Uke Book Audio

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Purchase on iTunes Here!
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Deezer link Here! 

American Dream - Featuring Rue Moyer and Siana Ponds

This is a new original song about living a life of freedom and uniqueness rather than debt and conformity. The real American Dream was about freedom, yet often I see people in bondage to overwhelming obligations.

This song features an original rap performance by Pennsylvania native Rue Moyer, and some background harmonies by Siana Ponds from Miami.

New Original Song! "Temporary"

"Walking down a lonely road," by Jason Burmeister.

This song is about feeling stressed out with jobs and commitments that don't align with who we were made to be. We all have obligations, and often these are good and even essential. But I feel it's also important to chase our dreams, viewing things that get in the way as "temporary".

"Temporary" features a guitar intro by Bill Schenk and background vocals by Lauren Kruse. Lyrics and other music by Peter Kruse. Hope you like it!

Peter Kruse is on Spotify, or you can purchase his songs by clicking here!

Peter Kruse Original Audio

Free Electronic Press Kits from ReverbNation.com

Media

1) Live on 102.3 FM in Chicago. Peter Kruse playing guitar for local singing legend Jim Tan (JT)!
2) "Open mics and opening minds"
Shenzhen Daily Article

"Peter Kruse hated playing the piano. A strange place to start for a well-known Shenzhen musician who can play the guitar, ukulele, mandolin and, yes, the piano..."

Continue reading here (or Here)

3) "Shoreline" by Peter Kruse and Michael Aukofer featured in Dulcimer Player's Magazine (Table of Contents)

4) Peter Kruse original song featured on Ghana mainstream television:
 

5) "Playing on Faith" - Daily Herald Article about Rufus Tree

"Elgin Christian Rock Trio Continues Enjoying Growing Popularity.

Put your hands together for a local band with a sound that's "Better than Ezra," but "Less Than Jake."

At least that's what the three young members of Rufus Tree, an Elgin-based Christian rock band, have to say about their style of music, comparing themselves with other bands...."

6) Peter Kruse made a music video for a band called Spraycan Picaso, and it was featured on Blue Rymez Reviews.

"Bill Schenk as the songwriter and lead singer, bass groove by Daniel Putnam Green, Erich McMann on guitars, Keith Leedham taking care of the background vocals, and video editing by Peter Kruse. That’s 5 people coming together as one project to ensure their craft’s message will be delivered in its entirety." (Link).

7) "City Weekend" Article about Shenzhen music: Covers and Originals at Coco Park in a Post-Raps World

Peter Kruse Featured on Reverb Nation!

Reverb Nation is going to feature my music on their front page next week, based on good reviews of my

song, "Copper Harbor"!

Where You'll Find Me (acoustic version) - by Peter Kruse

Photo by Nattu on Flickr
Featuring Lauren Kruse on BGV's

New Song "Familiar Things" by Peter Kruse

Download this MP3 HERE

______________________________________________________

Photo Credits

"Rocky Mountains" by MaxGag
Grays & Torreys by Greg Willis
"Canyonlands National Park" by Faungg
_MG_0055_6_7Enhancera by Mark Byzewski
View of Rocky Mountain National Park by Andrew Russell
Rocky Mountain National Park by WXmom
Rocky Mountain National Park by Rennett Stowe
Rocky Mountain National Park -Tundra by Roger Wollstadt
Pikes Peak Sunrise by John Spade
Mountains by Brian Wright
Ute and Twin Peaks behind the Cottonwoods of Cove Lake by Michael Rael
Colorado Trip by brokinhrt2
Rockies at Sunset by Johnny Green
DSC_0027 by Andreas Goldi
Banff raibow at sunset by Johnny Green
Mountains and Sky by A.Dombrowski
Mountains and Sky by A.Dombrowski

2 New Songs!

Purchase "Lazy Day" by Peter Kruse
"Lazy Day" features MarkGil Butchoy Buenviaje on percussion, Rue Moyer on vocals and Graham Kemish on violin. 


Purchase "Where You'll Find Me (acostic version)" by Peter Kruse

Oh Mother How Pretty the Moon Looks Tonight - Chords, Lyrics and MP3

Chords, lyrics and description below  :-)


Click Here to Download this Song on Amazon

        C                                   C

Oh, mother, how pretty the moon looks tonight

              C           G7           C
She was never so cunning before

       C                                    C        

Her two little horns are too sharp and so bright

    C                      G7             C              C7
I hope they'll not grow any more.

   F                                   C

If I were up there with you and the moon

          F                                     C
We'd rock in it nightly, you see.

         Am                               C
We'd sit in the middle and hold to both ends

         C                G                       C
Oh, what a fine cradle 'twould be!

         C                                 C
We'd call to the stars to get out of our way,

          C                      G             C
'Lest we should rock over their toes.

        C                                           C
And there we would stay 'til the dawn of the day

         C                   G                  C       C7
And see where the pretty moon goes.

   F                                   C

If I were up there with you and the moon

          F                                     C
We'd rock in it nightly, you see.

         Am                               C
We'd sit in the middle and hold to both ends

         C                G                       C
Oh, what a fine cradle 'twould be!

          F                                         C

And there we would sit in that beautiful sky,

         F                                                          C 

and through the bright clouds we would roam.

        Am                                   C

We watch the sun set, and watch the sun rise,

       C                  G                        C

and on the next rainbow come home.

Information about this Song:

Peter Kruse is singing and playing ukulele in this song. Michael Aukofer is on upright bass, accordion, bells, background vocals and autoharp. This is an old children's song based on a poem that appeared in Eliza Lee Follen's book in 1832 (Link 1) (Link 2). Eliza Lee Follen can not be confirmed as the author, however, as she often included anonymous traditional poems in her book. My grandfather, who was number 9 of 13 kids, learned a version of this song at a barn dance in South Dakota when he was a child. He and his siblings remembered what they could, and taught their version to my dad, who taught it to my siblings and me.

New Song! "The Night is Young"

I wrote this song about my family's trips to Gitchee Gumee Bible Camp in Upper Peninsula, Michigan. It's a beautiful part of the country! I hope you enjoy it!

Click Here to Purchase "Gitchee Gumee"

"Hide Away" by Peter Kruse Featured on "AbletonOP"

"Hide Away" is one of my original hammered dulcimer songs from my album "Sundown". A while back I noticed it had been garnering hundreds of listens in a short time, and I had no idea why until today. A comment was left on that song which said that www.abletonOP.com featured my song in a tutorial. I encourage you to check out that tutorial if you use Ableton software and are looking for a good hammered dulcimer sound (Link)!

Click Here to purchase "Hide Away"

This reminds me of when the giant social news blog Mashable used my band Rufus Tree's song to announce the release of Xanga Audio (Link). When Mashable initially announced the release, they used a Rufus Tree song I wrote on their blog. Since then, Xanga has gotten rid of their audio feature, so the link on Mashable is broken. But here's the old Rufus Tree song that Mashable featured:

Peter Kruse Bio

Hammered dulcimer, ukulele, banjo, accordion, mandolin and harmonica are some of the instruments you will hear when listening to the music of Peter Kruse. Artists such as Jack Johnson and Iron and Wine might come to mind when listening to Peter's honest and organic sound. 

Many guest musicians have lent their talent to Peter's songs, including Ghana award winning artist Bro Philemon, award winning composer Michael Aukofer and popular Chicago singers Atoi Glennette and Aaron Graunke

Peter Kruse has been blessed with a rich musical experience in Chicago based bands "Rufus Tree" and "A Gain of Ten". During Peter's time in Rufus Tree, he had the honor of performing oversees for U.S. troops and opening for many artists such as Life House, Sonic Flood, Blind Melon and the Normals. Also, Grammy nominated guitarist Phil Keaggy performed on two songs from the band's "Dying to Live" album. Dove Award winner Mitch McVicker also sang on two tracks from that album. 

Peter had the privilege of headlining a show at the legendary Metro venue in Chicago with his previous band "A Gain of Ten". Around that time, they were asked to record a song for a CD honoring the late Deep-Purple guitarist, Tommy Bolin. This CD was reviewed positively by many publications including Yahoo Music and Classic Rock Review.

In China, Peter opened for the best selling artist in Chinese history, 费翔 as well as 费玉清. Peter was also recently featured on 102.3 FM, a popular Chicago radio station.

• 2021 - Original song "Walk With Me" featured in documentary about Rich Mullins.
• 2019-2020 - Created several new original music videos as well as videos for Spraycan Picaso. Performed all over Chicagoland with James Bruebach.
• 2018 - Published first book, "2 and 3 Chord Ukulele Songs!" Performed live with James Tan on 102.3 FM for a benefit concert. Peter Kruse and Michael Aukofer's original song "Shoreline" was featured in "Dulcimer Player News" magazine's February issue. 
• 2017  - Finished 5th studio album "Ocean View." Made music video for Ocean View, filmed in China.
• 2016  - Finished 4th studio album "Breath of Life." Engineered and co-wrote songs for bands "Spraycan Picaso" and "Penitent Thieves."
• 2015 - Co-wrote 2 songs with top Ghana Gospel artist Bro Philemon. In China, opened for the best selling artist in Chinese history, 费翔 as well as 费玉清 (link). Released three music videos. Featured in Shenzhen's biggest English newspaper, Shenzhen Daily (Link).
• 2014 - Released 3rd solo album, "Sundown". This album featured a hammered dulcimer co-write "Shoreline" with award-winning songwriter Michael Aukofer. Produced and engineered songs for upcoming artists Zach Olson and Carly Fraser. 
• 2013 - Performed Christmas concerts with Leonard Ahlstrom from Grammy nominated band New Song.
• 2011 - Headlined at the legendary Metro venue in Chicago with A Gain of Ten. Performed acoustic and bass guitar on a Gain of Ten's album, "To You."
• 2010 - Performed on one song of the album "Mister Bolin's Late Night Revival." This album received recognition from many publications  including Yahoo Music (Link).
• 2009 - Released 2nd solo album, "A time and a Place".
• 2007 - Earned Bachelor's Degree in music from Judson University.
• 2006 - Released first solo album, "Not that Far". With band Rufus Tree, opened for Grammy-nominated bands Blind Melon and Lifehouse.
• 2005 - Performed Christmas concert for US Navy in Japan for 2nd time. Wrote and recorded songs for Rufus Tree's 2nd album, "Dying to Live". This album featured Grammy-nominated guitarist Phil Keaggy and Dove Award winner Mitch McVicker.
• 2004 - Invited by the US Navy to perform for troops in Japan with band Rufus Tree.
• 2003 - Opened for popular Christian artists Sonic Flood, the Normals, Satellite Soul and Derek Webb from Caedmons Call.
• 2002 - Rufus Tree featured in Chicago's Daily Herald (Link).
• 2001 - Wrote and recorded songs for Rufus Tree's first album (self titled). This album featured Alathea, Michael Aukofer and Sixpence None the Richer / DC Talk's engineer Russ Long.
• 1999 - Earned "Louis Armstrong Award for Musical Excellence" in High school Jazz Band.
• 1996 - Met the late-great Christian artist Rich Mullins and became inspired to begin learning the hammered dulcimer.

How I Got Into Music

Growing up, my family would have "devotions", which was a time set aside to read the Bible and sing some hymns. My dad would always play guitar, and sometimes, I would try to strum along, though I didn't know any chords.

When I was thirteen, my oldest brother David came home one night with an ugly hot pink electric guitar that somebody was trying to get rid of. Fortunately for me, the guitar was so ugly that he also eventually wanted to get rid of it. A good friend of mine happened to have some drum sticks and some tin cans, and we immediately started writing "music" together.

Around that same time, my brother Caleb encouraged me to audition for bass guitar in high school jazz band. I was excited to make the band, and this began a long tradition of Caleb and I performing music together. After four years of being in jazz band, I earned a Louis Armstrong Jazz Award for “musical excellence”.

This helped encourage me to continue to pursue music, so after high school I studied music at Judson University in my home town of Elgin, receiving a bachelor’s degree with a focus on Music Performance in 2007. During this time I completed my internship under award-winning composer and respected producer Michael Aukofer. I have had the privilege of co-writing some songs with Michael, most notably "Shoreline (cello version)"

Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Peter Kruse