Ronnie Earl
Encyclopedia
Ronnie Earl is an American
blues
guitarist
and music instructor.
, rock
and soul
records
while growing up. He studied American History at C.W. Post College on Long Island for a year and a half, then moved to Boston to pursue a Bachelor's Degree
in Special Education and Education at Boston University
where he would graduate in 1975. He spent a short time teaching handicapped children. It was during his college years that he attended a Muddy Waters
concert at the Jazz Workshop in Boston. After seeing Waters perform, Earl took a serious interest in the guitar, which he had first picked up in 1973. His first job was as a rhythm guitar
ist at The Speakeasy, a blues club in Cambridge, Massachusetts
. In addition to playing in the Boston blues scene, Earl traveled twice by Greyhound Bus
to Chicago, where he was introduced to the Chicago blues scene by Koko Taylor
.
Later he traveled to New Orleans and Austin, Texas
, where he spent time with Kim Wilson
, Jimmy Vaughan and The Fabulous Thunderbirds. In 1979 he joined The Roomful of Blues
as lead guitar
ist for the band
.
He began performing solo
in 1986, in addition to playing with Roomful of Blues, and he released his first solo album
on the Black Top Records
label
with a quartet that focused on blues instrumental
s. After leaving Roomful of Blues, he began collaborations with contemporaries Ron Levy and Jerry Portnoy
, Earl King
, Jimmy Rogers
, and Jimmy Witherspoon
.
In 1988 Earl formed his own band that he called The Broadcasters, named after the first Fender guitar which originally had been labeled The Broadcaster and was distributed in 1950. The first group of Broadcasters included Darrell Nulisch
(vocalist), Jerry Portnoy
(harmonica), Steve Gomes (bass), and Per Hanson (drums). In 1988 they released their first album, Soul Searchin, followed by Peace of Mind in 1990. Their album Language of the Soul was released in 1994. The lineup for the Broadcasters for that album was Bruce Katz (keyboards), Pers Hanson (drums) and "Rocket" Rod Carey (bass). The next album The Colour of Love, featured Marc Quinones (percusion) and Gregg Allman
(keyboards). The association lead to Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters opening for the Allman Brothers Band at Great Woods, and Warren Haynes (guitar for the Allman Brothers Band) sitting in with Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters at Johnnie D's in Somerville. Later Katz joining the Gregg Allman Band.
In 2000, Earl was diagnosed with several medical ailments, and scaled back his touring, as well as re-evaluating his career plans. The current group of Broadcasters, Jimmy Mouradian (bass), Dave Limina (organ), and Lorne Entress
(drums), began playing together prior to the 2003 release of I Feel Like Going On and, in 2009, released Living in the Light, their fifth release from Stony Plain Records
. In 2008, Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters celebrated twenty years as a band, and by August, 2010, Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters released Spread the Love.
Earl is a two-time Blues Music Award winner as Guitar Player of the Year. For five years he was an Associate Professor of Guitar at Berklee College of Music
and, in 1995, he released Ronnie Earl: Blues Guitar with Soul, an instructional VHS tape that was then re-released in DVD format in 2005. Earl was also the blues instructor at the 'National Guitar Summer Workshop'.
In early 2004, Earl's "Hey Jose" won in the third Independent Music Awards
for Best Blues/R&B Song.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
and music instructor.
Career
Earl collected blues, jazzJazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
and soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
records
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
while growing up. He studied American History at C.W. Post College on Long Island for a year and a half, then moved to Boston to pursue a Bachelor's Degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in Special Education and Education at Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
where he would graduate in 1975. He spent a short time teaching handicapped children. It was during his college years that he attended a Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
concert at the Jazz Workshop in Boston. After seeing Waters perform, Earl took a serious interest in the guitar, which he had first picked up in 1973. His first job was as a rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
ist at The Speakeasy, a blues club in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
. In addition to playing in the Boston blues scene, Earl traveled twice by Greyhound Bus
Greyhound Lines
Greyhound Lines, Inc., based in Dallas, Texas, is an intercity common carrier of passengers by bus serving over 3,700 destinations in the United States, Canada and Mexico, operating under the well-known logo of a leaping greyhound. It was founded in Hibbing, Minnesota, USA, in 1914 and...
to Chicago, where he was introduced to the Chicago blues scene by Koko Taylor
Koko Taylor
Koko Taylor sometimes spelled KoKo Taylor was an American Chicago blues musician, popularly known as the "Queen of the Blues." She was known primarily for her rough, powerful vocals and traditional blues stylings....
.
Later he traveled to New Orleans and Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, where he spent time with Kim Wilson
Kim Wilson
Kim Wilson is an American blues singer and harmonica player. He is best known as the lead vocalist and frontman for The Fabulous Thunderbirds on two hit songs of the 1980s; "Tuff Enuff", and "Wrap It Up."-Career:...
, Jimmy Vaughan and The Fabulous Thunderbirds. In 1979 he joined The Roomful of Blues
Roomful of Blues
Roomful Of Blues is an American blues and swing revival big band based in Rhode Island. With a recording career that spans over 40 years, they have toured worldwide and recorded many albums. Roomful of Blues, according to The Chicago Sun-Times, “Swagger, sway and swing with energy and precision...
as lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
ist for the band
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
.
He began performing solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
in 1986, in addition to playing with Roomful of Blues, and he released his first solo album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
on the Black Top Records
Black Top Records
Black Top Records was a New Orleans, Louisiana based independent record label founded in 1981 by brothers Nauman S. Scott, III and Hammond Scott. The label specialized in blues and R&B music. The first release was "Talk To You By Hand" by Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets...
label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
with a quartet that focused on blues instrumental
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
s. After leaving Roomful of Blues, he began collaborations with contemporaries Ron Levy and Jerry Portnoy
Jerry Portnoy
Jerry Portnoy is an American harmonica blues musician, who has toured with Muddy Waters and Eric Clapton.-Biography:Portnoy grew up in Chicago's Maxwell Street neighborhood where his family owned a store...
, Earl King
Earl King
This article is about the musical artist. For the Earl King convicted of murdering a ship's officer, see Earl King, Ernest Ramsay, and Frank Conner...
, Jimmy Rogers
Jimmy Rogers
Jimmy Rogers was an American Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player, best known for his work as a member of Muddy Waters' band of the 1950s.-Career:...
, and Jimmy Witherspoon
Jimmy Witherspoon
Jimmy Witherspoon was an American jump blues singer.-Early life and career:James Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas. He first attracted attention singing with Teddy Weatherford's band in Calcutta, India, which made regular radio broadcasts over the U. S. Armed Forces Radio Service during...
.
In 1988 Earl formed his own band that he called The Broadcasters, named after the first Fender guitar which originally had been labeled The Broadcaster and was distributed in 1950. The first group of Broadcasters included Darrell Nulisch
Darrell Nulisch
Darrell Nulisch is an American electric blues singer and harmonica player. Prior to his solo career, he was a member of Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets and The Broadcasters...
(vocalist), Jerry Portnoy
Jerry Portnoy
Jerry Portnoy is an American harmonica blues musician, who has toured with Muddy Waters and Eric Clapton.-Biography:Portnoy grew up in Chicago's Maxwell Street neighborhood where his family owned a store...
(harmonica), Steve Gomes (bass), and Per Hanson (drums). In 1988 they released their first album, Soul Searchin, followed by Peace of Mind in 1990. Their album Language of the Soul was released in 1994. The lineup for the Broadcasters for that album was Bruce Katz (keyboards), Pers Hanson (drums) and "Rocket" Rod Carey (bass). The next album The Colour of Love, featured Marc Quinones (percusion) and Gregg Allman
Gregg Allman
Gregory Lenoir Allman , known as Gregg Allman, is a rock and blues singer, keyboardist, guitarist and songwriter, and a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band. He was inducted with the band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Georgia...
(keyboards). The association lead to Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters opening for the Allman Brothers Band at Great Woods, and Warren Haynes (guitar for the Allman Brothers Band) sitting in with Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters at Johnnie D's in Somerville. Later Katz joining the Gregg Allman Band.
In 2000, Earl was diagnosed with several medical ailments, and scaled back his touring, as well as re-evaluating his career plans. The current group of Broadcasters, Jimmy Mouradian (bass), Dave Limina (organ), and Lorne Entress
Lorne Entress
Lorne Entress is an American drummer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer currently living in Glastonbury, Connecticut.Entress has worked with a wide range of artists in folk, blues and jazz styles. Perhaps the artist with whom he has worked with most closely is singer-songwriter Mark Erelli...
(drums), began playing together prior to the 2003 release of I Feel Like Going On and, in 2009, released Living in the Light, their fifth release from Stony Plain Records
Stony Plain Records
Stony Plain Records is a major Canadian independent record label, which specializes in roots music genres such as country, folk and blues. The label was the recipient of a 2003 Western Canadian Music Award for "Independent Record Label/Distributor of the Year"....
. In 2008, Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters celebrated twenty years as a band, and by August, 2010, Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters released Spread the Love.
Earl is a two-time Blues Music Award winner as Guitar Player of the Year. For five years he was an Associate Professor of Guitar at Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
and, in 1995, he released Ronnie Earl: Blues Guitar with Soul, an instructional VHS tape that was then re-released in DVD format in 2005. Earl was also the blues instructor at the 'National Guitar Summer Workshop'.
In early 2004, Earl's "Hey Jose" won in the third Independent Music Awards
The Independent Music Awards
The Independent Music Awards is an international program that honors top-ranked independent artists and releases in more than 50 Album, Song, Music Video and Design categories....
for Best Blues/R&B Song.
See also
- List of blues musicians
- San Francisco Blues FestivalSan Francisco Blues FestivalDebuting in 1973, the San Francisco Blues Festival is the longest running blues festival in the United States. Tom Mazzolini, the event's producer, founded the blues festival to educate the public about the history and evolution of the blues...
- Long Beach Blues FestivalLong Beach Blues FestivalThe Long Beach Blues Festival, in Long Beach, California, was established in full in 1980, and is one of the largest Blues festivals and is the second oldest on the West Coast . It is held on Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend. For many years it was held on the athletic field on the...
- Black Top Records catalogBlack Top Records catalogThis is a catalog for Black Top Records, organized in the order of catalog numbers: Nos. Artist/Title Year BT 1001 Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets: Talk To You By Hand 1981 BT 1021 The Cold Cuts: Meat The Cold Cuts 1982...