Ron Dometrovich is a singer/songwriter guitarist and multi-instrumentalist who has recorded seven independently produced CDs which have received a great deal of airplay in the European, Australian and US Americana indie radio markets. His music has been featured on Guilford College Radio station WQFS 90.9 in Greensboro, North Carolina’s "Music to Heal the Heart" program. Host David Oldham calls him a "great guitarist". (Princeton Review named WQFS the "6th most listened to college radio station in the country", with over a million listeners.) Other radio features include interviews/on-air performances on “Writer’s Block”, WDVX, 102.9 in Knoxville, TN and “Tapestry”, airing over 90.3WBHM, Birmingham, Alabama’s NPR affiliate.
Ron was nominated for a 2008 Birmingham Area Music Award (BAMA) in the Americana category, and also performed at the awards ceremony, sharing a stage with such luminaries as Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell. He is a repeat performer and perennial favorite at the Frank Brown International Songwriter’s Festival on the Gulf Coast, where songwriter Austin Church (who has written songs recorded by Del Reeves and Lyle Lovett and has co-written with Jimmy Buffett) had this to say: "Very listen-able…he paints pictures with his music". Ron also performed in City Stages 2006 and 2007, a world-class music festival in Birmingham, AL, backed by his band Broken Hill. He has recently completed his seventh full-length CD entitled Railroad Avenue. Previous titles are: Broken Hill Ballet and Repertory Company (2006), Young Souls and Old (2004), The Grander Scheme of Things (2002), A Midnight Snowfall (2002), A Place With No Name (1999), A Good Mechanic (Is Hard to Find) (1998).
Born to a second-generation immigrant family in Pittsburgh, PA, he moved to the Deep South at an early age, by way of a brief stay in Brisbane, Australia. Exposure to such varied cultures has left him with a sideways view of the world that becomes evident in his songs, which stylistically resemble short stories, complete with offbeat characters and plot twists. The music is delivered in fairly sparse arrangements with a strong presence of acoustic fingerstyle guitar, drawing on stylistic influences from folk, bluegrass, country and rock, all thrown into a kitchen appliance. Having done a fair amount of orchestra pit work for various musical theater productions, his work has been influenced by that genre as well. Ron has performed in and directed orchestras of numerous theatrical productions, including HAIR, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Jekyll & Hyde, the Musical, Little Shop of Horrors, and Robert Jason Brown's The Last Five Years. He performed as orchestra guitarist in the non-equity theater debut of Gilligan’s Island, the Musical, with the show’s co-composer (and former Paul McCartney & Wings lead guitarist) Laurence Juber in attendance.
Links to the radio interviews can be found at:
http://wbhm.org/Tapestry/June9-05.html
http://wbhm.org/Tapestry/Nov13-08.html
Here are some other comments and recognition:
Winner of CMT/NSAI song contest for Alabama, 2002 ("All the Homeless Souls")
Selected one of the top 100 albums of 2000 in Ireland (A Place With No Name)
--Joe Vincent, JRRI Radio, Waterford, Ireland
... yet another classic album . My highest compliments…(Young Souls and Old)
--Eddie Russell, KULM-FM, Columbus Texas
"...great music." --Rein Wortelboer, Peelgras Radio Show, Netherlands
..."A serious and elaborate acoustic album …what singer-songwriter music should be." (The Grander Scheme of Things) --Andrea Stolle, Old Stringhouse Music, Germany
…quality in lyrics, quality in the interpretation. This CD is a real pleasure both vocally and instrumentally. (Young Souls and Old) --Michel Penard, ISA Radio, France "American Roots Music" radio show
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