Blues Profile
Paul Metsa
by Ray Stiles
|  |
1999 KBA Award Winner
Achievement for Blues on the Internet
Presented by the Blues Foundation
|
|
 | |
Born in Northeastern Minnesota, Paul Metsa’s performances at Bayfront and the Blues On The Range festivals are becoming an eagerly awaited annual homecoming event for him. Paul has been performing his individual brand of acoustic folk/blues in the Twin Cities area since 1984. During that time he has also released a string of albums on is own label, Raven Records, including his most recent CD, a 4-song collection called "Lincoln’s Bedroom.." During the past decade Paul Metsa has performed at well over 2500 shows and won numerous Minnesota Music Awards including the 1994 award for Best Acoustic Guitar. Paul says his influences range from Brownie McGhee to Leonard Cohn to Bob Dylan. He has performed with John Hammond, Ry Cooder, Delbert McClinton, The Neville Brothers and Mose Allison, among others. He performed with Willie Nelson at Farm Aid Five in Dallas, Texas and in 1996 was on stage with Pete Seegar and Bruce Springsteen at the Tribute to Woody Guthrie held at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. The Cleveland Plain Dealer called his performance, "passionate, poetic and powerful." Metsa writes intricate storytelling songs with complex lyrics and rich melodies and has been described by the Minneapolis Star and Tribune as both "one of the finest singer-songwriters in Minnesota," and the "hardest working musician in the Twin Cities." During this past several years Paul has been performing at various venues around the Twin Cities with harmonica player Bob Wilson. Paul can be found performing aboard both the Blackwoods Bloody Mary Train on Sunday morning (11 A.M.) and the Blues Boogie Train on Saturday night (10 P.M.) this weekend.
|
|
