Album Notes

The Ring is an original rock band. Individual audience members have remarked that they were reminded of Tom Petty, Dave Matthews, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, or Steve Winwood, all of whom I hold in the greatest regard. Our music is influenced mostly by rock, blues, and folk.

The Ring was formed in 1998 as at the behest of my good friend, guitarist and composer extraordinaire Spensser Haynes. We'd been jamming buddies for more years than I care to recount and played in bands from the west coast to the east, mainly in the greater San Francisco and New York/Philadelphia areas. Spensser had answered a music store bulletin board ad placed by a rhythm section as this was another chance for us to get together and have some fun. Regrettably at the time, Spensser and I lived too far apart to sustain practice on a regular basis. Bassist Ken Varane and drummer Guy DeAngelo who had placed the ad, however, were closer by and so we produced the first CD "Upstair's at Ernie's". Guy felt compelled to move on thereafter but Ken and Spensser pitched in along with Joe Deadwood on drums and Lars Keyes on keyboards, helping to produce the second CD "Then and Now".

The Ring is our circle of friends and cohorts. To our performances we bring creativity, discipline, and dedication. We temper theme with improvisation, personal ambition with collaboration. Our sound reflects the meld of order and chaos of the world we live in. It is about love and war, politics and religion, work and play, and finding our way to a better place as a family of beings blessed with the gift of life in this great and wonderful universe. We do after all, want to have a good time.

Ernie Wahl