John Munson plays bass and sings songs in The New Standards. He is perhaps best known as a member of Semisonic and before that a founding member of the band Trip Shakespeare. There were other efforts before that too. They kicked ass in a less well known sort of way.

John was awarded a fellowship to study music in Taiwan in the fall of 2005. This has given him an opportunity to pursue his interest in Chinese traditional music. He also recently released a CD of Chinese music on his CultureBridgeMusic label. There has been no tension among The New Standards as result of John’s foreign adventures.

John continues to collaborate with the Wilson brothers on various projects including Dan's upcoming solo release and a joint effort with Matt called, for the moment, the Flopst.