My guest this week is Bertolf Lentink, better know as simply Bertolf.

Bertolf grew up listening to bluegrass at home in the Netherlands with his parents and learned to play guitar with his father. Then he discovered other bands, including the Beatles and Radiohead, and began writing songs of his own. After several albums in a pop/rock, singer-songwriter vein, he was drawn back to his initial love of bluegrass and decided he wanted to make a bluegrass record.

Bluefinger was recorded in Nashville with string band legends including Jerry Douglas and Stuart Duncan, and featured a selection of Bertolf's existing songs, alongside some newly written instrumentals. When Bertolf returned to the Netherlands and began touring the music with a local band, he decided he wanted to follow it up with Bluefinger 2, this time featuring all new songs and his touring band.

We chat about how Bertolf came to love bluegrass, what music was playing in his house as he grew up and what ultimately drew him back to the music after building a successful career. He talks about the conversation that planted the seed of an idea for Bluefinger, how the record came together and how it felt coming back to the music he loved as a child.

This was a fascinating conversation and I'd urge you to go and check out both records, as well as Bertolf's other work.

You'll find more info at https://bertolf.nl and you can follow Bertolf on Instagram for more regular updates.

Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)

Bluegrass Jam Along is proud to be sponsored by Collings Guitars and Mandolins and Token premium guitar picks

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