LONESOME RON – KING OF THE VALLEY YODELERS
Songs of the American Cattle Trails
Whoopi Ti Yi Yo – Old Chisholm Trail – I
Ride An Old Paint – When The Work’s All Done This Fall – Streets of
Laredo – Long Side of the Santa Fe Trail – A Cowboy’s Life – Colorado
Trail – Chuck Wagon Joe – Red River Valley – Molly Dear Molly – Doney
Gal – Lonely Line Camp – Home On The Range – I’d Like To Be In Texas For
The Round Up In The Spring
Ride An Old Paint – When The Work’s All Done This Fall – Streets of
Laredo – Long Side of the Santa Fe Trail – A Cowboy’s Life – Colorado
Trail – Chuck Wagon Joe – Red River Valley – Molly Dear Molly – Doney
Gal – Lonely Line Camp – Home On The Range – I’d Like To Be In Texas For
The Round Up In The Spring
Lonesome Ron is from Minnesota, his name is Ron Affolter,
and he’s a cowboy. This is a remarkable collection of well known
western or cowboy songs from the past, way back in the ‘traditional’
bag. We’ve heard these songs many times done by various artists, most
of them sound-alike imitators of the original versions. Not so with
Lonesome Ron. Number one, he has a very nice ‘yodel’ click-on to just
about every song he does. It’s just something natural he does, and
certainly identifies him as a one-of-a-kind singer of old western
ballads. Number two, his voice is very real, and it sounds just like
the singers of the past. It’s ‘real.’ He is self-accompanied on a very
nice sounding acoustic guitar with especially nice bass and
bottom-string sounds. I find this project remarkable in another way.
Ron found a way to get the Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council to
provide some funds for the recording through an ‘Artist Grant.’ This
happens a lot in the Appalachian area, but sometimes they record
not-so-good artists simply because they might have a historical song
they haven’t heard before. Not the case with Lonesome Ron. He tells us
what each song is about, plus he adds three songs from his own
pen…”Chuckwagon Joe,” (a song about a very important person on the
trail ride, the cook.) “Molly Dear Molly,” (Ron wrote this song about
Jeff Farris who trail rode 2,500 cattle with only ten men), and “Lonely
Line Camp.’ (a lonely job as the cowboy would spend months with only his
horse to keep him company). All of them right in the vein of every
other ‘traditional’ songs he has on this CD. Matter of fact I would be
hard-put to say all three are not ‘old traditional’ songs they are so
well written in the genre. I shall not be surprised at all to see the
Rural Roots Music Commission announcing their interest in this CD.
We’re going to have a new ‘Cowboy & Western’ show at LeMars this
year, Ron will be helped out by Dallas, Texas, cowboy Buck Helton. Add a
few cowboy poets and we’ll be set. We’re going to have a new stage, a
nice quiet one with the smell of small campfires and iron pot cooking,
in the Tipi Village in that old Pioneer Ghost Town. Should be a good
place to get the ‘Cowboy & Western’ show started. We will sure be
looking forward to some good time with Ron at LeMars. You’ll hear Ron
at his ‘yodeling’ best on ‘Home on the Range” Anyone who reads this
should come share it with us. The cover is quite well done too, in
neutral browns, tans, sepia, even some light yellow, very reminiscent of
the past. Ron is located at www.LonesomeRon.com
and he’s a cowboy. This is a remarkable collection of well known
western or cowboy songs from the past, way back in the ‘traditional’
bag. We’ve heard these songs many times done by various artists, most
of them sound-alike imitators of the original versions. Not so with
Lonesome Ron. Number one, he has a very nice ‘yodel’ click-on to just
about every song he does. It’s just something natural he does, and
certainly identifies him as a one-of-a-kind singer of old western
ballads. Number two, his voice is very real, and it sounds just like
the singers of the past. It’s ‘real.’ He is self-accompanied on a very
nice sounding acoustic guitar with especially nice bass and
bottom-string sounds. I find this project remarkable in another way.
Ron found a way to get the Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council to
provide some funds for the recording through an ‘Artist Grant.’ This
happens a lot in the Appalachian area, but sometimes they record
not-so-good artists simply because they might have a historical song
they haven’t heard before. Not the case with Lonesome Ron. He tells us
what each song is about, plus he adds three songs from his own
pen…”Chuckwagon Joe,” (a song about a very important person on the
trail ride, the cook.) “Molly Dear Molly,” (Ron wrote this song about
Jeff Farris who trail rode 2,500 cattle with only ten men), and “Lonely
Line Camp.’ (a lonely job as the cowboy would spend months with only his
horse to keep him company). All of them right in the vein of every
other ‘traditional’ songs he has on this CD. Matter of fact I would be
hard-put to say all three are not ‘old traditional’ songs they are so
well written in the genre. I shall not be surprised at all to see the
Rural Roots Music Commission announcing their interest in this CD.
We’re going to have a new ‘Cowboy & Western’ show at LeMars this
year, Ron will be helped out by Dallas, Texas, cowboy Buck Helton. Add a
few cowboy poets and we’ll be set. We’re going to have a new stage, a
nice quiet one with the smell of small campfires and iron pot cooking,
in the Tipi Village in that old Pioneer Ghost Town. Should be a good
place to get the ‘Cowboy & Western’ show started. We will sure be
looking forward to some good time with Ron at LeMars. You’ll hear Ron
at his ‘yodeling’ best on ‘Home on the Range” Anyone who reads this
should come share it with us. The cover is quite well done too, in
neutral browns, tans, sepia, even some light yellow, very reminiscent of
the past. Ron is located at www.LonesomeRon.com
Review by Bob Everhart www.ntcma.net
for Country Music News International