The Midnight Ramblers were founded in 1998[4] by Jon Huang, then a sophomore at the University of Rochester, to focus on crowd-pleasing pop and rock styles instead of the classic a cappella repertoire.

Their largest concerts usually occur bi-annually towards the end of each fall and spring semester in the university’s 1,031 seat Strong Auditorium, the River Campus’s main performance venue.

Certain elements have made recurring appearances in these shows, especially though the interstitial short videos, including a stock footage clip of a building imploding and shots of River Campus food service workers, especially Wilson Commons cashier Dawn Marshall-Hosier.

In recent years, the advertising for these major Ramblers performances has changed to include different activities connected to the show intended to provide additional entertainment for the University community.

In addition, the Ramblers have also been joined on stage by various professional guest artists from around the world, including FORK from Helsinki, Finland in Fall 2008 and, most recently, multi-platinum 80s Latin pop star Alondra.

With help from their alumni and the UR office of admissions, the group now sponsors the Midnight Ramblers Scholarship, to be given for the first time to an incoming student from the class of 2013.

[3] Also, recordings of the Ramblers have been featured on Ripple Effect, a compilation album released by Liquid 5th Productions in Fall 2008 to fund drilling for wells that will provide water for impoverished African villages.

[26] Most recently, in March 2009 the Ramblers spent their spring tour in New Orleans, Louisiana where they sang entirely pro bono leading workshops and performances for students at schools stricken by Hurricane Katrina.

[28] To promote the album, the Ramblers appeared as the featured opening act at Folds performance at Rochester's Water Street Music Hall in March 2009.