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Miss Myra and the Moonshiners are the latest to play the Live on 65 performance series that aims to bring world-class entertainment to the North Metro. Premier artists perform local and live at the Spring Lake Park High School Fine Arts Center. 

Thanks to generous sponsorship from the Spring Lake Park Lion's Club, tickets are priced for the whole family to attend at $12 for adults and $5 for students/children. Purchase tickets online or day-of at the box office.

We recently caught up with Myra Burnette (Miss Myra) to learn more about the band and what Live on 65 audiences can expect. She spoke with us from New Orleans where she is surrounded by guitars, banjos and a sousaphone and playing music with the locals.

Where are you from?

I grew up in northern Minnesota, the very first city the Mississippi runs through called Bemidji. My parents encouraged all of us kids from a super young age to be really dedicated to music, and for myself, I kind of just fell in love with the guitar. I decided to dedicate myself fully to the guitar and to the style of music we do which is based on New Orleans traditional jazz.

How did you meet and form your band?

I had gone down to New Orleans (I think the year was 2012), and I just fell in love with the music and fell in love with the city. I came back to Minneapolis, and I thought I needed to start a band that emulates the style.

The band basically met at an establishment called Palmers on the West Bank of Minneapolis. Palmers is a dive bar but at the same time it's a community of musicians who really appreciate the culture of New Orleans. There's a sit-in culture where you're playing with your band, and you see a musician walk in with maybe a trombone case. You invite them up on the stage. It's super warm and friendly and that's how you grow as a community of musicians.

Our band started playing together and sort of formed a loose collective. Having that weekly gig at Palmers kind of helped us to really shape our sound. We really just took off and started diving more into the music from there.

Why the guitar?

I had private piano lessons starting at age five. I was really into Rachmaninoff and Franz Liszt but then a switch kind of happened. I turned to guitar. I think there was just something about the way the guitar resonates. It’s a little bit closer to you as an instrument, and it's more portable. You can bring it with you everywhere.

How did you learn how to play the guitar?

I studied with a couple of different teachers. Most of my style though is self-taught. I'll find the guitarist I really like who's probably dead at this point and I study them. I slow down recordings of that guitarist and just learn note-by-note what they're doing and then decide what parts of that I want to use in my regular vocabulary.

What’s your best advice to other students of music?

The best advice I can give somebody is to listen first. Find the music that you're into and really actively listen. Play the song that you want to learn several times. Jam along with it. Find other versions of that song and pick the things that you like from each of them. When I was younger, I wish I had told myself this more. I think I was just so eager to start playing that I don’t think I did enough listening. Now, I really listen more.

Who do you listen to? Who are your influences?

Guitar is not super prominent in New Orleans jazz so I kind of study the guitarists who were playing in some of those bands. I study a lot of Eddie Lang and Carl Kress. I am a huge fan of George Barnes who may have been the first guitar player to record on an electric guitar. He and Carl Kress did a bunch of guitar duets together. I also listen to traditional jazz as well – people like Louis Armstrong and The Hot Five and The Hot Seven and Kid Ory. I listen to a lot of old stuff.

What should people expect to hear and experience when they come out on January 5?

I think people get really excited about this project because we have a lot of energy together as an ensemble. I think people can expect to feel included. We'll bring it down for some sweet moments, but I think people can expect to want to get up and dance.

Learn more about the Live on 65 season.