Name: Mike Munson w/Jeff Ray: White Squirrel Bar "Roots & Resophonics 2nd Sundays"
Start: 2024-11-10T13:00:00-06:00
End: 2024-11-10T15:00:00-06:00
Location: 974 7th St W, St Paul, MN 55102-3520, United States

$Mike Munson w\/Jeff Ray: White Squirrel Bar "Roots & Resophonics 2nd Sundays"$

When asked, Mike Munson (Winona, MN) tells people he plays American music. With over a decade of long drives to well-lit, expansive stages, tiny dive bars, and everything in between, Munson has seen plenty of the country that influences his songwriting. He is a listener first, soaking up the chord changes and non-traditional tunings of players from rural Mississippi to Chicago, studying the mastery of Fred McDowell and Charlie Christian alike.
Munson’s song writing leaves much to interpretation and strongly invites Midwestern toe-tappers to get out on the dance floor. He brings dark themes and heavy rhythms to his work, echoing the traditional country blues that provide the undercurrent of his creativity. His playing highlights the similarities between blues, American primitive guitar and early rock and roll.
Mike will be joined by Minnesota resonator slide-guitarist and songwriter Jeff Ray. Ray's music is rooted in the traditions of acoustic blues and American primitive fingerstyle guitar while also integrating Indian classical and world music styles under the cryptic guise of alternate guitar tunings. His music recalls early blues and rock, fingerstyle-folk, and Indian Carnatic music - sounding equal parts Ry Cooder, Grateful Dead and RL Burnside. Jeff has shared the stage with Chris Smither, Justin Townes Earl, Indigenous, Spider John Koerner, Earl Greyhound, Black Diamond Heavies, Pat Donohue, Retribution Gospel Choir, Dawes, and Charlie Parr, among others. He has earned recognition as a first-place winner of the Minnesota Blues Society "Road to Memphis" competition and placed second in the Trocadero's Spotlight Songwriter Competition.
JEFF RAY hosts the “Roots & Resophonics” concert series at the White Squirrel Bar on the 2nd Sunday of every month, 1-3pm, featuring a unique duo performance of the most talented local and regional musicians in the American roots genre.