Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisa Ploeger.
Hi Lisa, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I already sing as long as I can remember. I remember singing karaoke versions from the top of my lungs of popular songs when my mom or dad weren’t home and pausing it as quickly as possible when they walked into the house again. I was obsessed with trying things with my voice and performing wherever and whenever (mainly on primary and middle school).
When I was 14/15, I wanted to participate in a contest for which I had to submit an original song. That’s where I started writing about my own life and situations that happened around me. It was very scary at first to show those songs to people in an audience, but when I started to hear that people could relate to the story, I became obsessed with writing. I’m still so amazed that I can write something that touches other people emotionally.
Everyday, when I came home from school, I ran up the stairs to my room to write and compose my own songs. In that time, I played a little piano and started to pick up the guitar. My mom used to touch me a little about playing piano and my dad (still is) played electric guitar in a cover rock band. So, music was always in my family in some ways.
When I finished middle school at the age of 16/17, I didn’t get the chance to perform on their open stages. That’s when I started e-mailing small festivals and café’s in my neigboorhoud to still get the chance to perform my songs in front of an audience. I used to play a lot of them on my own with just my voice and my guitar. In that time (2019/2020) I also started recoring my songs and I released my debutsingle ‘White Flag’ in 2020.
About four years ago, I started wondering what it would be like to have a band around me. So, I found some people and we rehearsed and played some shows together, which was awesome. In those years my band took a lot of different shapes, but since the beginning of this year, we have a strong core and we’re starting to get booked on bigger national stations. In the mean time, I released a lot of singles, two EP’s and on the 4th of September 2026 I’m set to release my debut album ‘the lighthouse keeper’s daughter.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My biggest two obstacles were:
– the pandemic: of course. I just started to gain some live traction, but all my live shows got cancelled when the lockdowns in The Netherlands got introduced. I quit writing songs for months, because I thought: “When I can’t play my songs for a live audience, why would I write songs anyways?”. Luckily, that thought just lasted for about three or four months and after I just started recording and releasing new music so people could find me online.
– the band: I just mentioned my band has known a lot of shapes in the last years. Musicians joined, they quit, I ‘fired’ them (harsh way to say, but they just weren’t an addition and it wasn’t growing our live reputation). Since the beginning of this year, I finally have a strong core of four other professional musicians who make my music sound amazing on live stages. We get along so well. But in the end it took years to find those people. It had a learning curve, which I’m very grateful for, but it’s amazing to now get to rely on those people.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
So, my name is Lisa Ploeger, I’m a 24-year old countrypop artist from (and based) in The Netherlands. I’ve been releasing songs since 2020 and write about my life and situations that happen around me (stories about friends and family).
What I think what sets me apart from others is that I’m completely and utterly myself on social media, on live stages and in real life. My musical act is based around me, so honesty is very important to me.
My music got played a couple of times on national radiostations, like 3FM, Radio 2 and YourSafe Radio and I got selected twice for the Popronde, which is a large, travelling festival through the Netherlands. I released two EP’s and just finished mastering my debut album ‘the lighthouse keeper’s daughter’.
I’m most proud of this work of 12 songs which tells the story of my grandmother. She grew up in a very strict family and eventually got cast out. This, of course, caused trauma and through our generations of women (my mother, me and my little sisters) this trauma is still tangible. Of course in different ways than how she experienced it, but still it’s there and a part of our family and common threat. I worked together with a lot of great musicians, like Gijs van Veldhuizen (producer, mixer, guitar, banjo, backing vocals and more), Ivo Severijns (masterer – also known by playing with Waylon and Herman Brood, big Dutch musicians), Marcel Gerritsen (pedal steeler – also known by playing with Sunken Lands) and Sebastiaan Wiering (pre-producer and cellist – also part of my band).
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I live in Assen (The Netherlands) which is a great little city in the province of Drenthe. I grew up about 20 minutes away from here. The city itself is become more culture-focused every year, so I’m happy about that, but Groningen (a bigger city about 30 minutes away) is close, is were a big part of my band lives and where we get to play more shows. Assen is the peaceful place I get to return to when I played shows in busy parts of the country.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lisaploeger.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisaploeger/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisaploegermusic
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-ploeger-1a8846170/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LisaPloeger
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5wF8hWTn52B6QYhCXVJiuh
