About me

Singer Katja Kruit has American roots and learned to play dobro in the USA. She fell in love with the sound of this slide guitar, which gives country and bluegrass music a warm, resonant tone. She taught herself the basics and attended workshops with great 'dobroists' such as Rob Ickes and Sally van Meter, and met her hero, dobro king Jerry Douglas.

 

The songs on her debut album “Live A Little More” talk about loss, finding yourself, and the desire to live life at its fullest - whatever happens. They automatically became country songs: that was the musical language that came out of her. Inspired by Bonnie Raitt, Dolly Parton and the Chicks, she writes country songs with a hint of bluegrass and blues. From intimate and vulnerable to happy sing-alongs.

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Katja's mission is to further spread her love for country and bluegrass - and of course dobro and lap steel guitar. Since the release of her album at the end of 2023, she has made a name for herself as a singing dobroist, from her hometown Delft to festivals in Drenthe and Limburg to the international press.

 

She performs in many different formations: solo, duo, trio or with a full country band, accompanied by Arthur Deighton (mandolin, guitar), Joost Abbel (guitar, pedal steel), Jean-Paul Joosten (double bass), Ronald Croes ( drums), Rosa Smit and Doris van Iperen (joining vocals). She also regularly plays with her bluegrass band the Bluegrass Bandits and fills in for the trio Barnyard Tea.