Erich Ritter & Bluegrass Beans call central Switzerland home. Each member of the band lives within a two hour drive of one another, and they meet every two weeks for the purpose of making music together.
Given Switzerland’s reputation as a peaceful neutral country, it might imply that Ritter and company keep things safe by maintaining a quiet calm overall. Indeed, given their devotion to a traditional tapestry, that seems to be the case here. The band — which consists of Ritter, its founding member, on guitar, co-founder Adrian Zuber on mandolin, banjo player Res Nobs and bassist Hanspeter Adam — shares a sound that Ritter describes simply as “honest and straight from the heart.”
It’s hard to argue with that.
Ritter and Zuber first became acquainted through their mutual love of music. They formed a country band called The Hobos early on, and later, when the two developed a passion for bluegrass in particular, they founded the Bluegrass Beans in 2001.
“One day we heard that Doyle Lawson was giving a concert in Switzerland at the legendary Country Festival Albisgüetli,” Ritter recalls. “That must have been around 1995 or something. In any case, it was recommended to us that we should attend this concert. We didn’t really know bluegrass, not that band anyway. But that evening, we were incredibly surprised. The uniquely crackling atmosphere that arose when Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver celebrated a wonderful song with just one microphone touched our hearts. Adrian and I decided that very evening that bluegrass was the music we wanted to make!”
Nobs and Adam, who had become acquainted with Ritter and Zuber through various jam sessions, joined the band after an initial change in the line-up.
“There were two problems,” Ritter says cautiously. “Firstly, Adrian was a drummer. How does this fit into a bluegrass band? Secondly, how do we tell our colleagues in the country band?”
Nevertheless, things worked out. “Adrian spontaneously swapped his drums for a mandolin and decided to learn that instrument,” Ritter insists, “and he never let go.”
The band has been successful ever since. “We have continued to discover new bluegrass music, and have always decided from the heart which songs we wanted to play. Bill Monroe, Blue Highway, Ricky Skaggs, Lonesome River Band, and many more have always influenced us. Of course, we have now gotten to know the Krüger Brothers, who we can also call friends.”
Although the band has limited its performances specifically to Switzerland, they’ve managed to appear at all the country’s major festivals. “We were able to play nine times at the Country Music Festival Albisgüetli, which is where we saw Doyle Lawson. We played with the Nashville Bluegrass Band, and several times with Dailey & Vincent at the same festival. We were also able to play with the Krüger Brothers several times. Plus, last year we played with East Nash Grass.”
In addition, the band can count the Trucker Festival Interlaken, Country Night Gstaad, Bluegrass Festival Grunderinseli, and Bluegrass Family Festival among the other gatherings in which they’ve taken part. “We play bluegrass festivals and many country festivals,” Ritter continues. “We also perform at many country cruises on the Mediterranean. Nevertheless, we appreciate the very small performances that take place on a small scale.”
Ritter also notes that the band has hit a number of plateaus throughout its 20-plus year career. “A highlight for us were the performances we were able to play at the VIP Apéro at Countrynight Gstaad,” he says. “The Gatlin Brothers, Patty Loveless, and Aaron Watson were sitting in the audience! We were allowed to perform our music for the big stars, which made us very proud. We were also able to travel with the legendary Albert Lee on the Country Music Cruise 20. He and his manager visited us several times at our performances and were really impressed. That was an honor for us. We’ve also been able to appear on stage several times with Florian Fox, the International Country Music Award-winner for Entertainer of the Year 2024 in Switzerland’s Country Music Hall of Fame.”
Ritter added that on November 15th of this year, they had a big surprise. “We were able to celebrate the second anniversary of the International Country Music Hall of Fame of Switzerland by providing the musical accompaniment for the evening. We organized the entire stage show with the presenters over the course of the evening, but what we didn’t know was that we would be recorded at the International Theater that evening. That makes us extremely proud!”
It’s hardly unexpected then that their music has been so well received. “The big stars who heard us at the VIP Apéro were totally surprised that we were playing the music they grew up on,” Ritter says. “Their enthusiastic reaction has motivated us. The audience in Switzerland loves us because of our acoustic music, which is played honestly without any accessories. It creates an incredible amount of drive, as well as the calmness of gospel.”
The group produced a CD titled Traditional – Handmade in 2009 and released a live CD at the Albisgüetli Country Music Festival in 2016. They mostly perform covers and traditional songs, among them Rain Please Go Away, the old standard Lonesome Road Blues, Rank Stranger To Me from Albert E. Brumley, Walls of Time, courtesy of Bill Monroe and Peter Rowan, and Cold Sheets of Rain by Randall Hylton.
Ritter isn’t surprised that bluegrass possesses such international appeal. “We believe that many people are fascinated by the natural sound that can be played without technology, and which touches the heart,” he says. “It’s a pleasant contrast to a crazy world that’s full of technology and illusions. It goes back to the roots by being honest and down to earth.”
