GRAND RAPIDS — On a roundabout way to the Grassroots Concert Series, Minnesota musician Mike Munson stopped by KAXE’s On the River, bringing both his music and conversation to life.
Performing three songs live in the studio (listen above) — “Kansas City Lightning,” “Modern Life,” and “Sinner” — Munson offered a window into his influences and the creative spirit behind his work.
Munson kicked the session off with his song “Kansas City Lightning,” a song with roots that reach back to jazz legend Charlie Parker, whom in turn, holds roots in Mike Munson’s musical story.
Faced with a choice between joining the school musical or taking a jazz appreciation course in sixth grade, he chose jazz without hesitation. Assigned to research Charlie Parker, he found himself immersed in a world far beyond what he’d known.
“This was rebellious music and always has been,” Munson said.
That experience opened the door, not only to jazz and Charlie Parker, but to a lifelong captivation with the story of Black music in the United States — and more broadly, the history of American music.
Munson’s listening habits reveal an openness to all types of music. On the drive to Grand Rapids, he jumped from Kendrick Lamar to Grant Green and John Coltrane, and mentioned Indian classical music more than once during the conversation.
“I'm in a period where like the three-minute song is just — it's over too quick for me,” he said. “And if I'm doing the dishes or whatever, I want something that's like doing the dishes as long as I am.”
Munson picked up the guitar around age 11 or 12, but his path to slide guitar came through a deep dive into blues history.
Inspired initially by Jimi Hendrix, Munson traced those influences back to earlier blues artists like Elmore James, Muddy Waters and Fred McDowell. He saw how one person could deliver a powerful and heavy experience with the blues, which then led him down the path of possibilities with the slide guitar.
“The slide is just so expressive and plays all the notes, and the notes in between the notes, and the sliding and bending, and how it mimics the human voice and how it felt," Munson said, “It just felt like an immensely expressive art form.”
While Munson spent years focused on solo performance, he’s recently embraced collaboration through the Mike Munson Trio, featuring bassist Nick Salisbury and drummer Lars-Erik Larson. Playing with others has opened new creative doors.
“I don't know why I waited so long to like, play with other people in an organized kind of band fashion, because it is so great. The emotional exchange and what you can create together is larger than the sum of your parts,“ Munson explained.
The trio leans into what Munson describes as a “quiet fury” through an intense but restrained energy shaped through improvisation. "I want to be in the quietest rock and roll band ever," Munson said.
A rural Minnesotan, Munson lives in Winona and sees rural communities as fertile ground for creativity.
“If you have an idea, there is space to make it happen,” Munson said. And at the same time, “there’s not always money.” That openness, he believes, fosters a spirit of collaboration and experimentation that’s harder to find in larger cities.
The Mike Munson Trio has an upcoming album, Sometimes, not always, to be released at the end of May under the Liatris Records, a label created by Munson and his partner Diane. Recorded live in the studio with no overdubs, Munson said the album captures the looseness and interplay that define the group’s sound and vibe.
Munson will be back up north with the Trio playing Festival Rialto on Saturday, June 13, alongside the Wild Horses, Good Morning Bedlam, Thomas Sticha, Kelley Smith, Between Howls and Paul Lawrence.
KAXE is hosting the side stage at the event with Laura Hugo, The Penny Peaches, Sugar on the Roof, Forge North and Tattletale. Tickets available here.
