Video included below
A self-taught musician who learned how to play the guitar through online apps during the 2020 COVID shutdown as a high school junior has taken his musical career to impressive heights in just a few short years, booking a number of gigs in cities around the state, including many local shows at Logan County venues.
Guitarist and vocalist Tucker Munz, a 2021 Benjamin Logan High School graduate, is excited for an upcoming opportunity this week as a finalist with his band comprised of several other local musicians to perform in the Rt. 4 Live Battle of the Bands finals at Benny’s Pizza Pub & Patio in Marysville.
Munz, alongside his guitarist John Whitehead, bassist Marshall Amidon and drummer Dan Hess, performs Thursday night, June 26, in the battle that begins at 7 p.m.
Watch a video clip of Tucker Munz and bandmates at a recent performance at Benny’s Pizza in Marysville.
Of the three finalist bands set to perform Thursday, the winner selected by a panel of five judges receives a special grand prize — the chance to open for country artist Justin Moore at the Union County Fair Friday, July 19, at the Union County Fairgrounds.
“We can’t wait to perform Thursday night, and hopefully we can get the chance to move on to open for Justin Moore at the Union County Fair. We would be absolutely thrilled,” said Munz.
“We’d love for everyone to come out again to support us and cheer us on. We had an amazing crowd at the preliminary round on June 12. It was overwhelming how many people came to see us.”
This is the third consecutive year that Munz has participated in the Rt. 4 Live Battle of the Bands, also placing as a finalist once previously.
However, his other stints in this Battle of the Bands have been as an acoustic artist. This year, Munz has enjoyed putting the band together and practicing for the past 2 1/2 to three months together in his parents’ garage near Benjamin Logan Schools.
The group played their first live show together June 12 in that Rt. 4 Live Battle of the Bands preliminary round.
“I’m so grateful for the time that each of the guys in the band have been able to put in. They’re so willing to help out in any way they can. They’ve put in a lot of work, and it all came together in our first show,” the 22-year-old guitarist and vocalist said.
“We were all kind of antsy, but very excited to play, and we were so happy with how the show turned out.”
Tucker Munz and the band are slated to perform at 8 p.m. this Thursday night. Also competing in the Battle of the Bands that evening are Ian Thomas Hayes at 7 p.m., and Cami Nye and the Shades at 9 p.m.
The five judges will be evaluating the artists on a score of 1-10 in several categories, Munz said.
The group’s set list will include a mixture of originals and covers, including two songs that Munz wrote previously with the vision of having a full band behind them, he explained.
The rising musician has three songs currently on Spotify and he is working on getting a full project recorded as well. His musical influences include a wide range of favorites, including 90s grunge bands like Nirvana, Alice In Chains and the Foo Fighters, along with independent country artists like Tyler Childers and Zach Bryan.
After mastering many songs on his own and as venues opened back up after the COVID shutdown, Munz’s very first show was at the Bellefontaine Moose Lodge in 2022, and his following and skills have grown exponentially from there.
This summer will be a very busy season for the musician, staying on top of his day job working for his father’s business, Munz Contracting, and performing gigs throughout the week, mostly as a solo artist, both locally and in cities like Columbus, Toledo, Dayton and Put-in-Bay, he noted, with show dates listed on his Facebook page, “Tucker Munz Music.”
“I’m so grateful for all of the amazing opportunities I’ve had so far to play in so many cool places, and I’m so appreciative of all the strong local support as well from our community,” he said.
