Singer-songwriter Kristian Bush will be featured during an upcoming Songwriter Session at Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on Saturday, Dec. 5 at 11:30 a.m. The weekly Songwriter Sessions allows visitors the opportunity to hear songwriters perform their hits and discuss their craft in an intimate setting.

Bush’s debut solo project, Southern Gravity, was released earlier this year, and boasts the Top 20 single, “Trailer Hitch.” Bush has earned six BMI songwriting awards, and founded his own publishing company/songwriting collective, Songs of the Architect, in 2011.

As a member of Sugarland, Bush co-wrote several of the band’s hits, including “Baby Girl,” “Settlin’,” “Something More,” “Stand Back Up,” “Stuck Like Glue” and “Want To.”

Following the program, Bush will sign copies of his album, available for purchase in the Museum Store.

Admission to the program is free for museum members and included with the purchase of a ticket to the museum. Museum members may reserve their passes in advance by calling 615-416-2050 or emailing reservations@countrymusichalloffame.org.

Champion old-time fiddler Ramona Jones died in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, at age 91 on Tuesday (Nov. 17).

She is known to millions who often saw her on TV’s Hee Haw as the wife and duet partner of Country Music Hall of Fame member Grandpa Jones (1913-1998). Both Ramona and Grandpa were devoted to preserving the folk songs and old-time tunes of country’s formative years of the 1920s and 1930s.

She was born Ramona Riggins on Jan. 28, 1924 in Raglesville, Indiana. Her father taught her to fiddle and she taught herself mandolin, guitar and bass. Her brothers began taking her to amateur contests when she was in high school, and she soon began collecting championship trophies.

Ramona had her radio debut on WHAS in Louisville when she was 15 years old. At age 18, she joined Sunshine Sue & The Rock Creek Rangers on WRVA in Richmond, Virginia, at its Old Dominion Barn Dance. She was billed as “The Little Indian Girl Fiddler.”

The group relocated to the 50,000-watt WLW in Cincinnati in late 1942. This is where she met banjo player Louis Marshall “Grandpa” Jones, who soon enlisted in World War II. During the war years, Ramona worked for a time in the “all-girl” band The Happy Valley Girls on WLW’s Boone County Jamboree. She also worked at WAVE in Louisville, Kentucky, and WKNE in Keene, New Hampshire, during the 1940s.

At the invitation of singer Bradley Kincaid, she moved to Nashville to join his show in 1946. Also in the troupe was Grandpa Jones, now back from the war. Ramona was next hired by The Bailes Brothers at WSM radio. She made her recording debut playing bass for the group, just a few days before marrying Grandpa in the summer of 1946. He became a member of WSM’s Grand Ole Opry that year.

In 1948, Ramona Jones had her debut solo performance on the Opry. Grandpa toured extensively, while Ramona mostly stayed in Nashville after she had daughter Eloise that year. But in 1951, the couple traveled together to entertain the troops on the front lines of The Korean War. The following year, the Joneses toured U.S. bases in Germany, Italy and Austria.

In 1954-56 they performed in a series of color films shot in Nashville by Al Gannaway. These were shown on TV for decades to come. They were also regulars on Town & Country Time, which was filmed in Washington, D.C., by Connie B. Gay.

The couple’s son, Mark, was born in 1955. Grandpa Jones had a recording contract with King Records in Cincinnati. Ramona recorded a series of duets with him there, including “Dark as a Dungeon,” “Don’t Sell Daddy Any More Whiskey,” “Count Your Blessings,” “Mountain Laurel,” “Eastbound Freight Train,” “Old Troup Dog” (written by Ramona) and “Four Winds A-Blowin.’” She also recorded with him on Decca, Monument, Starday, CMH, RCA and other labels.

Daughter Alissa was born in 1960. Ramona balanced child rearing with occasional tours accompanying Grandpa to the Canadian provinces, Hawaii and elsewhere. In 1964, she recorded some solo songs for Monument, including her self-composed “Lonesome Train” and “Sandy Land.” Maybelle Carter and Helen Carter were her harmony singers on these.

In 1965, Grandpa and Ramona became regulars on The Bill Anderson Show, a syndicated TV series. Hee Haw began airing in 1969, and for the next 25 years, Ramona Jones could be seen on the show vocally harmonizing and/or playing fiddle with Grandpa.

She recorded Back Porch Fiddlin’ as her first solo album in 1976. Ramona’s second and third solo albums were issued in 1979 and 1983. Dolly Parton featured her on the CBS-TV special Dolly and Carol in 1979. Two years later, Ramona was included on the LP The Women of Old-Time Music. Lady’s Fancy appeared as Ramona’s fourth solo album in 1986. She is also featured on such LPs as The Grandpa Jones Story (1976), Grandpa Jones Family Album (1979) and Grandpa Jones Family Gathering (1981).

Beginning in 1980, Ramona Jones began managing The Grandpa Jones Family Dinner Theater in Mountain View, Arkansas. This Ozarks tourism business thrived for the next decade. In 1986, she published her cookbook Ramona Jones Recipes to sell at the venue. It won an Arkansas Tourism Award during its heyday.

In 1991, Ramona Jones was presented with the Heritage Award at Uncle Dave Macon Days in Murfreesboro. In 1996, she was honored at the Memphis Dulcimer Festival. Her autobiography, Make Music While You Can, was published in 2000.

Ramona Jones is survived by her husband, Rev. W. Eugene Gober. Also surviving are her children Eloise Jones Hawkins; Mark Alan Jones, who is a banjo player and sound technician; and Alisa Jones Wall, who plays hammered dulcimer and autoharp, as well as by son-in-law Ron Wall, two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

A Life Celebration will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday (Nov. 21) at Lutons United Methodist Church, 8363 Old Springfield Pike in Goodlettsville. Burial will follow at Lutons Cemetery.

The family will receive friends on Friday (Nov. 20) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Cole & Garrett Funeral Home, 127 North Main St., Goodlettsville. Memorial donations can be made to the Opry Trust Fund, 2804 Opryland Dr., 37214.

Publishing veteran Mark Friedman (Chrysalis Music, Red Stripe Plane Music, Verse Music), label exec David Robkin (Bigger Picture Group) and manager Larry Mazer (Emily West, Kiss, Breaking Benjamin, Lamb of God) have announced the formation of Deluge Music, a boutique publishing company with offices in Nashville and Los Angeles. The company will be signing writers and artists in the country, pop and rock genres.

Initial signings include Oran Thornton, Christine Connolly, and Kevin Savigar, a four-time ASCAP Award winner and the recipient of multi-Gold and Platinum album awards for sales in excess of 40 million units. Savigar co-wrote and co-produced Rod Stewart’s latest release Another Country.

Friedman will serve as the President of Deluge Music, splitting his time between Los Angeles and Nashville. Stephanie Greene will be at the helm of the Nashville office in addition to continuing with her own company, Gravity Gone Music. Stephanie was previously with Combustion Music and Chrysalis Music. “Stephanie was such an asset for me at Chrysalis Music and I’ve been waiting years for the opportunity to work with her again!” said Friedman.

“We decided to form Deluge Music over breakfast a little more than a month ago. We wanted to follow up with our previous success and join forces to create a publishing company that is worldwide in its reach but ‘boutique’ in terms of how we work with our writers,” said Friedman. “By forming Deluge Music, we’re taking the next step towards making our vision a reality.”

Deluge Music’s Nashville office is located at 40 Music Square West and can be reached at 818-448-8491.

 

Though Ryan Kinder now finds himself as one of Warner Music Nashville’s new artists, his career nearly ended before it began. When independent label Bigger Picture Group shuttered in 2014,  singer/songwriter/guitarist Kinder was among the artists who suddenly found themselves without a label home. “I didn’t know it at the time, but it was a great learning experience,” said Kinder, who had been with the label since 2012. “After that label fell apart, I remember we still had a bunch of radio shows, and we still went out and played them.”

Eventually, funds ran low and the Alabama native was forced to consider other options. Kinder said he nearly took a job driving for Uber when he got an unexpected call from one of country’s biggest stars.

“I was going to get my car checked to work for Uber, when I get this call from a Georgia number on my phone,” Kinder recalled. “It was Zac Brown. I thought it was [Kinder’s friend] Nate doing a prank on me, so I actually hung up on Zac Brown. He called back, and I was like, ‘Oh crap, it really was him.’ He helped me get out of that label deal, which blew me away that somebody of that stature would want to help someone he didn’t know from Adam. I credit Zac with saving my musical career because he took us on the road for two months, and helped me financially and every other way.”

Kinder’s music caught the attention of Warner Music Nashville President/CEO John Esposito and Executive VP/GM Peter Strickland, and Kinder soon found a new label home with Warner Music Nashville.

Kinder previewed a trio of songs during a visit to MusicRow, where he showcased his ace guitar musicianship on “Something” and his angst-ridden current single, “Tonight.”

The latter song was inspired an on-again, off-again relationship with an old girlfriend. “It’s an unrequited love song about a high school sweetheart of mine,” Kinder said. “We went to different colleges for a little while and tried to make it work. She called me at 3 a.m. one time really drunk and talking about this other guy. I was like, ‘Oh hell no.’ So we ended it right there. I was pretty bummed after the call because we had been dating for a long time. I immediately ran to a piece of paper to write down what I said to her, and it ended up being the chorus.”

Like many songwriters, Kinder channeled his heartbreak into music, crafting “Tonight” with songwriter Luke Sheets. “Tonight” was originally released in 2013 under Bigger Picture Group, but was retooled into a grittier version under the production of Paul Worley (Lady Antebellum, Dixie Chicks) for Kinder’s Warner Music Nashville release. “I’m in a really good place here,” said Kinder of his new label home.

With a new label deal and a chart-climbing radio single, it seems Uber won’t count Kinder as a driver anytime soon. “Yeah, I turned the car around after that phone call,” said Kinder.