The Real Dutch Brothers is composed of two brothers, Jeroen and Ron, who are Holland natives. They are passionate about music and enjoy making the world better through song. The brothers have worked on many separate projects throughout the years, playing together when opportunity arose. Now, finally, both are available to join forces yet again, and they decided to formalize the effort with the formation of “The Real Dutch Brothers”.
Jeroen Smit
Jeroen started playing guitar at age 7, when his parents brought him a guitar from their trip to Spain. Soon after, he was accompanying his dad, a violinist and pianist, playing everyday songs and Hot Club music. He started studying classical guitar, doing some folk music as well.
When he was 15 the family moved to the United States; Los Angeles, more precisely, where Jeroen started playing jazz in his High School stage band. That morphed into rock, fusion, pop, whatever a given band needed. His brother, Ron, had started playing bass when they immigrated, and he was part of a number of these projects.
Jeroen then studied classical guitar and voice at Cal State Northridge, where he took part in a number of jazz projects. Along the way, he played worship music at many different churches, in some cases leading the congregation in music, and there were always the rock/pop efforts.
Ron Smit
As a kid growing up in the Netherlands, Ron quickly realized it was “all about the bass.” He moved to the United States in 1976 and purchased his first bass a year and a half later.
Determined to learn on his own, he copied bass lines from popular songs and melded them together to create his own style. In his early 20s, Ron was fortunate enough to study with renowned bass player, Bunny Brunel, which helped him fine tune his technique and style.
Life took a turn in 1995 when Ron moved across the country from California to Naples, Florida. The beachfront city was a hotbed for entertainment, and Ron was playing resorts and restaurants two to four nights a week. Since moving to Lincoln in 2000, Ron has raised two children with his beautiful wife and continues to play out as much as he can.