One of the most encouraging developments in bluegrass banjo over the last ten years or so has been the emergence of a small crew of idiosyncratic neo-traditionalists; players who, working within Scruggs parameters, have evolved striking personal approaches. You wouldn't really say they constitute a style or a movement, since it's precisely their individualism that makes them noteworthy. Still, they stand apart both from the melodic stylists (the most influential of whom are increasingly working outside of bluegrass) and from the "contemporary mainstream" pickers (who seem bent on leading the Crowe - Baucom line of development to its bone-crunching conclusion).
Some of these players - like Tom Adams and Joe Mullins - are well known to audiences for their work with high-profile touring bands. The names of others - like Craig Smith and Steve Huber - remain unfamiliar to the average fan, although they are murmured approvingly among their peers. But the one that has surely reached the greatest number of listeners is Ron Block. In October 1991, when Ron replaced Alison Brown as the banjo player for Alison Krauss and Union Station, the band was already at the top of the bluegrass heap - headlining at major festivals, enjoying regular radio airplay, and - thanks to the talents and charisma of their front woman - starting to attract some attention from the mainstream media. But Krauss's star had only begun to rise. Since then she has attained the kind of success that few bluegrass artists could aspire to, complete with Grand Ol' Opry membership, a hit song on country radio (When You Say Nothing At All), and a platinum record ("Now That I've Found You: A Collection"). And just this past October, Alison was named Female Vocalist of the Year, and received the Horizon Award (for emerging artist) at the Country Music Awards - along with garnering Single of the Year and Vocal Event of the Year (Somewhere In The Vicinity of the Heart, by Shenandoah and Krauss).
Riding the wave of the Alison Krauss phenomenon, Ron has played for audiences throughout the United States and Europe, performed regularly on the Opry, and recorded one album with Union Station ("Every Time You Say Goodbye") and three with the Cox Family. During Ron's tenure, Union Station has opened for such big-name country and pop stars as Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Dwight Yoakam, Amy Grant, and even Bob Dylan. Television exposure has included segments on Austin City Limits, The Road, and CBS Sunday Morning, as well as several music videos and appearances with the late-night triumvirate of David Letterman, Jay Leno, and Conan O'Brian. (Letterman even singled Ron out for his supposed resemblance to another guest, actor/director Ron Howard.) Although much of the current attention is focused on Krauss' banjo-less crossover songs (on which Ron plays lead guitar), bluegrass is still at the core of Union Station's live shows, making Ron perhaps the most widely enjoyed bluegrass banjo player since the heyday of Flatt and Scruggs and the Dillards.
Ron was born in 1964 in Inglewood, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. His father, a jazz and blues bass player, owned a music store in nearby Lawndale, so Ron grew up with music from the start. After a few years of preadolescent dabbling on the guitar, he discovered the banjo and bluegrass and was hooked for life. Within a few years he was involved so deeply that he decided to enroll in the bluegrass and country music program at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas. He didn't take the business courses he'd promised his father, but he did form the band Weary Hearts with bassist Mike Bub and guitarist Eric Uglum. That group - which eventually came to include mandolinist Butch Baldassari and guitarist/singer Chris Jones - released three well-received recordings and achieved a measure of national recognition before dissolving some time around 1990. The summer of 1991 saw Ron playing guitar with the Lynn Morris Band, and a few months later he stepped into his present position. Non-pickers sometimes wonder what the fuss is all about. While they can tell that Ron is good, they often don't understand why their banjo-playing friends Ooh and Aah over his breaks, or what sets him apart from other Scruggs-style banjoists. To be sure, the flesh and bones of Ron's sound come from Scruggs, J.D. Crowe, Ralph Stanley, Sonny Osborne, and Kenny Ingram, whose recordings he has thoroughly studied and diligently transcribed. But the posture (so to speak), the hair and clothing, and the facial features are all his own. A firm believer in playing the melody, Ron nevertheless articulates his solos in a completely distinctive manner. Most obvious is his use of slides and chokes - not only the ones that all bluegrass players use, but unconventional ones, too, that suggest the influence of blues and rock guitar. Overall, Ron's playing conveys spontaneity and fervor without sacrificing the precision and solidity that bluegrass demands.
Offstage, Ron is as intent and serious about his craft as he appears to be onstage. Whether giving pointers to fledgling pickers, writing columns for Bluegrass Now or logging hours of practice, he is an advocate for music as an expression of high artistic and personal values. Above all, he is a team player - a musician first and a banjo player second, quick to give credit to his bandmates (bassist Barry Bales, mandolinist Adam Steffey, and guitarist Dan Tyminski). He has no plans to record a solo album.
Continued in Banjo Newsletter Vol. XXIII-3, January 1996
Photo courtesy of Peter Nash
