Crooks & Straights Six-piece country band

“Crooks & Straights” from Rijeka, Croatia, were founded in October 1999. The band’s line-up consists of:

Nikolina Tomljanović – lead vocal

Luciano Bradičić – drums

Robert Bradičić - guitars and vocals

Jure Celić – fiddle and vocals

Damir Matković – piano and vocals

Mladen Srića – bass and vocals

The group had their recording debut at the international scene on "International Country Music Sampler" CD, in October 2002, released by “Comstock Records”, an independent label from Fountain Hills, Arizona, USA. That way, they became the first act from Croatia whose recorded material was published, promoted and distributed by an American label. After that, “Crooks & Straights” released two albums for “Dancing Bear”, a major label from Zagreb, Croatia. The first one, titled “So Little Left To Say”, came out in June 2005, and the second one in May 2007 under the title “Just One Thing”.

The third “Crooks & Straights” album, titled “Way out of Town”, came out as an independent release in June 2015.

“Crooks & Straights” achieved their first international success at the 23rd European country music contest, "Picnic Country - Europa Contest", held in Mrągowo, Poland, from July 23 to 25, 2004. In competition of bands from all across Europe, they won the first prize and thereby, officially or unofficially, carried the title of the best European country band for the 2004/05 season. After that, “Crooks & Straights” are a regular feature on country music scene all across the continent, playing both big festivals (Silkeborg, Visaginas, Cagnes-sur-mer, Craponne-sur-Arzon, Mirande, Bauska, Seljord, Vinstra – to name a few) and club venues (13 countries in all so far).

At the end of 2013, an American Internet music magazine titled “Saving Country Music”, singled out “Crooks & Straights” as one of Europe’s ten coolest country bands.