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Jim Brandenburg / Courtesy Michael Monroe
Michael Monroe: Log Cabin Concert Series
Michael Monroe performs during one of the intimate Log Cabin Concerts at his home outside Grand Marais. During the past 40 years, Michael has played in many venues across the country, including local festivals and private homes.
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Michael Monroe in Grand Marais
Michael performs his song "Time to Get Away" at the 2013 Fisherman's Picnic in Grand Marais, Minnesota.
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Todd Miller / Courtesy Michael Monroe
Michael Monroe
I just couldn’t live in the city. There’s way too many roads and not enough trees. I can only take it for a day or two, and it’s back to the simple life.
In his songs and in his life, singer/songwriter Michael Monroe shares sentiments that so many can appreciate, especially those who move to – or occasionally escape to – Minnesota’s North Shore. The need to get away from all the noise and stress and to seek nature’s comfort is a recurring theme for the musician who makes Grand Marais his home.
The singer-songwriter’s latest CD, “Time to Get Away,” is a collection of original songs from his past 15 years by the Big Lake.
The words from “Simple Life” give a glimpse of that life:
We built our house back in the woods, built it ourselves because we could, and when we were done, we said it was good. We wanted to live the simple life.
I gather wood right off the land, split it for fire with my own hands. Draw my water from the spring when I can, all so we can live the simple life.
That cabin that Michael and partner Debra built themselves was in Hovland. Today they still live on the North Shore, in a log home outside Grand Marais where Michael records in his solar-powered studio and where he performs his Log Cabin Concerts.
“For me, it’s special because it’s in our home,” Michael says. “It’s not huge, but it’s got a lot of character.”
It’s a casual evening with a social hour before each concert. “I’d say two-thirds have been here before and a third are people who might have seen a poster or an ad and thought it would be interesting and fun. … It’s a really intimate, close, fun evening.”
Musical inspiration for Michael comes from the natural surroundings and from cross-country skiing or hiking in the woods. Michael’s original acoustic music blends folk, reggae and some jazz. “It’s a little hard to pin down the style,” he admits.
A self-taught musician, Michael complements his warm, expressive vocals with guitar, ukulele and glass and bamboo flutes. He plays guitars hand-crafted by David Seaton on the Gunflint Trail, using trees from the 1999 blowdown in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and 200-year-old timbers salvaged from Lake Superior. “It’s changed my life,” Michael says of the instruments. “Every time (David) hands me one, a new song comes out.”
Michael’s music has evolved over the past 40 years, starting in the late 1970s with the songs of Peter, Paul and Mary. He played with a trio, then a six-piece group playing pop, jazz and ballads before he turned to solo performing. The week of New Year’s, Michael will typically offer more than one Log Cabin Concert.
Michael Monroe’s Log Cabin Concert Series, Grand Marais. 612-789-2255. www.michaelmonroemusic.com