Pizza and beer might not be the first foods one might associate with bluegrass music, but then again, Minnesota might not be the first place one might associate with the genre either. Thanks to Alan “Al” Jesperson, that unlikely combination of menu and location provided the foundation for a thriving bluegrass scene that exists in the North Star State to this day.

On December 30, Jesperson died of natural causes at his home in Minneapolis. He was 74. "We've all been kind of grieving for the last week or so," says Minneapolis banjo player Anthony Ihrig (The High 48s). "But we're all in the celebrate Al mode now."

Jesperson was known throughout the Twin Cities for his longtime role as a booker of bands at the Dulono's Pizza location in the Lyn Lake neighborhood of Minneapolis. Jesperson began booking bluegrass acts at Dulono's in the 1970s and continued until the location shuttered in 2017. For Ihrig, who co-founded the band Free Range Pickin' in 1999, getting booked by Jesperson at Dulono's was a milestone. "He brought us in[to the scene] in a way," Ihrig recalls. "He was a gatekeeper of sorts where he was able to open the door for us at Dulono's, and that opened all these other doors."

One of those doors was the Laughing Waters Bluegrass Festival at Minnehaha Park in Minneapolis, which Jesperson inaugurated in 1999 and continued for 22 years.

But it was at Dulono's that Ihrig first experienced Jesperson's sense of humor as well as his mentorship. "Al used to say Dulono's was 'the home of the flat round one and the tall cool one'," Ihrig chuckles. "Most of my memories of Al at Dulono's were having a flat round one and a tall cool one," explaining that after each show, Ihrig and his bandmates would spend time visiting with Jesperson, talking about music and learning about all the artists and songs he enjoyed.

It's a common thread in talking with those who knew Jesperson. "Every chance he got, he exhibited his knowledge and pushed to get people involved in bluegrass," says Marv Menzel, owner of the Homestead Pickin' Parlor in Richfield. "It was not self-serving at all; he did it for the love of the music."

Jesperson was much more than a talent booker; he was talent himself. "He founded the Middle Spunk Creek Boys in 1968, a band that remained active till his demise," Menzel says, adding that Jesperson was a frequent participant in the advanced bluegrass jam sessions at Homestead.

Mark Kreitzer is a full-time musician and songwriter who teaches guitar and American folk instruments at Carleton College in Northfield, and he had also been a longtime bandmate of Jesperson's in the Middle Spunk Creek Boys. "Alan was one of the most musical people I know," Kreitzer says. "Although he was not very technically advanced as a guitarist, he was a very good singer. In the last few years, he started having issues with his throat, but as a younger guy, he had a great tenor voice and sang wonderful harmony. And he was always interested in what was being pushed at the limits."

Kreitzer notes that that boundary-pushing might stand in contrast to Jesperson's reputation as somewhat of a purist when it came to booking bluegrass acts. While on a road trip with the Middle Spunk Creek Boys, Kreitzer recalls listening to a Cole Porter CD that included the song "Miss Otis Regrets," and Jesperson was giving the track repeat listens. "While we were listening to it, Al goes, 'That would be an amazing bluegrass song,' and I just couldn't hear it. I could not hear it. And once Janine [Kemmer] joined the band — who ended up being his wife, eventually — she started singing it, and it worked. So yeah, there's a bit of a myth that he was super traditional, which he was, but he had big ears."

Onstage, Kreitzer remembers Jesperson's wry wit. Kreitzer tells the story of a time where Jesperson made a side remark about Kreitzer's recent buzz cut while the Middle Spunk Creek Boys were in the middle of a song — a song that quickly collapsed into peals of laughter. And then there was the story from a MSCB gig in the days when Dulono's Pizza allowed smoking indoors. "There was somebody sitting in the front row with a huge cigar and blowing this smoke up on the stage," Kreitzer recounts. "And after a while, Alan stopped and he goes, 'You know, having you down there smoking that cigar just reminds me of my dad. He was cremated.'"

In line with a genre that exudes a sense of welcome, Jesperson embodied that hospitality, hosting post-gig parties at his home and jam sessions at his Great Northern Antiques and Vintage Radios shop in south Minneapolis. "Alan was great about making connections and bringing people in," Kreitzer says. "Everybody he met, he made feel like they were at his house as his special guest."

Kreitzer says Jesperson's biggest influences were likely Bill Monroe, Doc Watson, and Norman Blake, and that Jesperson knew dozens of fiddle tunes — the canon of songs that form the bedrock of bluegrass and acoustic-folk music. "He would sit and play fiddle tunes with you all day long," Kreitzer says. "He was a very enthusiastic player."

Homestead's Menzel concurs. "[Jesperson] had a ton of tunes and songs at his fingertips," he says. "He would often introduce new material that other people had not heard to local area bands. Not in a pedagogical fashion — just doing it. He exposed people to the music every chance he got."

All agree that the loss of Jesperson leaves a gap in the local bluegrass scene. Ihrig says the groundwork Jesperson had done eventually mushroomed given the elevation in popularity of bluegrass following the release of the O Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack. "All of our stock went way up," Ihrig says. "A year or so after that movie came out, we were playing at the Cabooze and the Fine Line and First Avenue. Before that, it wasn't part of the scene. This was more of a rock town."

In a 2006 article in Minnesota Monthly magazine, Ihrig's Free Range Pickin' bandmate Steve Schley told writer Tim Gihring that prior to O Brother, the Minnesota Bluegrass and Old-Time Music Association's roster numbered "20 to 40 bands, tops," but in the wake of the film, that number rose to more than 100.

"I would credit Alan with the stick-to-itiveness of keeping bluegrass going," Homestead Pickin’ Parlor's Menzel says. "He was always pushing to get people playing and involved. We're going to miss that spirit."

As a collaborator and bandmate, Kreitzer enjoyed a lot of time with Jesperson. "Whatever he could offer, he would," Kreitzer says. "[Al was] one of the biggest-hearted people I've ever known. I'm going to get teary, sorry … He could be ultimately infuriating, and just the sweetest person at the very same time. And I really miss him."

External Links

Middle Spunk Creek Boys - official site

Minnesota Bluegrass and Old-Time Music Association (MBOTMA) - official site