Kruger Brothers

bluegrass

The Kruger Brothers are a bluegrass and American folk trio made up of banjoist Jens Kruger, born in 1962, guitarist Uwe Kruger, born in 1961, and bassist Joel Landsberg, born in 1959. The Swiss-born brothers began playing together as children in 1973, busking across Europe before gaining regular airtime on Swiss public radio, and built a following there that carried more than 250 shows a year. Landsberg joined during the 1990s to complete the trio, and the group made its American debut at MerleFest in Wilkesboro, North Carolina in 1997. The reception there led to steady United States touring, and by 2003 all three had settled permanently in Wilkes County, North Carolina, the region that produced Doc Watson, who called them about as fine a band as he had ever played with. Their music draws bluegrass together with European classical and folk phrasing, with Chet Atkins, Watson and Bill Monroe as acknowledged influences. They have released more than twenty-five albums on their own independent label, among them Up 18 North in 2002, the classically inflected Appalachian Concerto in 2011 and Roan Mountain Suite in 2017, and they perform regularly with symphony orchestras in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia. Jens Kruger received the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass Music in 2013, following an appearance with Steve Martin on the Late Show with David Letterman, and has been inducted into the Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame in 2011 and the American Banjo Museum Hall of Fame in 2021; he also works with the Deering Banjo Company on instrument design and became a United States citizen in January 2025. The trio received an NEA Artistic Excellence Award in 2007, and both brothers are honorary North Carolina citizens.

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