Koerner is as much of an old-timer as you could imagine, and yet interest in his music has spiked somewhat in the past few years. Some of his out-of-print albums were recently reissued on Nero’s Neptune, a small label based in Minneapolis, and Koerner maintains an active touring schedule (including stops at the Plough & Stars in Cambridge tomorrow night and then Sally O’Brien’s in Somerville on Tuesday).
Jan Cornish, a close friend who has been booking many of Koerner’s shows since the 1980s, says she noticed his audiences started skewing younger around the time Dylan mentioned Koerner in his 2006 memoir. In “Chronicles,’’ Dylan recalls finding a kindred spirit in Koerner when they were both students at the University of Minnesota. “When he spoke he was soft spoken, but when he sang he became a field holler shouter,’’ Dylan wrote. “Koerner was an exciting singer, and we began playing a lot together.’’
Given his connections and early influence on fellow musicians, you start to wonder why Koerner is such a cult figure in American music. Then again, he didn’t exactly aspire to much beyond that.
“I don’t think I was ever really hungry to be famous, although at times you think about getting bigger,’’ Koerner says earlier this week over drinks at the Plough & Stars, where he routinely plays when he’s in town.
“He’s not very good at promoting himself,’’ says Cornish, who lives in Cambridge and first met Koerner when she was working in the kitchen at the Plough & Stars. “He’s put effort into not being more famous. Most musicians are totally dedicated to music, and it’s not like that with him. He finds music interesting, but he also does astronomy and boat-building.’’
