Ron Block

Ron Block playing his banjo

Ronald Franklin "Ron" Block (born July 30, 1964, Age 51 years) is an American bluegrass and alternative country musician, mainly playing the banjo and the guitar, singing, and writing bluegrass music. He has been awarded 14 Grammys, 6 International Bluegrass Awards, and a CMA Award.

Biography

Banjoist, guitarist, and vocalist Ron Block has devoted more than 30 years to playing music. After teen years spent in local bands, he 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. Since joining Alison Krauss & Union Station in 1991, Block has provided banjo, lead and rhythm guitar, and harmony and lead vocals for the band’s recordings and live shows.

Block has also written enduring and lovely songs frequently concerned with the topic of faith for Alison Krauss & Union Station – songs like A Living Prayer, There is a Reason, and In the Palm of Your Hand. 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 instrumental talents to recordings by Alan Jackson, Vince Gill, Dolly Parton, Kate Rusby, Clint Black, Little Big Town, Susan Ashton, Brad Paisley, Billy Dean, and Bill Frisell, and many others.

In addition to his songwriting and playing, Block has also worked as a producer on the bluegrass-gospel In the Shadow of Your Wings, recorded by the Forbes Family, and also Sierra Hull’s first Rounder recording, Secrets. In addition, he has produced three of his own recordings of mostly original material. The list of artists who contributed to Block's first three solo albums reads like a high-caliber who's-who, and includes Kate Rusby, Suzanne Cox, Alison Krauss, Dan Tyminski, Barry Bales, Adam Steffey, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Sam Bush, Chris Thile and his Nickel Creek partners Sean and Sara Watkins, Viktor Krauss, the Cox Family, the Forbes Family, and many more.

Block, whose father Chuck owned a rock and roll music store in Lawndale, California, 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 captivated with the sound of the banjo. Later that same year, his father presented him with one of the instruments, a Harmony 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 Lester Flatt, Block cites a wide range of musical influences, including Flatt's partner Earl Scruggs, J.D. Crowe and the New South, Jimmy Martin, Larry Sparks, the Stanley Brothers, Bill Monroe, Clarence White, Doc Watson, the Osborne Brothers, Tony Rice, Ricky Skaggs, among many 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.

Recent career

In the Spring of 2015 Block partnered up with Nashville Management company, Music City Management, and launched his new website, RonBlock.com.

Block went into the studio in May of 2015 to record his upcoming instrumental bluegrass album titled, "Hogan's House of Music" which releases September 25th, 2015.

"Hogan's House of Music features guest appearances by: Stuart Duncan, Alison Krauss, Jerry Douglas, Rob Ickes, Barry Bales, Byron House, Mark Fain, Adam Steffey, Sierra Hull, Clay Hess, Jeff Taylor, Lynn Williams, Sam Bush, Tim Crouch, and Dan Tyminski.

Awards

Grammys
International Bluegrass Awards
CMA Award
Dove Awards

Discography

Title Album details Peak positions
US Bluegrass
Faraway Land N/A
DoorWay
  • Release date: June 19, 2007
  • Label: Rounder Records
 7
Walking Song
  • Release date: July 30, 2013
  • Label: Rounder Records
 7
Hogan's House of Music
  • Release date: September 25, 2015
  • Label: Hogan's House of Music
 2
Carter's Creek Pike
  • Release date: November 27, 2015
  • Label: Hogan's House of Music
 N/A
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

References

    External links

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