Ralph Roddenbery

JamBase.com 11/30/07
Bear Creek Music & Art Festival :: The Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park :: Live Oak, FL


The Ralph Roddenbery Band brought authentic southern rock that stopped me dead in my tracks as I was walked by them. Roddenberry's lyrics touched upon a thought in my head and reeled me in, and before I knew it I was laying in a hammock getting lost in his words. In the traditional southern storytelling style, his lyrics were easy to relate to, intertwining common threads in everyday human experiences.
- Alexander Borsody

Ralph Roddenbery grew up in south Georgia and moved to Athens, GA in the late eighties. He performs solo, with an accompying guitarist, or a full band. Roddenbery mixes quirky songs that can make you laugh out loud with more heartfelt, cerebral tunes that seem to welcome you home.

He has independently released three albums since 1995 and has played live mostly in the southeast since the early nineties.
Improvisation is one of his specialities and he loves to involve the audience whenever he can in the songwriting process.

Over the years, he has performed with Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, Bill Berry of R.E.M, Tod Nance of Widespread Panic, Larry and Jenny Keel and David Gans.
- Bernie Eckleston: Daily News Banner Herald Times

Charleston City Paper Review of Ralph Roddenbery
Category: Music

VISITING ACT | Letting It In
BY MICHAEL ANDREWS 1/11/06

Some of Ralph Roddenbery's friends might argue that he's a tough nut to crack, while others shorten their opinion to just "a nut." Either way, the Georgia singer/songwriter has an undeniable knack for tapping into the emotional undercurrent of his songs, many of which are just as likely to make you laugh, as they are to cause moistening of the 'lids, all within the same four minutes.

Roddenbery grew up in the small, south Georgia town of Cairo and moved up to Athens around 1986. At that time, many of his now-longtime friends — including members of Widespread Panic, Bloodkin, and Barbara Cue — were just cutting their teeth in and around the Classic City's music scene. R.E.M. were still years away from peeking above the college radio underground.

"I knew lots of people in Athens before I moved there and it was a really creative climate to be involved in," says Roddenbery. "There was more of an earthy feel to the whole scene then, I think. There's still some incredible music there, you just have to look a little harder to find it sometimes. When I first came to town, though, I think the whole menagerie of music was a lot more eclectic. It was overwhelmingly influential for me in terms of starting to write songs and putting all these weird thoughts down on paper."

Though he's long since embraced playing regular live gigs, Roddenbery's recording ventures haven't been so easy to pin down. His self-released first album, 1995's Fix Myself, was recorded with Athens producer John Keane and a crew of local talent — including Bloodkin bassist Paul "Crumpy" Edwards and keyboardist Davis Causey, working under the group heading Second Hand.

Playing many gigs with just his guitar as accompaniment, or with basic fiddle/mandolin/second guitar backing, Roddenbery had a much better idea of what he was after on the long-in-the-process 2003 release Live At Tree Sound Studios. This time he was able to pick from a more varied catalog of material and his laugh/cry tendencies served the project well. In the ominous "Boo Coo Disarray," the narrator keeps losing his keys and his goldfish tries to do him in. Later, the moving "Appreciate" says, basically, "I f**ked up, a lot, but I still love you," in much more eloquent fashion.

Since the Tree sessions, Roddenbery's been doing the full-band thing more regularly. The Ralph Roddenbery Band, the previous lineups of which were fleeting at best, has settled in well with guitarist Chris Rotch, bassist Tommy Jones, drummer Shelley Murphy, and percussionist Chris Larson. All can be heard on the new live effort Let It In, which they recorded with the help of Dynasonic, a studio/label out of Atlanta, where Roddenbery, too, is now based. Whereas the Tree Sound album exuded a comfortable back-porch feel, Let It In allows Ralph and band to cut loose in a more festive atmosphere.

"I really love the semi-Motown feel we got on the Let It In recording," says Roddenbery. "I wanted to ooze some rock 'n' roll and, with the help of some good people, we did it. I think we've only scratched the surface, but all bands that aren't the Rolling Stones have probably felt that way at some time or another."

http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A9058
- Michael Andrews - Charleston City Paper