Ron Block
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Ron Block
- Genres: Country
Biography
Banjo player Ron Block devoted more than a dozen years to Alison Krauss & Union Station and other groups before branching out to record Faraway Land, a solo album of gospel music that was released by Rounder Records in 2001. He previously spent about four years during the late '80s with the group Weary Hearts, of which he was a founding member, and a bit of time early the following decade with the Lynn Morris Band. With Alison Krauss & Union Station since 1991, when he stepped in to take over for Alison Brown, Block provided enduring and lovely songs for the outfit's albums, and they are frequently concerned with the topic of faith. Among the other artists who have recorded Block's songs are Michael W. Smith, Randy Travis, Rhonda Vincent, the Forbes Family, fellow Union Station member Dan Tyminski, and the Cox Family. Block has lent his talents to recordings by Vince Gill, Dolly Parton, Clint Black, Susan Ashton, Brad Paisley, Billy Dean, and Bill Frisell, among others. In addition to his songwriting and playing, Block also has worked as a producer on the bluegrass-gospel In the Shadow of Your Wings, recorded by the Forbes Family. The list of artists who contributed to Block's debut reads like a high-caliber who's who, and includes Alison Krauss & Union Station, Chris Thile and his Nickel Creek partners, Sara Watkins and Sean Watkins, and the Forbes Family.Block, whose father owned a music store in Lawndale, CA, got his hands on a guitar of his own when he was 11 years old. After catching a televised performance by Lester Flatt two years later, he was drawn to the banjo. Later that same year, his father presented him with one of the instruments, a Kay model, as a Christmas gift. After high school he turned to Texas' South Plains College to study music, specifically country and bluegrass. There he joined forces with Eric Uglum and Mike Bub to establish Weary Hearts. The group would later include Chris Jones and Butch Baldassari. In addition to Flatt, Block cites a wide range of musical influences, including Flatt's partner Earl Scruggs, Bill Monroe, Jerry Douglas, Tony Rice, and Ricky Skaggs, among others. Inspiration later came from such diverse musicians as B.B. King, Benny Goodman, Eric Clapton, Pat Metheny, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, and Larry Carlton. In 2007 Block released DoorWay, his second solo album, on the Rounder label. ~ Linda Seida, Rovi
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Ron Block
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Ron Block
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Ronald Franklin "Ron" Block (born July 30, 1964) is an American bluegrass and alternative country musician, mainly playing the banjo and the guitar, singing, and writing gospel music.
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Biography
Block was born in 1964 in Inglewood, California. He received his first guitar at 11. He first became interested in banjo at 13, after seeing Earl Scruggs play on television. His interest in guitars and singing grew after seeing The Stanley Brothers and Larry Sparks. He is best known for his participation in the Grammy Award winning band, Alison Krauss & Union Station.
For the past twenty years, Ron Block has been the spiritual touchstone of Alison Krauss and Union Station, contributing sterling musicianship on banjo, guitar, vocals, and songwriting.
Alison Krauss and Union Station have recorded 10 of Block’s songs since 1992, including There Is A Reason," "In The Palm of Your Hand," "Jesus Help Me To Stand," and "A Living Prayer, which received a 2006 Gospel Music Association Dove award. His songs have also been recorded and performed by Rhonda Vincent (“You’re In My Heart”), Randy Travis (“Which Way Will You Choose”), Dan Tyminski (“Be Assured,” “The One You Lean On,” and “It All Comes Down To You”), Michael W. Smith (“Loving You Eternally”), Rhonda Vincent (“You’re In My Heart”), the Cox Family, and the Forbes Family.
Block’s first solo album, Faraway Land (Rounder, 2001), met with great critical acclaim and raised the bar for Block as an artist for his Rounder Records follow-up, DoorWay. Boasting an all-star lineup featuring Alison Krauss, Dan Tyminski, Jerry Douglas, Barry Bales, Adam Steffey, Stuart Duncan, Viktor Krauss, Suzanne and Sidney Cox, Andy Hubbard (Little Big Town) and Homer, Lisa, and Lori Forbes, among others. Billboard Magazine/All Music Guide says, “Ron Block is best known to bluegrass lovers as the banjo player with Union Station, Alison Krauss’ backing band. But he’s also an excellent singer, songwriter, and guitarist, and on his second solo album he expands his stylistic parameters to very winning effect…” Barnes and Noble: “His Union Station mates Jerry Douglas and Dan Tyminski may be better known, but Ron Block levels the playing field with his second solo album, an assertive exploration of his Christian faith…”
Ron has also produced The Forbes Family’s In the Shadow of Your Wings," a classic of contemporary bluegrass gospel, and co-produced and played on Sierra Hull’s debut recording, Secrets.
Block has also recorded with Dolly Parton, Brad Paisley, Fernando Ortega, Andrew Peterson, Susan Ashton, Vince Gill, the Cox Family, Clint Black, Dan Tyminski, Bill Frisell, Josh Turner, Billy Dean, Michael Johnson, Ronnie Bowman, Dailey and Vincent, Bradley Walker, Twila Paris, McBride and the Ride, and many other country, bluegrass, and Christian artists, and received an Album of the Year Grammy Award for his work on the "O Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack.
Discography
| Title | Album details | Peak positions |
|---|---|---|
| US Bluegrass | ||
| Faraway Land |
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| DoorWay |
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7 |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||
Quotation
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This section is a candidate to be copied to Wikiquote using the Transwiki process. |
They (Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs) took the existing forms of music of the day, and radically innovated a new music form. So the spirit of that is happening today. It's taking the roots and turning it into a new thing that's uniquely your own.[1]
References
- ^ Du Noyer, Paul (2003). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music (1st ed.). Fulham, London: Flame Tree Publishing. p. 215. ISBN 1-904041-96-5.
External links
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Mentioned in
Nashville
(1997 Album by Bill Frisell)
Faraway Land
(2001 Album by Ron Block)
Little Big Town
(Country Band, 2000s)
Sierra Hull
(Country Artist, 2000s)
Every Time You Say Goodbye
(1992 Album by Alison Krauss and Union Station)
» More