By the time Eric Ramsey steps onto the stage Wednesday at the Musical Instrument Museum alongside Arizona music icons Hans Olson and Chuck Hall, he’ll have spent decades proving that some of life’s most rewarding journeys don’t follow a straight line.
Ramsey, one of Arizona’s most respected acoustic musicians, never set out to fit neatly into a single genre. While his slide guitar and soulful vocals have earned him national recognition in the blues world — including a 2022 International Blues Challenge championship from the Blues Foundation — he still struggles to describe exactly what kind of musician he is.
“I think it’s just ‘Eric Ramsey music,’ honestly,” he said with a laugh while chatting at Janey’s Coffee Co. & Bodega, in Cave Creek, moments before an Aug. 5 solo gig on the patio. “It’s a little bit of blues. It’s a little bit of folk. It’s a little bit of country.”
