Tony Glover Official Web Page
Left: Woody Reflected. Center: Tony Glover. Top Right: V3: Galen Michaelson, Jon Rodine, Tony Glover. Bottom Right: KR&G with Big Joe Williams.
KOERNER AND GLOVER CD!
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NOW ON DVD!
The Koerner, Ray, & Glover Story
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Release Date August 7, 2007
Tony Glover has been a performing musician and writer since 1962. In the mid-sixties he recorded and toured as part of the seminal folk-blues trio Koerner, Ray & Glover. He authored three books of harmonica instruction, album liner notes, as well as countless feature articles, book and record reviews for publications as diverse as Junior Scholastic, Music Journal, CREEM and Rolling Stone.
In the late sixties, he spent a year as an all-night "underground" disc-jockey on KDWB-AM in Mpls, introducing midwestern listeners to an eclectic menu of music ranging from rock to jazz and blues to country. In the seventies, he played with Nine Below Zero, an electric band doing blues, country and rock classic tunes. In the late eighties he and Dave Ray began regular duo gigs, appearing with artists like John Lee Hooker, J J Cale and B B King. The nineties saw "reunion" KR&G appearances at Winnipeg, Vancouver and Philadelphia folk festivals, as well as release of a live 1996 album by the trio. Glover also produced a two hour documentary video on the life and times of the group. He has continued writing as well. In 2000, his booklet notes for the CD release BOB DYLAN LIVE 1966 won the ASCAP-Deems Taylor award. He researched and co-wrote a biography of the harmonica great, Little Walter. BLUES WITH A FEELING was published in Fall 2002 by Routledge Press.
He also continues performing and recording. With his partner Dave Ray he released four albums since 1987, and the two performed often in the Twin Cities and surrounding midwest area before Ray's death on Thanksgiving day 2002. Glover no longer plays with his acoustic trio V3, but still does occasional gigs with Spider John Koerner.
For the last several years Glover has teamed up with Pop Wagner and Charlie Maguire to do memorial shows on July 14th, Woody Guthrie's birthday. The idea was to echo the sound/feel of the historic 40's recordings done by Woody, Cisco Houston and Sonny Terry. Since 2012 is Guthrie's centennial year, the combo is playing a number of shows and there is also an album available.
TONY GLOVER with V3:
This combo was years in the making on the Minnesota music scene, even though its members weren't all newcomers. The mostly acoustic trio came together in summer 2002 to play a roots-oriented blend of blues, folk, country, gospel and rock'n'roll, with a little r&b on the side. "It's American music," Glover says, "and a piano-guitar-harp unit is the quintessential band combination."
Tony Glover (vocals, harp or rhythm guitar) has been familiar to music fans for four decades, playing with his partners Spider John Koerner and the late great Dave Ray, as well as writing extensively on rock, folk and blues. He's also had a long relationship (both personal and professional) with Galen Michaelson, (lead guitar, vocals), the second member of the group. Their friendship goes back to the coffeehouse days in Dinkytown, near the U of M, when Galen was giving Bob Dylan rides on his motor-scooter, and making some of the earliest live recordings of Ray & Glover on a home machine he'd dragged in. They also played together in their 70's electric band Nine Below Zero, and Galen occasionally joined the duo on bass for their residency gigs at the 400 and Times Bar. Galen also was regular drummer in Dave Ray's Volunteers of the Blue Knight for some 6 years in the 80's, while Glover played rhythm guitar. Jon Rodine, (lead vocals, rhythm pianist), the junior member of the trio, has only recently begun
playing music in public, but has performed and recorded with Glover, the Front Porch Swinging Liquor Pigs, the House of Mercy band in St. Paul, and others. His album is a popular local release. He was named as acoustic performer of the year by City Pages.
V3, in the words of Glover, are about songs, not technical virtuosity. After Michaelson and Glover discussed the idea of playing together again on a regular basis, Glover called Rodine, whom he'd first played with when Rodine opened for Ralph Stanley in 2001. The three had similar tastes in songs, and one thing led to another. The tunes grow organically, vocal chores and harmonies are traded off, and Galen would like to be singing more, but for now the docs won't let him. "We share responsibility pretty equally," says Rodine, "not just in playing and singing, but also in the tunes we bring to the project. It really is a group effort, and, like Tony said, it's not about being flashy. It's from the heart, and a little bit raw." In 2008 Jon Rodine decided he had other fish that needed to be fried, and so dropped out. The group continued with fill-in keyboardists Tommy Ray and Bill Gamble, until their final gig in June 2008, the end of a six year run.
In 2004 the trio recorded a self-titled CD. As a point of honor, it's NOT available in stores, or on the net (unless bootlegged). The only way it's sold is at their gigs.
SELECTED ALBUMS (AS MEMBER OF KOERNER, RAY & GLOVER)
Blues Rags & Hollers (1963, reissued 1995)
The Blues Project (1964)
Lots More Blues Rags & Hollers (1964, reissued 1999)
Live Newport Folk Festival (1964)
Snakers Here (1965)
Spider Blues (1965)
Return Of KR&G (1965, reissued 1999)
One Foot In The Groove (Live) (1996)
(AS RAY & GLOVER)
Legends In Their Spare Time (1987)
Ashes In My Whiskey (1990)
Picture Has Faded (1993)
By The Water (1999)
FESTIVAL APPEARANCES
Newport Folk Festival 1964 & 65
Philadelphia Folk Festival 1964, 1965 & 1996
Winnipeg Folk Festival 1982, 1995
Vancouver Folk Festival 1982
Bumbershoot Festival (1996)
Kansas City Blues Fest (R&G) 1999
GLOVER AS AUTHOR
BOOKS
Blues Harp (1965)
Festival Songbook (contributor) 1973
Blues Harp Songbook (1975)
Rock Harp (1981)
Blues With A Feeling-The Little Walter Story (with Scott
Dirks & Ward Gaines 2002)
PERIODICALS (features/reviews)
Little Sandy Review (1962-63)
Sing Out! (1964-65)
Hullabaloo/Circus (1968-71)
Hit Parader (1968)
Crawdaddy (1968)
Rolling Stone (1968-73)
Junior Scholastic (1970)
CREEM (1974-76)
Request (1990-99)
MNBLUES.COM (1999-present)
The Reader and City Pages (frequent contributor)
LINER NOTES
John Hammond (Vanguard)
Sonny Terry (Verve-Folkways)
John Lee Hooker (Fantasy)
Michael Lessac (Columbia)
Sonny & Brownie (Fantasy)
Willie & The Bees (Sweet Jane Ltd)
Lazy Bill Lucas (Cold Wind)
Jayhawks (American Recordings)
Bob Dylan Live - 1966 (Sony)
AWARDS
KR&G--Best Folk Group, Minnesota Music Academy 1983
KR&G--Hall Of Fame MMA 1985
TG Best Electric Harp MMA 1987
R&G Blues Album Of Year ("Legends") MMA 1987
R&G Best Independent Record ("Picture") MMA 1984
ASCAP/Deems Taylor Award (Dylan Live 1966) 2000
Blues Literature Hall Of Fame Award for BLUES HARP from MN Blues Hall Of Fame 2007
LINKS
Little Walter
Spider John Koerner
Nov 9 Sun | Red House Records presents DAVE RAY TRIBUTE CONCERT 651-259-3015 | 3M Auditorium Minnesota History Museum 345 W. Kellogg Blvd St. Paul, MN | Spider John Koerner, Tony Glover Charlie Parr, Bingham & Thorne + more tba... | 6-9 p.m. |
Rest In Peace, Dave Ray.
www.redhouserecords.com
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Last update 10/18/2013
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