Close To Home is an international Bluegrass/Americana band from the north of the Netherlands, which exclusively makes acoustic music. Their repertoire consists of uptempo hard driving and high lonesome bluegrass songs, and melodic own songs.

The years of experience of the band members give this group a solid and unique sound. All band members have gained a lot of musical experience in former Dutch bands, and several members have performed at home and abroad with well-known musicians in the Bluegrass scene. The band performs at home and abroad on various stages and festivals.

The two duos that together form Take Four are old friends in the bluegrass scene. Decades of experience on European stages are now united in a new band.

Their varied repertoire consists of traditional and modern bluegrass, mixed with some jazz and swing and grassified pop songs. This is brought with a lot of joy, a solid professional stage performance, beautiful harmonies, brilliant solos and above all a decent dose of humor!

The Shiny Moonlit Boys are a tradtional bluegrass band from The Netherlands. They are inspired by early bluegrass pioneers like Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, The Stanley Brothers, Jim & Jesse and many more.

The band name is a mix-up of the famous phrase 'Blue Moon Of Kentucky Keep On Shining', plus Moonshine whiskey, plus the lead singer's (and actual Voorthuizen resident) Sebastiaans Lit's last name. 'Lit' also happens to be slang for 'a little drunk', which refers back to the Moonshine.

Despite their name, The Shiny Moonlit Boys perform sober. Founding members Sebastiaan Lit and Gijsbert Diteweg started this group after they first met at La Roche Bluegrass Festival in the French Alps,back in 2018. Mountain Music from the Low Lands!

Portrait is a music band from Czech Republic, and was founded in 2002. The members are bonded together by their interest in various genres of music. All members have played in other bands before they met.

Two members of Portrait took part at Kentucky Fried Chicken Bluegrass Music Festival in 1983 and played in New York and Nashville as well. Before 1989 Portrait members often played in East Germany.

American bluegrass music had a great impact on the evolution of Portrait’s musical style. Among artists who particularly influenced the band are Earl Scruggs, Pete Wernick, the Krüger Brothers, Tony Trischka and Claire Lynch.

The band took part at EWOB 2007, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2017 in theNetherlands and at La Roche Bluegrass Festival 2016 in France. They also performed at various music clubs.

Stringtime is a Dutch bluegrass band founded in 2010, playing regularly at festivals in and outside of The Netherlands, but also at small gatherings. Stringtime has a varied repertoire, with fast and slow bluegrass songs.

Stringtime offers their audience a concert with a variety of music and can be seen on stage in different line-ups.

Long Way Home is a bluegrass and roots music duo currently based in County Cork, Ireland. While drawing from experience in bluegrass and American-roots music, their diverse repertoire ranges from traditional bluegrass favorites to original folk songs based on real-life experiences as international explorers. Long Way Home has been heavily influenced by duos like Skaggs & Rice, Chatham Rabbits and Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley.

Owen Schinkel (The Netherlands) and Kylie Kay Anderson (Utah, USA) met in Johnson City, Tennessee while studying in the Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Country Music Studies program at East Tennessee State University. Through their experiences, they both gained a deep interest in the international bluegrass music scene.

After completing their studies Owen and Kylie decided to relocate to Ireland to learn, experience music abroad and to become inspired by new music genres. The Long Way Home duo is the result of their inspiration and experiences.

Brzdari was established in the autumn of 1972, but bandleader Zdenek Lebeda is the only eyewitness left of this starting era. Playing folk music in the early years and country music later, in 1999 the band changed to bluegrass music.

The repertoire consists of original material, some also with Czech lyrics, and the band takes inspiration from their most favorite bands, The Country Gentlemen, The Seldom Scene and Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver.

Brzdari played at many festivals throughout Europe and have released 8 albums.

The Belgian bluegrass band Rawhide has built a solid reputation in the European bluegrass scene since 1977! Every time again they astonish their audiences with their groundbreaking arrangements in which they combine pop, classic, swing, barbershop and other styles in their bluegrass repertoire.

With the typical instruments banjo, mandolin, fiddle, dobro, guitar and bass and the vocal harmonies they will charm all from 7 till 77. An optimal combination of tasteful instrumental and vocal virtuosity with a thick layer of humour on top, both during and between the music.
With Rawhide you can expect the unexpected.

So now fasten your seatbelts. Here comes Rawhide!

The Vacuum Ball Band was originally formed in fall 2016 as an old time trio including guitar played by Bara Preisslerova, our lead singer, Zdenek Roh on banjo and vocals and Vojta Nosek on fiddle and vocals.

During the year 2018 we have decided to make this old time trio rock a little bit, so the bass fiddle played by Blanka Preisslerova, and drums by Milan Polreich were added. During the corona pandemic Milan, the drum player, had to leave the band to focus on his own business. This fact made us think in a more acoustic way again.

In music, there are so many gaps to be filled with creative new sounds and songs-to-be-written, and it makes us lean to the motto: “Where there is a Vacuum, we have a Ball”

Janis McCoury is a bluegrass/americana band from the north of the Netherlands. The music this band brings to you ranges from hard driving and high lonesome bluegrass songs to melodic singer/songwriter music. The band plays cover songs as well as original material.

Hanny Hill & Blue Night is a Germany based contemporary bluegrass band, founded in 2012 in Cologne. Front girl Hanny Hill is a natural born rock singer with a powerful and unique singing style.

The guys put together a high energy band sound with some solid bluegrass numbers and good stuff they really love - bluegrass from the churches to the jails.

Red Herring is knee deep in the roots tradition, while firmly rooted in modern times. Whether it be folk, bluegrass, country or americana, the Herrings can make their home in any of these styles. Red Herring shares musical stories, age-old traditional tunes, original compositions, flaming improvized solo breaks, intense vocal harmonies and an open and honest atmosphere in which audience members can feel free to be emotionally moved or just have fun.

What started out in 2012 as a duo with Arthur Deighton (Deighton Family Band, Kids on the Mountain) and Joram Peeters (Meilof, Throat Wobbler Mangrove) quickly became a trio after they asked Loes van Schaijk (Waterflow, Lucy & The Man) to be a guest musician on their first studio album, The Mountain Valley Sessions (2013).

At the time of their second album, Live At Volver (2014), the three musicians and their instruments — including an 1.80 meters long double bass and a 2 metres tall fiddle player — got around in a Ford Focus. But who would have thought that they would be able to fit a fourth multi-instrumentalist into that car? As had happened with Loes before him, Dutch bluegrass legend Paul van Vlodrop (who has shared the stage with the likes of Byron Berline, Bill Keith, and Vince Gill in his 40 year track record as a musician) was originally hired as a guest musician for Red Herring’s third album Here To Distract You but decided to stick around. Now that’s what you call a good catch, right?

The Road Brothers are a three piece band based in Clennen, which is close to the more
famous Bockelwitz in an area called Muldental. It is only here where you can find the
exceptional artists needed for a project like this. The Road Brothers play hits from the
eighties wrapped in a bluegrass style, it is a very good concept that no other known band could manage to live up to.

It is not easy to say since when they exist. Some say, the Road Brothers have always been around, but there are also rumours that they appear from a multidimensional portal just exactly when they are needed. Their show is a spontanous mix of very good music, comedy and a slice of nonsense. With their wierd sense of humor everything is possible but a styled Bluegrass Concert. The Road Brothers are sparkling, they are fresh and trashy, they are fantastic. Go to the show!

Flastr, from Mladá Boleslav, was established in the spring of 2009. The band plays acoustic and bluegrass music and their repertoire mostly consists of songs by the best American bluegrass bands, sometimes with Czech lyrics written by Jan Raclavský. The originality of female vocalist Hanka Černá adds to the folk touch and therefor Flastr’s music is called POETIC BLUEGRASS.

Flastr plays in clubs and on festivals all over the Czech Republic and also abroad, for example at EWOB in the Netherlands and La Roche Bluegrass festival in France.

In the future Flastr will work on further developing the band’s sound and repertoire, creating original material and above all bringing pleasure to a growing audience by playing good music.

Music is not something that can be done only in a certain way. Poa Pratensis have their own style of bluegrass. The attitude of the five individuals is what defines their music today and is sure to evolve over the coming years. It is influenced by the life and culture in Hungary, pop and rock music, amongst others and of course it has its roots in bluegrass music. For them, bluegrass music is not a job that has to be done, but something that they have to find themselves in.

Poa Pratensis comes from Hungary, a country that has nearly no bluegrass life at all. With only 2 or 3 bluegrass bands moving around within the country, even a 13 year old band seems to be an established part of the scene. They keep themselves busy running the annual International Bluegrass and Acoustic Music Festival in Abaliget and the monthly Acoustic Club in Budapest to do their part to make the music more popular.

Tennessee Studs consists of a Canadian, three Dutchmen and a Swede.
They’ve been making music together since 1999. All Studs sing their songs straight from the heart. All Studs claim varied musical influences, ranging from bluegrass to folk, pop, rock, and jazz. They like to call their music Amsterdam Americana. It’s all about folky, funky and freaky Americana.

Tennessee Studs have played varied stages both at home and in the US. They have played jailhouses, churches, festivals, honkytonks, concert halls, rock venues, dive bars and hipster coffee joints. They have toured many times with their friends Whiskey Puppy from Portland, Oregon, including the West Coast of the US, from San Francisco to Seattle. Just a few months before lockdown, they toured Alaska from Anchorage to Homer to McCarthy.

The main mission of the band Milkeaters is to spread good mood, not only through music, but also with individual humor. The most important thing is the energy and passion they want to convey to their audience.

Founded in the spring of 2015, today the Milkeaters bring together four Czech bluegrass musicians looking for their true sound. Although most of the Milkeaters had been around the Czech bluegrass scene for several years, it wasn’t until their first rehearsal in the eponymous town of Mlékojedy that any of them played together in a band.

The band usually performs at festivals around the Czech Republicand in Europe, at clubs and in the streets of Prague as well. The band was nominated European bluegrass band of the year 2021 at La Roche festival in France. David Benda won champion of the World Virtual Bluegrass Banjo Contest 2020. Also in 2020 Milkeaters released their first CD

Endless Road is an East Slovak music group founded in 2019. Their repertoire consists mainly of original songs, but also bluegrass covers. The ambition is to succeed in the domestic and international bluegrass scene and to prove that bluegrass has its fan base in eastern Slovakia as well.

The band was scheduled to play at the La Roche Bluegrass Festival, but the festival was canceled due to covid restrictions. They performed mainly at Slovak folk, country and bluegrass festivals.

Their first album release is planned for 2022, which will consist mainly of original compositions.

Among the most experienced musicians of the French bluegrass scene, Watson Bridge chose its name in memory of Doc Watson. The band’s repertoire highlights the outstanding poetry of famous present folksingers such as Gillian Welch, Darrell Scott, Peter Rowan and Sarah Jarosz, along with the classic authors. The band’s complicity, their spirit and virtuosity, the diversity of their repertoire, their search for detailed arrangements and tight vocal harmonies are always respectful to the feeling of each song.

Since 2010, Watson Bridge’s concerts have always been dynamic and hearty. The band is experienced in all stages, and has already made multiple appearances at the great European Bluegrass festivals La Roche (2012, 2016 and 2021) and EWOB (2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019).

In 2020, Orion, the band's first album, got excellent reviews from French bluegrass critics and lovers.

Bluegrass Cwrkot was founded in 1989. First they played mostly songs of the Czech bluegrass scene stars and later they were heavily inspired by overseas bands which were standing at the birth of bluegrass in the USA.

Their repertoire is a mix of original material and famous bluegrass songs, but also a lot of nearly forgotten songs.

Bluegrass Cwrkot has been a regular member of the Banjo Jamboree festival during the last 25 years and can be heard on many festivals and club shows which have a connection to bluegrass music. The band played abroad for the first time in 1992 in Germany and since then they have played in Switzerland, Poland, Belgium, Norway, Netherlands as well as Slovakia.

The band has won the Audience Popularity Award at the 2008 EWOB festival. Bluegrass Cwrkot has released 7 CDs

The Hogranch play a range of bluegrass and americana with self penned numbers forming a significant part of what they are about. They have been together for about 10 years and have performed at most of the UK’s bluegrass festivals in their time.

Keith Howard caught the Bluegrass bug after attending The Didmarton Bluegrass Festival meeting Sean and Bob at various jams. ‘…I guess when you run into someone with an identical record collection you either marry them or start a band with them, I’ve done both….’

The band visited the USA together where they got to play in the Rockygrass band competition. They currently have a CD called ‘Riden Hard and Put Away Wet’, containing mostly original material written by the band.

The Oldtime Stringband conquered England, California and Belgium with their distinctive sound. But the men and women of this five-piece band have their roots in the cold soil of Hoorn and Amsterdam. And luckily they come back to play on their own familiar soil, because here too their audience knows where to find them. Not surprising, because with their mix of bluegrass, oldtime and americana they make a picture of every concert.

An interplay of guitar, fiddle, guitar, banjo, mandolin, double bass, four voices and, in addition, the voice of singer Shelly O'Day, makes the varied but certainly recognizable sound of the band. A mix of traditionals, own songs and a number of covers form the repertoire in which the vocals naturally play an important role.

Sunny Side is a Czech music band that plays an authentic interpretation of traditional bluegrass from the 40s and 50s of the 20th century, which is made clear by the choice of songs, costumes and the tuning of the band. The show is not only about the music, sense of humor and fun competitions are definitely part of its agenda.

The band started in August 1997 and during its existence released several CDs. Sunny Side plays at music festivals, in music halls and clubs throughout the Czech Republic and also in Europe. On the international level they have received several prestige awards. The band’s motto is: ”We play bluegrass for people!”

The Original Five is a bluegrass band from Malmö, Sweden. Since they were formed in 2010 they’ve played several hundred gigs in Sweden, Europe and USA and released four albums. They also released a collaborative album with Swiss chamber orchestra Barock Nordwest: Classic Meets Folk (2021).

Their records have received very good reviews in, among others, Bluegrass Unlimited and Bluegrass Today. In 2015 the band was invited to play The Bluegrass Ramble at IBMA’s World of Bluegrass in Raleigh, NC, which they did with great success. At the European World of Bluegrass 2016 they were voted #2 in the audience popularity awards.

The band celebrated their tenth anniversary at Victoriateatern in Malmö in October 2020 with a show that is available in its full length at YouTube (see link below).

The band has traditional bluegrass instrumentation. The basis of the music is classic bluegrass but they are not a retro band. Inside the traditional framework you can hear lots of different influences spanning from early jazz, Swedish folk and classic and contemporary country, not least in the band’s own songwriting. Aside from the band’s own songwriting you can always expect to catch a healthy dose of classic bluegrass and country songs.