About Us
“It always feels like a sunny day when Jasperoo is playing!”
—Berkshire Busk, 2023
Jasperoo is an acoustic, instrumental duo with John Bunge on banjo and slide guitar and MaryBeth Bunge on rhythm guitar. Based in New York’s Hudson Valley, they are popular at festivals, markets, and special events.
Both began playing their instruments in junior high, with John oscillating between guitar and banjo in country and rock bands in Kansas. Meanwhile in Ohio, MaryBeth started as a singer song-writer, then moved to rock bands, musical theatre and opera in high school and college. Their first musical collaboration, The Mutuals, started soon after they met in St. Paul MN and was part of the Twin Cities’ new wave/post-punk scene that included Husker Du and The Replacements.
The Bunge’s musical partnership has spanned genres from rock to electronic to cool jazz to early classical, yet their main interest has always been original creative music. Some of Jasperoo’s tunes began in other styles, then transformed perfectly into old-time. Jasperoo’s albums Pandemonium (2022) and The Players Come Again (2023) offer a mix of traditional and original songs. Their forthcoming EP, What Is Truth, is entirely original.