Reviews
Producer: Cox & Lou Dorren
Top Cuts: “From Here to There,” “Love Me, Love My Dog”
Summary: Many fans know Ronny Cox as the actor who has appeared on TV and in the movies, but this is one artist who takes his music career very seriously. This ambitious double-live album is a testament of his love for folk music and performing. Cox’s between-song storytelling and jokes are just as entertaining as the 35 tracks on the album. Nicely produced and backed by a talented group, Cox is charming as ever and this album is a fine representation of his wonderful folk songs and likeable demeanor.
––Michael Mollura
As an unknown, unfamous, unacknowledged songwriter I felt I had the right, and duty to review this album without mercy. I listened poised to strike. To reveal any weakness, any faltering. Any imperfection.
Well, it didn't work out that way. And I've got to say I think I had an out-of-body experience. Or to be more accurate, an out-of-our-time experience. While listening to this album I no longer felt anxious and stressed out about terrorism, corporate greed, religious arrogance and ecological doom.
Ronny's album picked me up and held me in its arms for 111 full minutes. I floated. I beamed.
The beautiful melodies, his soothing voice, the gentle instrumentation, had me feeling that the world is a safe, supportive, loving place. And the illusion was complete. Here I am, a native New Yorker thinking it would be a good idea to keep my front door unlocked from now on.
And I'm glad I wasn't at the live performance. I would have melted in my seat. With the last note of the last song I'd rush the stage, fling myself to the floor, pathetically clinging to his leg. "Please don't stop", I'd cry, "don't leave us, Ronnie." Security has to peel me off and away, me wailing and whimpering.
The following is my recommendation for listening to this album: WARNING: DO NOT OPERATE A CAR OR HEAVY MACHINERY while listening to this album. Make sure you have a designated driver available to take you home. Side effects may include: a false sense of well being, extreme warmth, giddiness, and severe relaxation. If you experience any other side effects, though rare, contact your physician, the producer or your guru immediately or go to the nearest emergency room. BE VERY CAREFUL. CAN BECOME HABIT FORMING.
For example: Who's The Baby's Daddy is one of the best songs ever written. Cole Porter has nothing on T. Haselden. It's Jesus' story with a sense of joy and humor, liberated from ecumenical heaviness. Jesus would have laughed. Or should I say, Jesus is laughing.
Even the up-tempo songs are soothing. The whole album is from another time. Either way back when life was less hectic and terrifying or way in the future, when it all gets worked out. After Armageddon.
When everyone makes nice.
I'm reminded of an experience I had when I was ten years old or so. It was the fifties, the dark, cold impersonal fifties. Or at least that how my life felt.
One night I found myself at a strange and wonderful place called The Ethical Culture Society. I didn't know what "ethics" meant, or "culture" or "society". Cousin Susan brought me there for a concert. She was very worldly.
A group I never heard of, started to sing and something very strange occurred. The audience started singing along and all of a sudden there was a sense of warmth and love throughout the hall that included everyone and excluded no one.
I was a fish out of water. Where the am I? Who are these people? What is this strange and wonderful feeling? Can people really be this way together? Strangers?
It was a very cold night. But they showed me just how open and warm humans could be. This album brings me back to that night. The name of the group - The Weavers.
Ronny's album is a time machine. It took me back to a moment where life was good, people were good, where everyone made nice.
Mike Richman Songwriter, Former Art Support Director CBS Music
"Distinguished actor Ronny Cox is a lifelong roots musician with a deserved and growing following. His originals are steeped in the Southwest, with vivid imagery of the joys and sorrows of people today or 150 years ago. Performing with his acoustic string band, Ronny Cox is like Tom Russell meets the Sons of the Pioneers, with a social
conscience and fine storytelling that touches something deep inside each of us."
Larry Wines -- Folk Works
“Ronny Cox at the Sebastiani Theatre”
We come around the great bend in life and, if we’re lucky, there’s another song waiting for us. Many of us have lived long on song. Food and air and water may also be necessary, but without the song in our life, we would, indeed, be stranded and desolate in these lackluster aspects of living. It is song that lifts us from the mundane and fills our heart with joy. Ronny Cox in his latest album on Bay Sound Records spins some musical magic to charm many a cloudy day; it will bring some sunshine to your world. Guarantee you!
Ronny Cox, a rather successful and well-known actor, has created a really comfortable and entertaining live album--“Ronny Cox at the Sebastiani Theatre.” You’ll love it. Difficult to classify his performance as folk music, although if you’re in the mood for folk music this will please your fancy. Here, there’s the plaintive storyteller in “Bus to Baltimore,” the jaunty childhood remembrances of
“Hotwater Cornbread,” a saucy and quite sacrilegious “Who’s the Baby’s Daddy.” But the possibility is quite strong that you’ll find Ronny Cox with more musical depth, more persuasive power than any folksinger. Without question, his songs are intriguing.
Your personal favorites will trend, more than likely, to “Quintanaroo,” “Love Slips Away,” and “Radio.” Is there a hit song on this two-CD package? Hard to say, but you’ll find yourself listening overand over again to “Quintanaroo.” There’s something haunting and mystic about this song. Enduring.
Although Ronny Cox has achieved considerable success on film—“Beverly Hills Cop” and “Deliverance” among his more than 50 movies—and television, his musical performances on these two CDs will also prove enduring. Just FYI, he played guitar in that famous dueling banjos scene in “Deliverance.” Thus, he’s not a newcomer to song even if his songs may be new to you. You and Ronny Cox—and his songs—are destined to become old friends.
--Claude Hall
www.claudehallonline.com
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