Johanna van der Veen-Hamstra is a banjo player in Rottevalle, located in the Friesland sector of The Netherlands. She and her band, Johanna’s Mountain Boys, were featured last week on the Dutch/Belgian Got Talent program, and did quite well, winning plaudits from the audience and the judges.
The group includes Johanna on banjo, Laura ter Beek on fiddle, Hans Keller House on guitar, Hendrik Luurtsema on mandolin, and Wopke van der Veen on bass.
Johanna shared a bit of information about the band, and how they found themselves performing on television.
“Johanna’s Mountain Boys was formed two years ago. My husband, Wopke, started learning playing the bass three years ago, and we met another couple in bluegrass named Hans and Laura. And we were happy when we met Hendrik who plays the mandolin. I was, and am, very happy when I found these people to share and play bluegrass music with. Because we all like The Johnson Mountain Boys our fiddle player, Laura, thought Johanna’s Mountain Boys would be a good name for a band that lives in a country with no mountains.😎
We play a mix of traditional and modern bluegrass. One day I thought it would be a nice idea to bring traditional bluegrass music to Got Talent in the Netherlands/Belgium. As far as I knew, there had not been a female banjo picker in their show so it would be something new as well.
It was a big surprise for the whole band when they invited us to the show. We never performed for such a big audience. We were all very excited on the day of the audition. Our kids came with us to the show and their support was great as you can see and hear.
I hope we can make more people happy with bluegrass music and Got Talent in the Netherlands/Belgium on RTL4, and VTM gave us that great special chance.”
Have a look at their spot on the show, where Johanna and the gang played the old Carter Family classic, The Last Old Shovel.
Well done Johanna’s Mountain Boys! Best of luck going forward on Got Talent.
