Liz Janssen passes

This remembrance of noted Netherlands musician Liz Janssen is a contribution from Silvia Fledderus.

On January 5th, our dear friend Liz Janssen passed away at the age of 52. 

Liz, daughter of Rienk and Joke Janssen, was raised in Harpel, at the home of Strictly Country (later: Het Blauwe Huis), the place in the North Eastern part of The Netherlands where the first seeds of bluegrass in our country were sown.

Liz grew up with bluegrass concerts in and around her house. After the old home place burned down in 2001, whereby her mother passed away in the flames, she rebuilt the house. 

She became an artist and made major contributions to the art work of the European World of Bluegrass, the bluegrass festival in the Netherlands where numerous musicians from Europe gathered for many years. She also designed the logo for the European Bluegrass Music Association.

Liz started singing more after she sang at her mother’s funeral. She started her own bluegrass band, Close to Home, together with her later partner and banjo player, Peter Noorman. Different musicians joined this band, and I was one of lucky ones to play and sing with Liz. 

Liz had a beautiful and unique voice, recognized by the band Mideando String Quartet, and she recorded a number of fine songs with this Italian band. She performed in Italy, and later with her band at EWOB (NL), Greven Grass (D), La Roche (F) and in local venues around Harpel. 

In 2011 my father, Lambert Schomaker, and I organized the Strictly Country Reunion Festival, a festival to honor Rienk Janssen’s contribution to bluegrass in Europe, and to reunite readers of Strictly Country magazine Rienk used to publish. For the younger folks among us, there was no internet at that time, and this magazine connected bluegrass people in The Netherlands. For this special occassion Liz made a beautiful CD with a compilation of Rienk’s Favorites to celebrate her father’s music. 

Next to singing she started playing bass, and she had a great taste in music. Next to her own songs, she had a strong preference for melodic bluegrass, like Colleen Malone (Hot Rize) and Scattered By The Wind (Donna Hughes) – music from the heart of bluegrass she heard live at home when she was a little girl. Liz found also inspiration in music of Janis Ian, Kathy Kallick, and Eminem. The range of her taste was wide and she had a good feeling of which songs fitted her voice, and voices of others. Above all she had a big heart for people who surrounded her. 

The last period of her life, she and her friend Peter Noorman both suffered from cancer, which turned their life upside down. In October 2024 Liz had to let go of Peter, and this year, two days before her 53rd birthday, she herself was taken up into the Light. Her passing broke the heart of many; her daughter and son, her dad and her family, her close friends, and bluegrass friends from all over of the world. 

We are thankful for what Liz brought to our lives, all the musicians and audiences she brought in contact with the bluegrass world, the doors she opened, the way she lived her life, and the heartfelt connections that we will cherish forever.

R.I.P., Liz Janssen.