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No More Good Water 3:080:00/3:08
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Confusion 4:260:00/4:26
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Echoes of Gabbro 3:450:00/3:45
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Wyalusing 5:360:00/5:36
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Dear Grenadine 2:420:00/2:42
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I Know You Rider 9:000:00/9:00
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Rounder Around 3:020:00/3:02
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Soul 6:230:00/6:23
Jeff Ray
Transcendental Slide-guitarist and songwriter
Are we connected and present in the experience of music? Jeff Ray seeks to answer this question. He uses the slide and a resonator guitar as a device of discovery: born in the Mississippi River valley, Ray distills country blues and American fingerstyle into elemental gestures that evoke landscape as source material. His songs are world travelers; bringing subtle Indian Carnatic flings and West African drone along for the ride.
A songwriter since childhood, Jeff’s music is deeply personal and intuitive, showing a spiritual connection with the natural world - often overruling structure in favor of improvisation. When he was seventeen, Ray left Minnesota for Memphis, absorbing the city’s gritty lessons in timing and tone, ultimately returning north with a quiverful of alternate tunings and a disciplined practice that treats composition as discovery. Across more than two decades, he has released eight albums and shaped solo performances that unfold like intimate masterclasses.
Learning from Calcutta slide-guitarist Debashish Bhattacharya, Ray borrows and rehomes melodic fragments so they sound both ancestral and newly created. He favors live-studio improvisation, minimal arrangements, and tonal choices that leave space for atmosphere and the audible presence of place. His 2025 album “Just” captures that ethos with raw takes that invite a felt response rather than intellectual parsing.
With his “portable front porch” foot-stomp in tow, Jeff Ray sounds equal parts Ry Cooder, John Hartford, Duane Allman, RL Burnside, Bruce Cockburn, Nick Drake, John Fahey, Muddy Waters and even a little Grateful Dead - but that’s just the first 3 songs! He has shared the stage with renowned artists such as Chris Smither, Justin Townes Earl, Pat Donohue, Mike Dowling, Phil Heywood, Dakota Dave Hull, Steve Potts (Gregg Allman Band), among others. He is regularly featured on NPR and performs wherever the road takes him - always finding a place to commune with nature along the way.
Past Performances
- Acoustic Sounds Cafe Performing Arts Center (Little Rock, AR)
- Radio Heartland (National Public Radio)
- Bayfront Blues Festival (Duluth, MN)
- Summerfest (Milwaukee, WI)
- International Blues Challenge (Memphis, TN)
- Taste of Minnesota (St Paul, MN)
- Folk Alliance International (New Orleans, LA)
- Cedar Cultural Center (Minneapolis, MN)
- Porcupine Mountains Music Festival (Ontonagon, MI)
- Boats & Bluegrass Festival (Winona, MN)
- Over Yonder Concert House (Toledo, OH)
- Widespot Performing Arts Center (Wabasha, MN)
- Roots Rock & Deep Blues Festival (Minneapolis, MN)
- Minnesota Guitar Society (St Paul, MN)
- Granite City Folk Society Music Series (St Cloud, MN)
- Lakeville Area Performing Arts Center (Lakeville, MN)
- Music Under Glass - Como Conservatory (Roseville, MN)
- Rock Bend Folk Festival (St Peter, MN)
- Minnesota State Fair (Roseville, MN)
Music & live video
Press photos
