MAY 28, 29 & 30, 2020

Train Boards - 6:30 pm | Train Departs - 7:00 pm

Mike Munson has established himself as an adept slide guitar player and an evangelist for the blues. With his fourth release, Rose Hill (2018) Munson traced the tradition to its roots, recording at the Blue Front Cafe in Bentonia, Mississippi on the Blue Front Record label.

For a number of years Munson has been mentored by Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, the renowned owner of the oldest juke joint in North America, the Blue Front Cafe. Holmes is one of the last in a musical lineage referred to as the Bentonia Bluesmen who have made a name for the haunting and ethereal minor tunings used in this region of the state. Munson has thrived under the mentorship of Holmes, building a body of work that blends his Midwestern roots with his Mississippi travels. From sad and somber slow tunes to swampy, caterwauling stompers, his music is a master class in creative blues composition and performance, often dark and heavy, yet lyrically compelling and altogether danceable. He never loses sight of his artform or the music’s roots while finding a voice that is distinctively his own.