Ron Perrone, Musician in the West Virginia Mountains

ME: Ron Perrone

ronperrone.com (A certified NCP* website)

OCCUPATION: Education Director for the Three Rivers Avian Center
PHONE: (304) 466-4683
EMAIL: frp@ronperrone.com

INSTRUMENTS AND EQUIPMENT USED TO PRODUCE THIS COLLECTION:

Guitars

Falcon double neck acoustic guitar
Guild D-35 acoustic guitar
Fernandez electric guitar

Other acoustic instruments

Soprano recorder
6 string banjo

Synthesizers

Roland GR30 digital synthesizer
Moog (Rogue) analog synthesizer
Electro-Harmonix analog Micro Synthesizer

Studio gear

Mackie 1202 Mixer
Lexicon PCM 80 effects
DigiTech 2101 amplifier
Crown Powerbase amp
Alesis 3630 compressor
Aphex Aural Exciter
Electro-Harmonix Poly Chorus
Electro-Harmonix Memory Man
AKAI DPS12 digital mixer w/Glyph hard drive
EVENT 20/20 Monitors
AKG C1000, C3000 microphones. Wires, plugs, paper clips, elelctrical tape , bla, bla, bla . . . why am I tellling you this?

This site is my personal therapy. These tunes are collected from as far back at my high school days and as recently as this year. They are linked conceptually by my love of the natural world and my need for a non-commercial creative outlet. These songs reflect my philosophy, observations, hopes and fears (however misinformed, juvenile, malformed, or ignorant as they may be). But, I do hope that you like them.

I have a fondness for old fashioned analog synth tonalities. Back when no one knew how to really emulate orchestral instruments, synthesizers were creative instruments in their own right, not imitators. Like the theramin (or banging two rocks together for that matter), they produce sounds that are, well, different. As the technology improved, people drifted toward using digital synths as orchestral surrogates. The truly unique musicality of the old analog synths fell into disuse, regarded by many as corny or out-of-date.

You will hear both analog and digital synths in this collection, as well as acoustic instruments. Personally, I don't care how sound happens, if I like it, I like it.

As for the acoustic & traditional materials, most are the songs from my bar gigging days, mostly acoustic guitar and voice. A few are original.

Thanks for listening.

- Ron

As you peruse through the following material, you will quickly discover that I have no consistent "style".
I adapt my style to the tunes and the ideas they give me. They are all pretty different from each other.
If you like what you hear, please drop me a line and let me know.

Sales of Compact discs I sell from this site go to benefit the Three Rivers Avian Center.

Songs marked with an (*) are linked to separate pages for the purpose of presenting lyrics.
The option of playing those tunes is on their respective pages.

Retro Symphonic Electrified Bombast

Under Saurian Skies So back in 1968 - 1971 or so, I wrote this fantasy about a fossilized Pteranodon springing to life. He flies up out of the rock and off into the sky to observe the world of human self-delusion. It strikes me today as a little naive, but so what.

SkyLore Engine * asks the big question concerning the meaning of life, the universe and everything. Alex Wiener wrote the book back in 1972

More reviews from GARAGEBAND...
Best Keyboards in Progressive Rock, week of 9Mar2009
Most Original in Progressive Rock, week of 9Mar2009
Best Mood in Progressive Rock, week of 30Mar2009
Most Original in Progressive Rock, week of 30Mar2009
Most Original in Progressive Rock, week of 6Apr2009
Most Original in Progressive Rock, week of 27Apr2009
Thank You all for the positive reinforcement!

What if the ancestor of all mammals could see us now? Please listen in to my tune , The Voice of the Ancestral Shrew *

Kumbrabow* is an original symphonic rock piece about the tragic destruction of the big trees at Kumbrabow State Forest. Modern forest management at its most disgusting.

Two Brothers - A civil war song, arranged for the Appalachian Dance and Music Ensemble some years back.

Sir Patrick Spens - A long winded traditional ballad about a ship wreck, complete with sea gulls, crashing waves, synthesizers and feedback guitars. Very pretentious. And yes, as you puristas will find out, I screwed up a few words.

I wrote Kimberly's Waltz © 2000 more or less on the spur of the moment as a commercial en devour to raise money for Three Rivers Avian Center. The high bidder at the Art Auction got to name the tune. Good, clean fun and only slightly plagiarized.

Fiddling Around (medley) Traditional tunes (All Around This World, Cluck Old Hen & Angeline), plugged in.

Not So Strictly Traditional Tunes

Butler Creek © 2000 Heres an instrumental guitar piece I wrote in the late 60's about a place where I loved to fish and chuck rocks. Finger picking fun.

Howl Away Dog * is my 'Boy! am I glad to be out of the city' song. Sometime a critter can inspire you.

If you prefer slow, introspective slide guitar, listen to
Truman's Farewell © 2000 dedicated to Truman Capote.

The Veteran * - This was my response to the gluttonous 90's as seen through the eyes of a war veteran. I wrote this right after we invaded Granada. Remember that sterling piece of American gunboat diplomacy?

Spring Hill - Ewan McColl's stark classic about a coal mine disaster in Spring Hill, Nova Scotia.

One Potato Another collection of fiddle tunes wrapped up in my own ideas. Its called One Potato because, um, well, . . . actually, its really stupid, so forget it.

Traditional Acoustic Tunes

Black Jack Davy An oldie, but goodie. Sometimes a woman's gotta do what a woman's gotta do.

Blind Fiddler A Tune from the 1850's, but could have been written yesterday. I learned it in a bar, listening to someone, but who?

Timber is an old work song about a mule. I learned it from an Odetta album in the 1960's. Another critter tune.

Cane on the Brazos is a great Leadbelly prison song from Texas.

Pretty Polly Cold blooded murder most foul, a dark raga for 12 string guitar. The lyrics to this one are kind of creepy, but I am rather proud of the guitar work. No overdubs on this one, a straight through, one take miracle.

John Henry is a tune that has been beaten to death by every bluegrass band in history. This version is a permutation based on the slide guitar work of Frank Hamilton, one of America's great folk singers.

Tenting Tonight The civil war again; sentimental, straightforward and honest.

I learned Fair Beauty Bright from an old album by Cathy Larish and and Carol McComb back in 1967. Don't know where they got it.

The Drinkin' Gourd & Many Thousand Gone These are powerful slave songs which I stitched together into this one piece.

Shady Grove Another old saw arranged here for a dance number for Theater West Virginia's outdoor drama production of Hatfields and McCoys. We wuz a-singin' an' a-dancin' fer ya! Yee-ha! Etc. etc. Hey, at least I got paid!

* NCP = No Commercial Potential and proud of it, thank you!!

COVER ART: Composite picture using a photograph of the Bitterroot Fire by John McColgan, a pteranodon painting by Joe Tucciarone & Jeff Poling, and a photograph of the night sky I got from who knows where. The photo of me jamming on my guitar (on my 50th birthday) was taken by Andrei Kharasov

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