Shannon Murray to perform Legend on Lomond Concert Series

Shannon Murray to perform Legend on Lomond Concert Series

Farm By The Lake

August 5 at 4:00 pm

Free and Open to the Public

Rain or Shine

Bring your own lawn chair, some folders provided.

Shannon Murray is a folk/punk musician and storyteller from the northwoods of Minnesota. Tackling guitar playing, and song craft like it's a contact sport, her music is intensely political, and at the same time deeply personal. A tool of resistance, a method of resiliency, a means of survival, a message to about the importance of being true to who you are, and telling your story, it is a testament to the importance and power of music both in movements for social justice and in our personal lives.

Heavily influenced both stylistically and conceptually by her upbringing in a working class, non-musical family in rural Minnesota, and despite a late introduction to guitar and songwriting at the age of 20, and a myriad of assertions from music teachers growing up that she lacked aptitude, Shannon has developed a sound, style, and perspective that is uniquely her own. If you ask her what artists have influenced her the most, you will likely get a list of musicians from the small town of Bemidji that she calls home. She released her seventh album Collecting Anchors in 2016.

In addition to her solo work, Shannon also performs in the Bemidji based post-punk band "Cheerless", is a founding member of the"Broadwing Booking Collective", and is part of the now partially retired "Riot Folk Collective". She tours universities, libraries, and history centers around the country with her "People's Music" series side project working to preserve working class history in story and song. What began as an exploration into the music and history of the IWW labor union for a presentation at her local library has grown into a massive collection of songs and stories. Her newest addition to this series saw her delving deeper into local Minnesota working class history through a 2015-2016 Hinge Artist Residency with Springboard for the Arts where she explored the connections between poverty, trauma and mental health in the personal histories of patients admitted for mental health treatment to the Fergus Falls State Hospital from 1890-1920. Through informative and interactive workshop concerts featuring photos, historical documents, stories, and song, Shannon is able to preserve these vital parts of working class history in memorable and meaningful ways.

Previous releases include: Elated, Love & Fear a split with fellow Riot Folk member Ryan Harvey, Hallelujah! I'm a Bum a short six song, lo-fi EP of IWW labor tunes, Scream, you and a six string, and her self-titled debut album Shannon Murray. A full-length album of IWW labor songs and original songs inspired by their organizing was released digitally in 2017.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota, through a grant from the Region 2 Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.