Bertolf

The music that’s in him, must come out. This does not refer to the unmistakable talent of singer-songwriter Bertolf, but to an important musical choice that he has made. Because after six albums, for the first time in his career, on his new album his full focus is on his love for bluegrass. From his earliest years he has been listening to and playing this ‘purely natural’ acoustic country music variant, which is so demanding to the musicians, it turns their fingers blue. Hence the album title ‘Bluefinger’. It marks his ‘Best Of’ album with his favorite songs over the years plus some new ones. That title also hints at the nickname of his fellow townsmen from Zwolle in the history of his native Netherlands. For the recordings he went to Nashville to work with a stellar cast of musicians in this field.

At some point Bertolf was asked what his greatest dream was as a musician. He didn’t have to think long about it, as he had dreamed of it for so long. “I want to make a bluegrass record in Nashville,” he replied happily.

Going to the ‘Mecca’ of country music wasn’t the main thing for him. “That’s not that special anymore. So many musicians do that these days. No, for me it was about having the opportunity to work and record with the best musicians around there.” Immediately a plan was made, and funding was put into place.

Getting the finances together was a rather difficult task. The selection of the songs was even more challenging. His plan was to pick two tracks per album from his catalogue, plus several new ones. “I started making demos with old songs in a bluegrass setting. However, not everything turned out well,” Bertolf says, looking back. For example, he was surprised that a favorite of his like First & Then didn’t work, but rocker Cut Me Loose did. The latter made it to the final cut.

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