Acoustic Spotlight Archives

Although Mike Dunn is not currently performing, his influence has been felt locally for years, and quietly continues to this day. When Phil Volan recently wrote a new "swing tune" he called Mike for advice on the chords and voicings. A wise choice because Mike has spent many recent years studying just that. But he has played (and continues to play) many other types of acoustic music.

In high school, Mike had his own cash. He saw a guitar displayed inside a gray cardboard case (made of Wheaties boxes) for $15. The next thing he knew his folks had banished him to the basement with his "How to be a Folk Singer" book.

By the '60's Mike had a Martin, but he played it tuned as a banjo. He did borrow a real banjo for a college talent contest and, lo and behold, the group won. Fran Love, a folk musician, offered Mike $1 a week to back her up on guitar. It was enough to pull him away from school and he spent the next four years on the road. The duo played from Alaska to Texas including one of the early years of the Winfield festival when Doc Watson was there.

1971 found Mike scrambling to keep from losing his shirt when Francis, who had done all of the booking, quit ... while on the road. Necessity is the mother of a lot of learning and Mike learned. By the '80's Mike had played folk, country and rock-and-roll and had made a living doing so on the road for nearly ten years. That life is hard, especially for a visual artist, so Mike changed. He took a day job at Colorado College and kept music and painting as fun. During this time he formed a duo called "The Music Store," performing blues, folk and country locally and producing his second album.

By the '80's Mike had turned to swing. He dared to perform the music of Duke Ellington and others in a trio consisting of guitar, bass, percussion and vocals. The "Colorado Swings Band" concentrated on tight three-part harmonies, patterning their sound in part after the Bozwell and Andrews Sisters and Manhattan Transfer.

When the Swings Band stopped, Mike actually put the guitar down for years, but it couldn't last. A friend talked him into playing "just for fun." They continue a once-a-week get-together playing country, blues, folk and whatever they want. He's also part of the "Tube Radio Orchestra" with Dan Todd, and, recently, Dan Davidson. The "Orchestra" has played at Black Rose to very enthusiastic crowds.

Most recently, Mike has been seriously studying the music of Hoagy Carmichael. He says he is fascinated by Hoagy's unique sense of harmony and cbord voicings using chords like F major 9, and F7 flat 9. He spends hours studying charts and finding the voicings that allow the special harmonies to shine.

Mike now plays an Epiphone Emperor New York guitar. The pre-WW2 date is unknown, but is probably 1936. He told me what gauge strings he uses, but suffice it to say the darned things are really BARBED WIRE!

Mike considers himself to be an "average guitarist." But his study of style, rhythm and chords make him stand out as one of the finest rhythm guitarists in our community. And there are several musicians who credit Mike with their knowledge of the music business and quite a few chords and tunes.