Koerner, Ray & Glover

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Koerner, Ray & Glover were a blues and folk duo from Minneapolis, formed in 1962. The group featured Spider John Koerner (guitar and vocals), Dave “Snaker” Ray (guitar and vocals), and Tony “Little Sun” Glover (harmonica). They helped spark the folk and blues revival of the 1960s. The three met in the University of Minnesota folk scene and often performed solo, as duos, or as the trio, though they rarely played all together at once.

Their first album, Blues, Rags and Hollers, came out in 1963. They made two more albums for Elektra, and Koerner and Ray each released solo albums for the same label. The trio toured together, and Glover wrote one of the early instructional books on blues harmonica.

The group played at the Newport Folk Festival, with their set recorded for Newport Folk Festival 1964: Evening Concerts III and filmed for the Festival! documentary (1967).

Koerner, Ray and Glover were active in the Dinkytown neighborhood of Minneapolis in the early 1960s. Bob Dylan knew them well and wrote about them in Chronicles. Dylan was influenced by Koerner, who was the first musician Dylan met in Minneapolis and who taught him folk and blues songs. Ray was known as a teenage guitarist who sang Leadbelly and Bo Diddley tunes on a twelve-string. The trio influenced many musicians, including Bonnie Raitt.

In the late 1960s they played at Triangle Bar and Palmer’s in Minneapolis. When Koerner retired in 2023, he donated a twelve‑string Epiphone guitar to Palmer’s, where it’s on display.

The group continued to perform in various combinations until Ray died in 2002. Koerner and Glover kept performing as a duo until Glover’s death in 2019. A 1996 live show at Bryant-Lake Bowl with the trio was released as One Foot in the Groove. Koerner and Glover released Live @ The 400 Bar in 2009. John Koerner, the last surviving member, died on May 18, 2024, at age 85.

Honors include the Minnesota Music Academy’s Best Folk Group (1983) and MMA Hall of Fame induction (1985). In 2008 they were inducted into the Minnesota Blues Hall of Fame for Blues, Rags and Hollers. They also have a star on the First Avenue mural in Minneapolis, honoring their major contribution to the city’s culture.