GRAND RAPIDS — In conversation and across three acoustic songs, Mike Munson gave Centerstage Minnesota an update on upcoming new music.
Last winter, the Winona-based blues guitarist recorded two new projects. One of them, Underwood, is due out later this month on Aug. 31, 2023.
Munson began his in-studio by performing an old folk song that will appear on the album, called “Let Me Lose.”
In-between songs he also gave a history lesson on the Bentonia school of blues, which Munson has a close relationship with.
“They tune their guitars differently than Delta players and there’s a canon of songs that are unique to the Bentonia area,” Munson said.
On a road trip through the South, he befriended Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, a blues singer who runs the Blue Front Café in Bentonia, Mississippi. Holmes' parents opened the venue in the 1940s and to this day it hosts live blues music every day.
“They call him the last of the Bentonia bluesmen,” Munson said.
The two have played shows together in Minnesota and around the country.
After playing an older song called “Rattle Can Black,” Munson finished up with another tune from the upcoming release, “Modern Life.”
Hear the full performance and interview above.
Centerstage Minnesota, Fridays at 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. on KAXE/KBXE, is made possible by the citizens of Minnesota through the Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.
