Nick Kroes

Life is good here in Muskegon. Both Sue and I are very happy sharing a big old house with an extraordinary number of extraordinary cats and one cranky old dog. When we're not tending to the herd, she works at Hackley Public Library while I sell stuff to boat builders. And, as If this music site isn't obscure enough, I also collaborate on a couple of web sites about boat wiring. As for music, I really do have an attention span shorter than most humans older than six. This may be one of the reasons that I have never been able to learn any one instrument especially well. Still, I've always had a great time wallowing in this mediocrity and, if given the chance, wouldn't do one bit of it any differently!  I'm fortunate to be able to play some great instruments -- wonderful banjos made by Mike Ramsey and Bart Reiter as well as my favorite, which was built by my good friend, Robert J. Oswald.; a couple guitars including a Bryan Galloup; a Givens mandolin and an unbelievable mandola (it has built in reverb!) made by my old pal, Fletcher Brock.