It is difficult to characterize the music of The Kruger Brothers. It isn’t Bluegrass. It isn’t Old Time. It isn’t pop. Nope, not jazz. Classical…well let’s just say their music contains elements of all of the above, played expertly on banjo, guitar and bass. The group consists of banjo wizard Jens Kruger, his brother Uwe on guitar and their longtime partner Joel Landsberg on bass.
Tonight I took my brother the trout, Salvelinas Fontinalis to the show. This is fitting since it was he who introduced me to their music. A Kruger Brothers live show is quite an experience. Sure you can hear some songs on YouTube and catch a glimpse of what they’re all about, but it isn’t close to being there.
As usual, they played a generous show. The band is in great form (musically and literally – Uwe is about 100 pounds lighter than when we last saw him here). This show, Jens even played some guitar – in the previous shows I’ve seen, he’s only played banjo. As a bonus, they even played a Hank Snow tune, One More Ride. As a double bonus, they invited the wonderful bluegrass singer Clare Lynch up from the audience to join them for an encore – Will the Circle be Unbroken.
Great show.
27th Street 
Kruger Brothers are very very good musicians who put on an awesome show and if you get a chance to see them live you should do it. I didnt think many in Toronto knew who the Krugers were but in retrospect I guess if I knew of them then half the planet must also know. They packed Hugh’s room on a tuesday night which made the several standing ovations pretty impressive. It was a great fun evening.