Ruth Vaske and her daughter Lydia, far right, talk with Ben and Carmen Steneker, a father/daughter country music duo from the Netherlands who are staying at the Vaskes' house during the week of the Old Time Country and Bluegrass Festival in Le Mars. [Click to enlarge]

The Vaske house is usually abuzz -- Dave and Ruth Vaske have six children -- but lately there's been more music. And a little more Dutch. The Le Mars family is hosting none other than "the Godfather of Dutch Country Music" himself -- Ben Steneker. Ben and his daughter Carmen Steneker traveled from the Netherlands to Iowa to perform at the Old Time Country and Bluegrass Music Festival.

When the Vaskes heard some of the musicians needed a place to stay for the week, they decided to open their home. "When I traveled in Europe people went out of their way to show me their culture, life and home," Dave said. "I just wanted to return a little bit of what I received." So for a week, the two Netherlanders moved into the Vaske home, bringing music with them. "They'll break out singing," Ruth said. "He'll start and she'll join in." "Listening to them harmonize around the house makes us realize how talented they are," said Dave. The Vaske house has become a place for cultures to meet -- northwest Iowa with eastern Netherlands.

The Stenekers live near the German border. "They eat much healthier than we do," Ruth said. "A lot more fruits, vegetables, and higher grain breads." The Stenekers tried their skills in an American kitchen, making a fresh tomato soup with meatballs. "It was a real experiment," Ben said with a chuckle.

Language can sometimes be a barrier, Ruth said, but the Stenekers have been very open to asking about words they're not sure about. "It's a great way to help kids understand things from a different culture," Ruth said. "But Carmen and I were laughing this morning about how men are the same. Overall, I've seen a lot more similarities than differences. That's a big lesson." Ben and Carmen have enjoyed living with the Vaske family. "I have the feeling there is more life, more living in this house," Carmen smiled. "It is not so quiet." Ben is familiar with life in a big family. "I am the 12th in a family of 13 children," he said. Even as a boy, people told him he had a voice to be an opera singer. "We had no money for classical training," he said. "At that time, the cheapest instrument was a guitar. I decided to try country music."

Ben earned the name "the Godfather of Dutch Country" because he was literally one of the first people in the country singing and playing the genre. His first single rose to No. 4 on the Dutch Hit Parade of 1959. Carmen has sung since she was a child. At the age of 7, she recorded her first song with her dad: "But You Love Me, Daddy." The father-daughter duo sings weekly in the Netherlands and throughout Europe, but country music is not as widely listened to there as in America, Ben said. It gained some popularity when it came over the Atlantic, bringing line dancing with it. In the Netherlands, people liked the line dancing more than country music, so they started line dancing with rock music, Carmen said, laughing. Being a country artist is not easy or too lucrative, Ben said. "It's a hard way, but also a beautiful way because it means we travel to the U.S. and have had all these nice times over here," he said. "Most people sing to make money. I just want to sing. That's enough for me."

Not being a rock star meant getting pretty normal treatment on the road. But they like it this way. "Hotels we never did," Ben said, explaining at first they stayed in campers, but now stay with families.

"People are so kind," Carmen said. "We hate to go home."