Don't Stop Dancing

Don't Stop Dancing

Bruce Von Stiers

It has been said that the music of Ron Sowell “defies characterization”. Is it folk music? Alt-folk, mountain roots, or something else entirely. After listening to a few of Ron's songs, I'd say it's of the something else entirely variety.

Ron is the musical director for Mountain Stage. I must admit I didn't know what that is. So, I looked it up and was pleasantly surprised. Mountain Stage presents live music on public radio. It is a two-hour radio show produced by West Virginia Public Broadcasting and distributed by NPR Music. Country music legend Kathy Mattea is currently the host of Mountain Stage.

Ron joined Mountain Stage as the resident guitarist. He moved his way up the ladder until he became the musical director. Along the way, as a member of the Mountain Stage Band, Ron played with a who's who of guest artists, including Norah Jones, Lyle Lovett, Dr. John and REM. So, you might say that Ron has a decent musical pedigree.

During all this time, Ron wrote some songs and recorded a few albums. This spring, Ron is releasing a brand-new album. This new album is titled Dance Till The Music Stops. The album contains ten original songs, written by Ron.

A whole bunch of people helped out on the album. Ammed Soloman played the drums and did percussion. Lars Swanson played the electric fretless bass, acoustic upright bass and the saxophone. Ryan Kennedy played the classic guitar and 6 & 12 string electric guitars. Jeff Haught was on piano, keyboard and melodica. Randy Gilkey also played the piano on the album. Alaha Al-Qudwha was on violin. Alex Cardwell played trombone, Jeff Carter played clarinet, and David Porter played the trumpet. Joel Guzman was on accordion and maracas.

Ron did the lead vocals and played guitar.

Helping on backing vocals were Julie Adams, Kira Small, Mira Costa, Chuck Rives, Tommy Williams, Bill Kimmons, John Wikstrom and Kathy Mattea.

The first song on the album is Everything That Comes Round Goes Round. To me, the song is almost a soft pop/rock ballad reminiscent of late 70's music. Then, about halfway through, the song gets a touch of The Ventures surf rock styling. And near the end, there is a sliver of a sound that might remind of the keyboarding style of Three Dog Night. It is definitely an interesting song.

It's All Up To You is a fun tune that has some nice acoustic guitar. It's about being young or being old, it's all up to you. The song slides a bit of slick saxophone in there too. And there's a bit of piano, like a carnival or circus styling.

The title track, Dance Till The Music Stops, is a mellow tune. It reminded me a little of soft rock songs from the early to mid ‘70's. Apparently the song was inspired by a friend of Ron's who was dealing with early onset Alzheimer's disease.

In Search of Some Creole Soul has a mixed bag of different styles of music. It is a raucous tune that has some really cool melodica spliced in.

Do You Think It's That Easy is about a bad breakup and how she now wants him back. But too many bridges were burned, he's changed the locks on the doors, and he's even given all of her things to the Goodwill store. But apparently, she thinks it'll be easy to take up where they left off. Anyone who's had a bad breakup, me included, knows it's never as easy as it seems to start back up from where you stopped. This is a great song that features some nice violin and backing vocals by Kathy Mattea.

I Never Knew is a toe-tapping, smile effecting tune that features terrific accordion music. The song has an almost Zydeco tone to it.

There Is Only Love is a folk type of soft ballad.

At Home In The World is a mild pop rock flavored song.

Who But A Fool is a toe-tapping tune that might make you think of Jimmy Buffett.

The album closes with Out There In The Hall / Old Songs. It is a soft and gentle song of remembrances which gave him his love of music.

As you might of discerned from my descriptions of the songs on this album, Ron Sowell's music does kind of defy characterization. To me his music has some pop, a tiny bit of classic soft rock and swaths of folk mixed in. All of that makes for a interesting and entertaining listening experience.

Dance Till The Music Stops is set to be released on May 9th .

To find out more about Ron Sowell and this album, visit https://www.ronsowell.com/ .

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