
World Without Tears: A Concerto in 3 Movements/Ed Pettersen (Bandcamp) 2023
Where the Wind Takes Us/Ed Pettersen (Bandcamp) 2024
Riddles Wisely Expounded/Ed Pettersen and Henry Kaiser (Bandcamp) 2024
3 Uneasy Pieces/The London Experimental Ensemble (Bandcamp Exclusive) 2024
Bring On the Whales/Ed Pettersen (Bandcamp Exclusive) 2024

Discography (artist/contributor)
For Anyone Who's Listening - A Tribute
to Uncle Tupelo (Rare Earth) 2003
Hoss: A Tribute (Various Artists) 2004

Discography (other)
The Best of the Del Lords (Restless), 1999
How Many Bands Does It Take to Screw Up a Blondie Tribute? (Sympathy for the Record Industry) 2002
JBs All Stars Meet the Funk Brothers, 2005

Producer credits
Desperate Times (Ed Pettersen), 1995
Somewhere South (Ed Pettersen), 1997
Liz Graham (Liz Graham), 1998
Pieces (Denny Blake), 2001
Spare Bedroom (The Strangelys), 2002
Makeshift Valentine (Rosasharn), 2003
Two T's All E's (Ed Pettersen), 2003
Unguided Missile (Ed Pettersen-Unreleased)
Hoss: A Tribute 2004 (Various)
The New Punk Blues (Ed Pettersen), 2007
Saving Grace (Scott Kempner), 2007
The Song of America Project (Various) 2007
Summer's Here (Jeff Scott Roberson) 2008
My Favorite Waste of Time (Freedy Johnston), 2008
Our Little Secret (Alice Marie) 2011
Mad King Edmund (self titled) 2011
Adrian Krygowski EP 2012
I Curse the River of Time (Ed Pettersen) 2013
The Giuseppi Logan Project (Giuseppi Logan) 2012
...And They Were Cool (Giuseppi Logan) 2013
Nashville Electric (Nashville Electric) 2014
Bumping Into Nothing (The High Line Riders) 2015
Orson's Folly (Nashville Electric) 2015
Happening:A Movement in 12 Acts (Various) 2016
The Reverend Eddie Bones (Mad King Edmund and Cooper Moore) 2017
Errery/Onin Verz Imprint 2017
We Call All Times Soon/Henry Kaiser and Ed Pettersen (Split Rock) 2018
Treatise/London Experimental Ensemble (Split Rock) 2018
Interstellar Transmissions/Various Artists (Split Rock) 2018
Walking Home/The High Line Riders (Blue Rose) 2018
Music Merchants/Ed Pettersen and Andy Pitcher (Bandcamp) 2018
Live at Grimey's Records/Nashville Electric (Bandcamp) 2018
The End of the Universe/Küchen-Pettersen-Turner (Split Rock) 2018
Best True Stories/Mad King Edmund Band (Safe and Sound Recordings) 2019
Child Ballads/The London Experimental Ensemble (Split Rock) 2019
The Cooper Moore Sessions (Split Rock) 2019
Plumes of Ash in Moonlight (Split Rock) 2020
The Dukes of Bedford/John Russell, Olie Brice, Henry Kaiser, Ray Russell (Balance Point Acoustics) 2020
The Interloper/Massimo Magee and Ed Pettersen (Bandcamp) 2020
Child Ballads Bonus Tracks/The London Experimental Ensemble (Bandcamp) 2020
Vigeland/Ed Pettersen (Split Rock Records) 2020
Collected Abstractions/Ed Pettersen (Bandcamp) 2020
Every Leaf/Wadada Leo Smith and Tania Chen  (Bandcamp) 2020
Plastic Oceans (Bandcamp Subscriber Exclusive) 2020
Transparency (Bandcamp) 2020
You Are Not Alone/Mad King Edmund Band (Safe and Sound Recordings) 2020
The Relativity Drones Vol. 1/E, K, T +G (Bandcamp) 2020
Velour Works on Neptune/Scott Amendola and Ed Pettersen (Bandcamp) 2020
The Relativity Drones Vol. 2/E, K, T +E (Bandcamp (2020)
The Relativity Drones Vol. 3/E, K, T   (Bandcamp (2020)
The Secret Handshake of Danger/Brice-Golding-Kaiser-Moore-Prevost (577 Records) 2021
Dark Before Dark/The London Experimental Ensemble (577 Records) 2021
Installation (Bandcamp) 2021
The Problem With Livia (577 Records) 2021
Crystal Palace/Edwards-Matsui-Muscatello-Pettersen (Bandcamp) 2022
Warnings/Ed Pettersen (Bandcamp) 2023
The Black Country /Self-titled (Safe and Sound Recordings and Halden New Noise) 2023
The Secret Handshake of Danger/Prevost-Golding-Kaiser-Moore-Brice Vol. 2  (577 Records) 2023
Heroes of Space and Time/Henry Kaiser and Ed Pettersen (Bandcamp) 2023
The Weekend Away (1 track)/Henry Kaiser and Ed Pettersen (Bandcamp) 2023
World Without Tears: A Concerto in 3 Movements/Ed Pettersen (Bandcamp) 2023
Where the Wind Takes Us/Ed Pettersen (Bandcamp) 2024
Riddles Wisely Expounded/Ed Pettersen and Henry Kaiser (Bandcamp) 2024
3 Uneasy Pieces/The London Experimental Ensemble (Bandcamp Exclusive) 2024
Bring On the Whales/Ed Pettersen (Bandcamp Exclusive) 2024

Film
Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey
Orson's Folly original recording score for the Orson Welles silent film "Four Men on a Raft"
Collected Abstractions live score for the animated film
Transparency live score for the silent film

Mastering
Grizzly Man (Richard Thompson), vinyl mastering for the score of the Werner Herzog film
Playing a Part (Mike Crowder)
Errery (Onin)
Roscoe Wilson-4 song EP
Five Times Surprise (self-titled)
Gravity, Let's Go! (Artistic Differences)
My Permanent Record (Mike Crowder)
The Secret Handshake of Danger (Brice-Golding-Kaiser-Moore-Prevost)
The Interloper (Massimo Magee and Ed Pettersen)
The Dukes of Bedford (John Russell, Olie Brice, Henry Kaiser, Ray Russell)
At Iklectik (N.O. Moore and Eddie Prevost)
Crystal Palace (Edwards-Matsui-Muscatello-Pettersen)
Warnings (Ed Pettersen)
Cosmic End Time Secrets (Anthony Pirog and Henry Kaiser)
Heroes of Space and Time (Henry Kaiser and Ed Pettersen)