Dave “Snaker” Ray. One of the first white artists to study and learn the then little-known blues tunes from the 20s, 30s and 40s and part of the Minneapolis folk and blues revival that spawned Bob Dylan. Ray brought an enthusiasm and raw, raunchy earthiness to his performance style which set the stage for artists that followed.
The 55 tracks included span his early career in the 1960s starting in Minneapolis, MN’s West Bank neighborhood with “Spider” John Koerner and Tony Glover (Koerner, Ray & Glover) through his subsequent collaborations, solo albums, untimely death on Thanksgiving, 2002.
Koerner, Ray & Glover’s recordings were enormously influential among their fellow musicians, with artists from David Bowie and John Lennon to Bonnie Raitt, Lucinda Williams and Beck citing them as an influence.
Along with live recordings and rarities, Legacy includes selections from out-of-print recordings including “Ashes in My Whiskey” (Rough Trade) and “One Foot in the Groove” (Tim /Kerr Records). Unless noted, the tracks on Legacy are previously unreleased and include performances taken from a wide variety of mediums including reel-to-reel analog tapes, old sound board mix cassettes and live broadcasts.