Bo Ramsey - Davenport, IA

Bo Ramsey, the heralded folk/blues/roots music troubadour, recently played the Redstone Room at the River Music Experience in downtown Davenport.  He was unveiling his new CD, Fragile, which came out the end of March.  We got a copy of it - it's pretty good music. 

I've known Bo Ramsey for a number of years, first meeting him in 1977 when he was part of Patrick Hazell and the Mother Blues Band.  They played my annual pasture party that summer and they were a big hit.  At that time he was known as "Bibby" Ramsey and had only been playing guitar for a couple three years.  But he was such a natural at it that he quickly became one of the anchors of the band.  Here is a picture of the Mother Blues Band from 1977 - Bo Ramsey is in the back with the white hat on. 

The Mother Blues Band played at my party again in 1979, only without Ramsey who had gone on to a solo career with his band, The Sliders.  Ramsey also began a relationship with Greg Brown, producing and playing on a number of Brown's great albums in the 80's and 90's.  In 1997, Brown and Ramsey were nominated for a Grammy as co-producers of Brown's great "Slant 6 Mind" album.

Ramsey has also played with and produced albums with artists such as Kevin Gordon, Pieta Brown and the legendary Lucinda Williams.  He toured with Williams for a while and appeared on "The Late Show with David Letterman" and "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" backing Williams. 

Still, Bo has stayed true to his down home roots and has remained in Iowa making music.  We stayed in contact over the years, running into each other at gigs and the like.  He's played a number of events I've worked over the past few years and it's always great to talk with him. 

Cindy has fallen in love with Bo's music ever since she saw him perform during a 1995 reunion of The Mother Blues Band at the Palmer Auditorium here  in Davenport. In fact, we tried to get him to play our wedding reception back in May of 1995.  But Bo had gotten pretty big by then and even though he gave us a discounted price of $800 to play, we decided that was out of our budget.  Looking back, we should have come up with the extra bucks and had him play.  That would have been a large time. 

Here's a music video Bo did a few years ago with the title song from his 1997 album "In The Weeds".  You'll get a good idea of what his modern music style is from the video:   

Because Ramsey is such a well-known musician in Eastern Iowa, the Redstone Room was filled to capacity when Bo hit the stage with his backup band.  We had a couple of extra seats at our table and a younger couple was looking for a place to sit.  Cindy offered them the seats and they gladly took them.  It turned out the guy was Scotty Hays, a talented guitar player from Wisconsin who is living in the Quad Cities now, and his friend, Jenny.  Although I'd heard about Scotty Hays, I'd not seen him perform before.  He was a very nice guy and we had a good time with them at the show. 

Ramsey's music is almost indescribable.  He has kind of a folk, rock, blues, country thing going on.  He can pick it up and slap it down with up-tempo offerings, or he can lay back and play a haunting slide guitar that conjures up the music he used to hear growing up on the Mississippi River as a young Bob Ramsey.  His style may not be good for everyone, but, for me, it's enjoyable to listen to.

Bo and the band played two sets and ended up about 11:30.  We were able to talk to Bo for a moment after the show.  He's always genuinely happy to see me and is gracious that I take the time to stop by and say, "Hey!"  He's as soft spoken as the day is long, but always the gentleman when he comes around.  He's as great a guy as he is a musician. 

Comments

[Dirk]

Oh, how I loved the Mother Blues Band. Got to see them perform at the Mill Restaurant in Iowa City about five years ago. It was magical. Mississippi Mama is one of my all time favorite songs.