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For over thirty years Ron Rigsby has been picking and singing his own brand of music. Ron began playing the guitar at the tender age of five and begged his mother to change his name to Ricky Nelson, innocently believing that this would make him sing like his childhood idol. A little while later, he fell under the influence of his Bluegrass loving father and started listening to the music that eventually carried him to the varied stages and places all across the United States and Canada.
In 1974, after playing in local groups The Bluegrass Rangers and The Stevens Brothers, Ron got his first professional break with Bluegrass Legend Charlie Moore. While attending Ralph Stanley's Bluegrass Festival in McLure, Virginia, Rigsby got the chance to audition for Moore. One month later, he got the call and off the fifteen year-old boy went to play with Moore at the renowned Festival of the Bluegrass in Lexington, Kentucky.
Ron continued playing for Charlie Moore off and on for the next two and a half years. At about the same time, Rigsby had the chance to play with a group in Las Vegas and moved there for six months for a very eye opening experience. Just a boy from the hills of eastern Kentucky was wide-eyed and full of wonder at the bright lights and all of the glamour and glitz to behold in the desert oasis. He played such venues as Caesar's Palace and Uncle Tom's Cabin. He discovered that bigger is not always better and returned home.
After ventures in entrepreneurships and perfecting his trade of welding and pipefitting, in 1978, Ron met the love of his life, Melanie Jane Allen. After a speedy courtship, the two were married and Ron moved to the Athens, Ohio area where he was introduced to Randy and Marsha Brady and a new musical alliance was born. The group One Way Track (later known as Ron Rigsby and One Way Track) was formed with the original members Ron, Randy, Jeff Somerville and Allen Stack (formerly of The Rarely Herd). After a few personnel changes, a recording was planned and the result was an album entitled Great Day In May with special guest appearance by Dobro Legend Jerry Douglas.
In The early 1980's, Ron began to participate in numerous banjo contests throughout Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia. He won most of them. In 1985, he was named the Ohio State Banjo Champion by then Governor, Richard F. Celeste and decided that this would be a good place to stop! Around the same time, country radio began to take a turn back to the more traditional sounds, and Ron had always loved this type of music from his childhood and decided to try his hand at this. For the remainder of the eighties, Ron could be found most Friday and Saturday nights in the honky tonks and nightclubs scattered across the Maryland and the Tri-State area of Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia playing his own flavor of traditional, hard-edged country music. In 1988, Ron moved his family to Nashville to try his hand at music in the country music capital of the world. Though Ron's love for music never stopped, he did put his music on hold once he and his family settled down in Tennessee.
In May of 1999, after a timely absence from the music scene, Ron found a renewed sense of urgency to begin performing and recording again. Fueled by his daughter Amy's requests for his music and dear friend and acclaimed fiddle player, Randy Howard's, bout with cancer, Ron undertook the task of recording Banjo On The Run, a project that was uniquely his own. Not 100% bluegrass, but a mix of Ron's favorite genres, Banjo On The Run, was just the comeback project Ron needed to get back into the business.
From playing at the Gibson Bluegrass Showcase, The Ryman Auditorium and even in the movie Goin' South, Ron seems to balance business life with musical pleasure quite nicely. Currently, Ron can be seen and heard singing and playing banjo and guitar in The Homer Dever Band, a group of local pickers who just happen to be some of the most talented and sought after musicians in Country and Bluegrass music today. Ron has said it is some of the most fun he has ever had playing music.
Right along with Homer Dever Ron often sits in with fellow bluegrass singer songwriter Alan Laney, young fiddler Leah Gray, country artist Dave Wilbert for some great performances each uniquely their own. Ron has also been known to team up with his cousin John Rigsby and his brother Don Rigsby (of Don Rigsby & Midnight Call and Longview fame) to perform as The Rigsby Boys. Usually performing for special occasions, the family based group proves to have one of the best sounds in Bluegrass music today.
Also behind the scenes producing and picking on various projects, Ron is also likely to be found in his own recording studio, Brickshy Audio. Ron has produced Ralph Stanley II a.k.a Two's Grammy Nominated CD "Carryin' On" that received great reviews since its release. Joe Ross, staff writer for Bluegrass Now says, "Carrying On is the album that is going to further launch (Ralph II's) career to a greater height." "Taken as a whole, his new album's rich blend of country and bluegrass is arguably even better than his 2002 Grammy Nominated effort, "Stanley Blues," comments Dan Armonaitis in the Country Standard Time review.
But the music doesn't stop there, Ron has plenty more projects on his musical plate. So be sure to be on the lookout for new stuff coming from Ron and Brickshy Audio soon!
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