Jeff Ray & The Stakes

Jeff Ray & The Stakes play Hell's Kitchen on Saturday, October 24, from 10 AM to 1 PM. It's a late-morning set, so if you're usually a night owl, you'll want to set an alarm for this one.

Ray is a Minnesota-born musician who left home at 17 to cut his teeth in Memphis. That's where he developed what he calls an "East-meets-West" bluesy Americana sound—the kind of music fans describe as sounding "old and new at the same time," shaped by his travels through the Midwest. He plays as a one-man band, working with a glass slide, a homemade portable front porch, and an electronic tanpura.

His fourth release, BLUE MARA, has drawn critical acclaim across Europe and North America. He's played high-profile stages like the Taste of Minnesota, the Porcupine Mountains Festival, and the Deep Blues Festival, sharing bills with Chris Smither, Justin Townes Earl, Dawes, Marcia Ball, and Charlie Parr. In 2009, he took second place in the Spotlight Songwriter Competition in Minneapolis, and in 2010, he and Harold Tremblay won the Greater Twin Cities Blues Society's "Road to Memphis" competition, which sent them to represent Minnesota at the 2011 International Blues Challenge in Memphis.

Hell's Kitchen hosts live music every Saturday and Sunday, so this fits right into their weekend schedule. The show is free live music, and it runs from 10 AM to 1 PM at 80 South 9th Street in Minneapolis.