Fingerstyle acoustic guitar, old-time Appalachian banjo, a little mandolin here and there, and a gentle tenor voice… Brian Junker writes and sings folk/pop songs rendered on traditional instruments, vignettes of the lives all around us.

Brian’s love of guitar and acoustic music began around age 14 in Minneapolis Minnesota, with the disappointment of receiving an arch-top starter guitar one Christmas, instead of the electric bass he fervently wished for.  Brian continued to mangle a few songs on a borrowed electric bass for the school jazz band, but slowly came to terms with six strings, learning a few chords and picking patterns from his brother Greg, and a few songs of the Beatles, Neil Young, and more.  He eventually took possession of a fine Gibson acoustic guitar on long-term loan from Greg, and discovered an outstanding acoustic performer and arranger on the radio, Michael Johnson.  When he finally knew he would have to give that Gibson back, he bought himself a decent student classical guitar, and continued to teach himself fingerstyle guitar from Johnson’s records and other sources.

That guitar kept him company through graduate school and a career as an academic, from Champaign Illinois to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, until the itch to play out and play with others just became too strong.  Armed with a giant dreadnaught, he joined the “folk orchestra” of the local Unitarian church, whose Director of Music, singer / composer / ethnomusicologist Emily Pinkerton, produces genre- and culture-crossing works with voice, guitar, fiddle and banjo that are poetic and enchanting.  His association with Emily led him to banjo, to the old-time Appalachian music community in Pittsburgh, and to the thriving singer-songwriter community here.

Today, Brian writes and plays his own music, covers many great but often not well-known singer/songwriters, and plays in old-time jams, choirs, and anyplace else where community gathers around music.  He also loves mixing live sound for mostly-acoustic groups, and supporting local, regional and national acoustic performers in the SongSpace concert series.

Let him know what you think, via the contact form on this website.  Your comments go right to his inbox!