About Jeff Ray

East-meets-West Roots Music

Jeff Ray is an avant-garde resonator slide-guitarist and songwriter based in St Paul, MN. His music is rooted in the traditions of acoustic blues and American fingerstyle guitar, but Ray quickly departs from tradition: his songs integrate flavors of Indian classical music and West-African guitar under the guise of cryptic alternate guitar tunings.

Ray left Minnesota for Memphis when he was just 17. There he developed his guitar skills and evolved into an innovator of alternate guitar tunings and slide-guitar. He returned to the Midwest and embarked on a 20+ year career as a solo performer, releasing 6 albums and receiving accolades in Europe and North America. Currently, he splits his time performing as a solo or duo artist, or with his band "the Stakes".

Ray's quartet "Jeff Ray and the Stakes" [Mikkel Beckmen (washboard), Harold Tremblay (harmonica) and Nick Salisbury (bass guitar)] are closely connected to the Minnesota blues community and the historic West Bank music scene of Minneapolis. In 2022, the band is releasing their long-awaited sophomore album "In the Fire". 

"In the Fire" represents Ray's most prolific period of songwriting to date. The songs rise from the ashes of social isolation and civil unrest, revealing an intensity of connection that few bands rarely get the privilege to experience. Recorded live in the studio, "In The Fire" weaves themes of nature and transcendentalism with moods ranging from love to lonliness.
 

New album "IN THE FIRE"!!! 

In The Fire

Jeff Ray & the Stakes

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With a music style based on live performance, the Stakes used front yard house concerts during the pandemic to develop the songs on their new album "IN THE FIRE”. Their improvisations recall everything from early blues and rock, to British folk and Indian Carnatic - sounding equal parts Ry Cooder, Grateful Dead and RL Burnside.

Resonator

With a music style based on live performance, the Stakes used front yard house concerts during the pandemic to develop the songs on their new album "IN THE FIRE”. Their improvisations recall everything from early blues and rock, to British folk and Indian Carnatic - sounding equal parts Ry Cooder, Grateful Dead and RL Burnside.

Resonator slide-guitar songwriting pioneer Jeff Ray gels with bassist Nick Salisbury (Ryan Bingham, Brian Fallon, Sonny Knight), washboard mainstay Mikkel Beckmen (Charlie Parr, Brass Kings), and blues harp veteran Harold Tremblay (Cool Disposition, Doug Otto) to create a groove unmatched.

On the album’s single “Hard Times”, Ray reflects on life as a health care worker simultaneously impacted by both the pandemic and civil unrest. “Hard Times” reflects on our shared experience and emphasizes human connection, showing that music can transcend division and bring people closer together.

Recalling his years in Memphis, Ray draws on his love of American roots and blues in “Rounder Around”. A romanticized ode to the West Bank roots music scene of Minneapolis, at times sounding more ‘Mississippi’ than ‘Minneapolis’. The singular cover on the album “Friend of the Devil” showcases dual slide-guitar / harmonica solos, conjuring Duane Allman and Little Walter, reminiscent of an early 70’s blues festival. The vibe captured on "IN THE FIRE" is truly a gem and represents the band's greatest work to date.

"IN THE FIRE" is the band's 2nd album together, following 2015's "VALHALLA", and is also Jeff Ray's 7th full-length album. Ray 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 also earned recognition as the 2010 first-place winner of the Greater Twin Cities Blues Music Society "Road To Memphis" competition and as a 2009 second-place winner of the Trocadero's Spotlight Songwriter Competition.

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