Member Since: 28/11/2006
Band Members: The recordings on this page and on Ron's CDs were done in a tiny studio at his home on Fever Creek with the All Terego Band. Ron writes the songs, sings and plays rhythm guitar. He leaves the electric guitar, lap steel, accordian, banjo, irish flute, bottle neck resonator, fiddle, autoharp and miscellaneous other instruments to his close friend Cloyd Harvester, and the bass and harmonies to Ole RC. Both these guys are an integral part of Ron's life, inseparable, actually, and have been since birth. Some say you can't tell them apart, yet you never see them all at the same time, hmmmm.... Occassionaly he asks for help from sidemen the likes of Cat Bula on fiddle, Paul Klein on piano or his son Josh on the electric guitar.Ron's usually performs solo or with the ample help of Bert Edkins, "the best damn bass player this side of Fever Creek". Bert not only plays real good, but sings some harmonies, and helps Ron remember the lyrics to his own songs! Ron's other musical love is performing with the Lost Highway Band, formerly known as the Notorious Cainthardly Playboys. This is classic 5 piece country band playing music of the 50s, 60s and 70's, with a distinctive Texas attitude. Check them out at www.myspace.com/thelosthighwayband.
Ron's 2005 CD "Just Outside Kentucky", comprised of 17 songs, is available through CD Baby. Copies of his other CDs are available on personal request. He is currently working on a new CD.
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Influences: "Hardesty's songs sound as though he's been telling stories through music his whole life", says a reviewer in the Cascadia Weekly. In his teens Ron was inspired by the music of Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton, Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, and PP&M. In his twenties it was John Prine, Billy Joe Shaver, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Steve Goodman, Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Jerry Jeff Walker, Steve Fromholz, Rusty Weir, Michael Smith and Jimmy Buffet, among others, who influenced him. His songwritting developed slowly over the years, heavily influenced by those singer/songwriters mentioned above as well as Blaze Foley, Darrell Scott, Roly Salley, Shawn Colvin, Dolly Parton, to only mention a few. More recently a few kids have taught him a thing or two, including Steve Leslie, Jake Hemming, Jasmine Riley, Doug Allen, Cat Bula, and Shawnee Kilgore. It has only been the last four or five years that Ron has shifted his performances from covers to his own material. "Listening to him work his way through up-tempo tunes and gentle ballads, you'd never know it", said the Cascadia Weekly. Well, that was a nice thing to say!
Sounds Like:
Ron has a style and voice all his own. It isn't trained or pretty, but it's a working man's voice. The voice of a story teller. It is genuine, true, and gets the job done. One reviewer suggested he had a "flawed, but warm and comfortable" voice. I guess that's close enough. Ron's songs are unique, though one can often identify the underlying influences in his music. The Cascadia Weekly put it this way: he "melds classic folk and classic country, creating tunes that are both instantly familiar and wholly their own. His songs are alternately hilarious and heartbreaking, stories of characters faced with all the hardships, big and small, that life tends to throw quite unexpectedly". That was darn nice of them to say. One of the nicest things he ever heard was from his Grammie Brown who once said, after listening to a tape of Ron's, "Is that Pete Seeger?" Rest in Peace, Grammie!
Record Label: RCH (home produced)
Type of Label: Indie