As I arrive at Baine’s Books and Coffee around 7:30 on a Saturday evening, the sun is only beginning to set. Even though it’s late spring, it’s been fairly cool all day. Inside, it’s warmer, and an early crowd has gathered to see multiple-instrumentalist and singer Jason Ring perform. I take a seat in the back of the room, listening as Ring delivers a finger picked version of “Deep River Blues” that would make Doc Watson proud.
The crowd, an easy mix of locals and out-of-towners, will grow throughout the evening. Two couples at the table next to mine talk quietly, while another couple has stopped in for tonight’s dinner special, chicken pot pie. The most prominent cluster, however, has gathered directly in front of the stage where they can admire Ring’s playing and perhaps “borrow” one of his signature licks.
After a couple of songs, Ring switches to banjo, then mandolin, then Dobro. At other times, he becomes a one-person band, using a nifty piece of technology called a “loop station” that allows him to extend any instrumental pattern as long as he pleases. After adding a guitar pattern to the loop, for instance, he exchanges the guitar for a bass. In short order, Ring will lay down two guitars, a bass, and mandolin, allowing him to temporarily leave the stage and accompany his “band” on house piano.
Why play so many different instruments, one might wonder? For Ring, however, the answer is simple.
“Not to sound smug,” Ring told me, “but I can. I’ve played with bands … and had to pick an instrument. I don’t like doing that. If I can, it means more to me to play all of them.”
It’s also important to have the right instrument, though brand name and a shiny veneer mean little to him.
“I look for the sound first,” Ring said, “I don’t care what it looks like.” Speaking of his mandolin he says, “it’s the ugliest little thing I’ve ever seen, but it sounds good—it’s got a real bright snappy tone to it.”
Utilizing multiple instruments also allows Ring to stretch American folk, blues, and bluegrass to new frontiers, creating room for innovative blends like the self-composed “Volo Perpetual” (perpetual flight), an instrumental that brings a classical style to the banjo.
“My family—all of them are musicians. And instead of listening to K92 or WYYD [in Roanoke], we always had NPR playing. I had [everything] from Jelly Roll Morton to Beethoven coming in the house.”
While Ring currently lives in Roanoke, he was born in Galax, Virginia, which many people know as home to the long-running Fiddler’s Convention. His grandfather, like Ring, played bluegrass, classical, and anything in-between, and his father was also a bluegrass picker.
Ring maintains an active schedule, but his once a month visits at Baine’s have a special quality all their own. The coffee house crowd, compared to a room filled with rowdy beer drinkers, is easy to feel at home with.
With a “caffeinated crowd,” Ring told me, “it’s easier to get their attention, which is great. Nine times out of ten, when people are in bars, they’re not there for music, they’re there to get drunk …I love it here.”
While Ring is modest of his talents, the crowd at Baine’s seems to feel differently. In an era when musical styles change very quickly, this seemingly old-fashioned music continues to speak to people.
“It’s because this earthy music, this mountain music, and even the blues, it’s not a processed thing, it’s not coming out of Nashville, Tennessee. …It’s just from the heart, it’s from people. It’s not influenced by somebody who’s already a star.”
Ring tops this explanation, however, with perhaps the best reason why people love this brand of American folk music.
“…Most of it’s really pretty,” he says with a laugh.
When a train rolls past the Appomattox Depot later in the evening, it serves as a fitting backdrop to Ring’s eclectic Americana. As he winds down his last set, he takes a request for a bluegrass favorite, and then, following his final song, accepts the crowd’s request for an encore. As Ring returns his guitar to the rack and the last notes of the blues fade, a dedicated few gather round to ask questions about his instruments and techniques.
Ring will return to Baine’s on June 21st at 8:00 p.m. In the meantime, the curious and die hards can also see him perform at the Evening Showcase at Douthat State Park in Millboro on May 31st at 7:00 p.m., Cooper’s Landing Inn and Traveler’s Tavern in Clarksville on June 6th at 7:00 p.m., and Villa Appalaccia Winery in Floyd on June 7th at 12:30 p.m. For more information about Ring and his music, including his CD Patchwork, go to: www.jasonringlive.com
