Roger Kunkel spent his 20s touring and recording as an electric guitarist in Thin White Rope, a band out of Davis, California that garnered critical acclaim while producing five albums and appearing on stages from CBGBs in New York, to concert halls in the Soviet Union, to the Reading Festival in England. Even though Thin White Rope disbanded in 1992, interest still percolates with The Guardian labeling them cult heroes in 2015 and all five of their albums remastered and reissued in 2018.

Later in the 1990s, Kunkel took a different musical direction and formed the eclectic, jazz-surf-rock instrumental group Acme Rocket Quartet. The band was well-received in the San Francisco Lounge scene and self-released three inventive albums.

In the early 2000s, Roger largely retired from performing live and focused on family life while developing his skills on acoustic instruments studying bluegrass and old-time guitar, mandolin, and fiddle.

In recent years, he has re-entered the live music scene as the lead guitarist of the highly regarded northern California retro classic country band Mike Blanchard and the Californios, released a solo acoustic album, and reformed Acme Rocket Quartet.