Biography

Business Contact: Dave Schmidt
Double Time Music, Inc.
dave@krugerbrothers.com

Agent: Jim Fleming
jim@flemingartists.com
734-995-9066

Media Contact: Claire Ratliff
claire@penguinpublicity.com

Comments about this page: Tom Macie
tom@krugerbrothers.com

Discography available in this account to date:
Lucid Dreamer
Christmas Magic with the Kruger Brothers
Best of the Kruger Brothers
Appalachian Concerto
Forever and a Day
Between the Notes
Follow this link to visit the Kruger Brothers artist profile on Airplay Direct.

Jens Kruger, Banjo
Uwe Kruger, Guitar
Joel Landsberg, Bass

Kontras Quartet:
Dmitri Pogorelov, 1st Violin
Francois Henkins, 2nd Violin
Ai Ishida, Viola
Jean Hatmaker, Cello

The Three Gates of Kings Mountain:
1 The Gate of Memory 3:44
2 The Gate of Song 2:04
3 The Gate of Dance 7:49
4 Covenant of the Muses 6:08
5 Ai Sight 2:50
6 Margarete 5:36
7 Council of the Migrant Jesters 5:14

Liner Notes
When I was a young boy, I remember being fascinated by my dreams. They seemed so different, compared to my daily life. I also enjoyed this flow of imagination during the day, to the great dislike of my teachers in school. The pictures that arose from within, combined with my immediate sensual reality, created a colorful and mysterious world I needed to embrace.

I notice in retrospect of my life's experiences, that my dreams were just as important in my memory as the actual events. For instance, the times in the late 70's, when my brother and I were traveling throughout the streets and towns of Europe, we'd play wherever people would listen to our music, and throw their spare change into my banjo case. Those were some of the emotionally richest times of my life. Free, like birds, we traveled as if there was no tomorrow. The privileges of youth ...

Today, we are still doing the same thing. Traveling, playing, being amazed by the places we see, and the people we meet. Every time we play music on stage, we still feel the same way. Time seems to not exist. Circumstances in my life have gone through many changes, but my dreams have not. I can still smell the sap of tall pine trees along majestic mountainsides, hear the roar of wild rivers, and see endless beauty overshadowing the immediate. All my dreams have been filled with sounds and music, and I'm always excited to find some of them on my Instrument. To have friends in life that trust me in writing my music is a privilege, as it is a pure Joy.

Lucid dreaming is the state of mind in which a person is fully aware that they are dreaming. It seems to me that all life is unfolding like a dream, swirling like dance in flight. For all things that have a beginning, I assume that they also must have an end. I have a strong sense that dreams don't need a beginning.

-Jens Kruger


When music is truly great, it doesn't matter what kind of music lover you are, you know a good thing when you hear it. The music of Jens Kruger lives in that elusive and brilliant margin that lies between genres: it is classical, bluegrass, newgrass, folkssical, as much at home in a formal concert hall as it is at an outdoor festival. Most of all, it is deeply satisfying to play, and to hear.

Part of what makes this collaboration gratifying is that we, as a classical string quartet, hardly saw it coming. None of us ever expected that we would find ourselves in a septet with banjo, guitar and electric bass, playing with the Kruger Brothers at bluegrass festivals and schlepping music stands and sheet music in a world full of improvisers, dextrous pickers and inexhaustible fiddlers. Yet, from the first time we played together, we knew we felt something special amongst the seven of us that was important to cultivate and share. Much of the time we perform music that was written at a great distance from us, by composers we never met, who lived in another place and time in history. It's quite a thrill for us then, as Kontras Quartet, to be a part of the creation of new music. We were able to secure support from Chamber Music America to commission Jens to write this new piece, thus embarking on a new side of music making we'd not yet experienced: a world premiere.

I remember wondering if the music would feel different, knowing that it was written not just for this instrumentation in general, but for us in particular. There are certainly some personal references that are obvious: the movement "Ai Sight" is perhaps one of the more noticeable tributes. On a deeper level, it is touching to know that the countless beautiful moments of Lucid Dreamer were born from Jens' imagination and our relationship with him, Uwe and Joel; we can think of no greater honor. It has been our cherished privilege to sit alongside such wonderful people and play music together.

-Jean Hatmaker, Kontras Quartet

This commission by the Kontras Quartet has been made possible by the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Pro­gram, with generous funding provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Chamber Music America Endowment Fund.

Composed by Jens Kruger
Recorded, produced and mastered by Jens & Uwe Kruger at Double Time Recording Studio, North Wilkesboro, NC in October 2014
Cover design by Lody van Vlodrop
Cover photo by Uwe Kruger
Musician photos by Fanjoy Labrenz Photography