First Person with Wayne Shepherd

First Person: Ron Block

Ron Block is best known as the banjo/guitar player with Alison Krauss and Union Station, but he is also a songwriter, a vocalist, and a brother in Christ. Send your support for FIRST PERSON to the Far East Broadcasting Company: FEBC National Processing Center Far East Broadcasting Company P.O. Box 6020 Albert Lea, MN 56007 Please mention FIRST PERSON when you give. Thank you!

Duration:: 23m
Broadcast on:: 14 Apr 2011
Audio Format:: other

Ron Block is best known as the banjo/guitar player with Alison Krauss and Union Station, but he is also a songwriter, a vocalist, and a brother in Christ.

Send your support for FIRST PERSON to the Far East Broadcasting Company:
FEBC National Processing Center
Far East Broadcasting Company
P.O. Box 6020
Albert Lea, MN 56007

Please mention FIRST PERSON when you give. Thank you!

Christ is all and, you know, I thought I knew that, you know, years ago but in any situation, in any temptation situation, in any heartbreaking situation, you're not going to find healing and wholeness anywhere else. Our guest this week is musician Ron Bloch for the past twenty years. Ron has been the spiritual touchstone of Alison Krauss in Union Station, contributing sterling musicianship on banjo, guitar, vocals and songwriting. We'll meet him in just a moment. First, let me invite you to join us online at firstpersoninterview.com where you'll find an archive of past programs as well as a calendar of upcoming interviews. It's also easy to receive First Person automatically as a podcast when you sign up through iTunes. Check us out online at firstpersoninterview.com and also on Facebook. On one of my trips to Nashville recently, I asked Ron if we could sit down at his home studio and talk about his life story. Ron Bloch is a talented musician but he gives God all the glory and I started by asking him when and why he came to Nashville. I moved here with my wife in 1990. Her sister and husband were already living here and I just wanted to play music. So I felt a pull to move to Nashville in about 1990. I had sort of an inner witness of time to go and moved here and in 1991 started playing with Alison. Was that the Lord's leading to bring you here? I believe it. I've had several things in my life. I've had very strong inner feeling or conviction and that was one of them and the other one was getting married to Sandra. And then another one was when I was in my late teens about playing music, I knew I was supposed to do that and I wanted it to. Now, we're sitting in the studio that's in your own home so you come down here and just sort of practice and join playing for no particular audience? Yeah, I still love playing and I practice a lot and lately I've been getting back into writing more songwriting so I've been doing that. Yeah, so this is sort of my little workplace. Okay, it's fun to be in someone's private space so to speak because I'm looking over here and I see a whole lot of old records on the shelf. Now, what would I find if I went over there? You would find that the oldest records I have come from when I was a teenager and those are all the bluegrass records are from that period or most of them anyway. There's everything from Bill Monroe, Flatten Scruggs, Reno and Smiley and all the really classic bluegrass on through the '50s and '60s, the country gentlemen and bands like that, Red Allen, J.D. Crow and then J.D. Crow in the New South in the '70s and then Tony Rice in the '70s, '80s, '90s, it's a history of bluegrass. What drew you to bluegrass? I saw Lester Flatten on television. I grew up in California so there wasn't a lot of opportunity to see bluegrass. Not exactly a breeding ground for bluegrass musicians. No, but there's a scene out there but I didn't know that at the time. I was about probably 12 and I had been playing guitar for maybe a year, a year and a half. I saw the CMA Awards one year. I think it was '78, maybe '77 and Lester Flatten played on there and of Flatten Scruggs and he had a banjo player and it just took me right then just like that. Wasn't Earl Scruggs the one who used to teach her friend Mike Carr the banjo? I seem to remember something about that. I think so, I think so, yeah. Small world. So you come to Nashville, did you have kind of stars in your eyes? What did you expect when you came here? No, I wanted to play music as a teenager and as I got more and more into playing, I realized that's what I wanted to do. So I've always loved the thing itself and it's been great playing in the band I'm in. And all the things that go along with that, it's great. But the music is really it. You lay down on your bed at night and it's whether you did a good job. It's not even what other people perceived it. I get the feeling with you, it's almost another language music is for you. It can be, yeah. Music really, I think one of the reasons I was taken with it so much is I had some emotional turmoil when I was young, very young in my childhood. So I felt like I always felt I had a deep well in there. And so early on I was able to play, especially on the guitar and put emotion through the music. So you started with guitar? Yeah, I started with guitar and got into banjo. I was about 13. And then I kind of continued on parallel tracks, alternately working more on banjo for a while or working more on guitar, but always on those two, those parallel tracks. How did you get to be so good at it, though? I mean, lots of guitar players, not as many banjo players, right? Yeah, well, there's lots of banjo players, too. There's a lot of great players out there, so many. I think the only thing is I've managed to find my own kind of sound just by loving what I love and studying what I love. How do you describe that sound? On the banjo, it's kind of like Earl Scruggs, J.D. Crowe, Jimmy Martin School of Banjo, but sort of with electric guitar influences and sort of jazz modal influences. You know, that kind of thinking I had a book that was really influential called The Advancing Guitarist by Mick Goodrich, who's a guy up at Berkeley. So every player has a little different twist, a little different style. Their own imprint. Yeah, their own imprint and then also their own pool of experience. And I think that's really crucial. I think it takes, you can't really be an artist without some kind of suffering because you got to have something to put into the music. Well, Ron, here we are in your own studio. And I saw on Facebook recently where you posted a song. You came down here one night and started playing What a Friend We Have in Jesus, and you put it on Facebook. Yeah, it blew me away. I loved hearing that song. That's great. I just wondered if we couldn't share it right now with listening. Absolutely. You want to talk about what you're doing here, what you're playing? Well, I played on, I have a 1938 Martin D28 Herringbone guitar, and it's a beautiful sounding guitar. And I, at first, for the first guitar on, there's two guitars I played on this. For the first guitar, I tuned down to open G tuning, so it's real ringy and open. And then I sort of just played a verse, and then I just backed up what would be the other guitar. So I just kind of thought through it as I was playing. And then I added the lead guitar to that. Well, let's take a moment and listen to it right now. Great old favorite What a Friend We Have in Jesus, Ron Block. [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] That has such a warmth to it. What a friend we have in Jesus. Yeah, yeah. One of the things I try to do is think of the words when I play a tune like that. So that when I'm playing the notes and phrasing it, I'm thinking of what the song is about. So I think that does come through. Are we going to hear more of that kind of music from Ron Block? Yeah, you know, it's sort of the beginning of a guitar hymns sort of thing. I might have a little bit of banjo on there too. Looking forward to more of that music from Ron Block and looking forward to more conversation with Ron coming up on today's edition of First Person. [music] Next time our guest will be author and pastor, Dr. Erwin Lutzer. Knowing God has become so important to me that whatever God may choose to do in me or through me really is secondary to the whole question of the value of knowing God. We'll learn about the early life and calling of one of America's great pastors, Erwin Lutzer of Chicago's Moody Church, speaker on Running to Win. That's next time when you join us here on First Person. [music] Let's get back to the conversation with Ron Block. It took place in his home studio near Nashville, Tennessee. I asked Ron to talk about his early life when he experienced some turmoil. I did have turmoil, but up until I was about five years old, you know, things were relatively good. Then my parents split. That itself caused some inner problems it always does in kids. Then throughout the next few years, I did a lot of moving around and I had step siblings come in and out of my life and be there for three years and then disappear. I had a lot of that detachment producing stuff happen in my life. By the time I was a teenager, I had a low sense of self-worth and then I started playing music. Of course, it was a perfect attachment if you're good at something and you don't feel good about yourself. Suddenly, you go, "Oh, I feel good about myself for this thing." Eventually, it becomes an idol. That happened for you that way. Yeah, I've been a believer since I was, I think since I was little. I read my Bible my whole life. I think I really got it when I was about 17, but that's when that self-worth thing through music was really taking hold. As I went along and high-level players liked what I did, it gave me a sense of gratification, which is natural, but that's the thing I was fueling myself on. By the time I joined Union Station, that was in full swing. And so, I joined a band that they were thrilled to have me in the band, and I was thrilled to be there. It was the very thing I wanted to do for my life. Why? Why? To play with them, you mean? Because I remember seeing Allison in '88 and really just thinking that girl is just something. She just knows musically what is going on. She just had a real musical sense about her and her singing was great and her playing was great. Yeah, just pure, isn't it? Just pure. And there's also a vision there that I could really get behind. So I really wanted to be in the band. And then, plus, some of my favorite players were in the band. Such as Dan. Well, Dan wasn't there yet, but it was Tim Stafford, who's now in Blue Highway, Barry Bales, who plays bass with us still, and Adam Steffi. So those three guys were just the rockinest rhythm section that I could possibly imagine. And then later, of course, getting to play with Dan Timinsky and now Jerry Douglas. It's Jerry's a hero. So you went into that with this foundation of the Lord holding you. I mean, you were really committed to the Lord at this point, right? Absolutely. So if you hadn't had that and yet had all that success with Union Station, what? I have no idea where I would be. If I had not had the Lord in my life and really actively seeking God's will and what He wanted for me, I just had a great misunderstanding about what the Christian life was. You know, I thought it was forgiveness. And then you go and try to be like Christ, it's like that's half the gospel. I follow you on Facebook and it's fun to read what you post because a lot of people post some pretty trivial things, but you post some pretty deep things in the Lord. And I just want to talk to you about that. You must read a lot, right? I do. I really try to. Sometimes I don't spend enough time reading like I should, but I do try to read a bunch every day. And I engage in Bible study quite often, not every day. So what are you reading right now? I've been reading a lot of Jean Guillain. And she was a French woman who was imprisoned and also was put later under house arrest for actually saying that Union with God is possible in this life and that we are able to have relationship with God and live in Union and be radical in that day. Yeah, because it was more forgiveness driven and the church kind of held the power of that. How about in the word? What are you reading right now? You know, Ephesians has been, you know, on my mind, as of late and then also Colossians, and then also Roman 678, which really is the key to a lot about how to live the Christian life. 678 is the center of centerpiece. So living in Nashville is a very successful musician. A lot of people have fallen into a lot of different traps. What keeps you from falling into those pit? Oh, I think I've fallen into some of them along the way, you know. You know, it's like the self-worth through music kind of thing. I mean, that's just, it's natural for people. If you don't have Christ as the center, you're going to put something else there. There's not, it's not a choice between Christ and nothing or something else. It's a, it's a choice between Christ or something else. And if Christ is not central in all areas of your life, in whatever area He is not central, you're going to have idols. You're going to have things that are, that are twisting your humanity to a different end. And you feel free to be yourself who you are in Christ. You feel free even on stage? Pretty much. Well, you know, I've, I've been, of late, been going through, you know, bringing this revelation of what I learned in the mid 90s about Christ living in me, bringing that into my gift, you know, music, bringing it, not just saying I have an identity in Christ. I'm a son of God. I'm an heir and, you know, I'm one spirit with the Lord. He lives in me, not just saying those things, but saying He gave me this gift for a reason. And I cannot let what I think other people think of it direct me in any way. I'm not saying anybody thinks bad of it. I'm just saying, I can't let you can't squander it. You can't squander it on, on worrying about other people's, what your perceptions of other people's perceptions are. It's like, it's, but see, that's sort of the satanic mind game. And if you get into that, which I have many times, you end up, it ends up squelching or squashing your musicality. Where do you go to find friends who support you in the spiritual side of who you are? You know, I go to a church here in Franklin that's really wonderful. Steve Burgers, the pastor. So you're grounded there? Yeah. And I have a, there's a weekly Bible study. We have most Wednesdays that I go to. And that's really helpful. And just along the way, you know, people like Andrew Peterson and Randall Goode Game and, and all those guys, they're a huge blessing to me. And I don't get to be around them very often. But when I do, it's just a really, it's a great time. It's a lot of laughter. I was going to say, it's not all serious stuff though. No, it isn't. It isn't. And that's part of the fellowship. It is. It's, it's just a release kind of thing. It's kind of a pressure valve that gets released and you're free to be who you are. Yeah. Another, another great songwriter. I just, we just had a bunch of songwriters here at the house. The other day Lee Holland was here. I Lee Patterson, who's from Ireland, and Julie Lee was here. And it was, it was wonderful. So there was, there's the same kind of thing there. You said you're doing more writing. Is that music or is that writing writing? No, I, I really think I focused a little too much sometimes on writing essays and writing, you know, explaining how to live the Christian life where I wonder sometimes about good, better, best. That's a good thing. And it's a good thing to put posts on my website and all that. But is it the best thing I can always be doing with my time? It's just, I think it's just easier for me to go that route because I kind of know the ropes of that. And when you're songwriting, it's, it's always for me at least, it's, it's throwing a bunch of stuff up in the air and seeing what happens. You know what I mean? There's risk involved. Yeah. So where do you start with a song? I just come down here. I came down here the other morning. And it was, it was Tuesday morning. Julie Lee was over here. She's a great songwriter here in Nashville. And she was over here with some other songwriters the other night. And she said at the end, we were talking about songwriting. And I, I said, well, I've been really dry. And she said, well, you kind of got to look where you're spending that energy, that creative energy. And so I never really thought of it as you have a limited amount of energy and you're spending, you're going to spend it. So you just like you have a limited amount of time and you're going to spend it every day. And so it really made me think. So the next morning I came downstairs and I had had this Jean Guillain poem sitting on my desktop and I just picked up an instrument and started humming through it. And you know, a short time later, I had a melody and then I thought, how do I bridge this verse, verse, verse, verse and make it interesting. And so I figured out some guitar stuff. So that's it kind of starts usually with the music for me. But it's got to come from somewhere. You got to put something in to get something out, right? You have to sit your rear end in the chair contact. You know, otherwise, otherwise it never gets done. If you just wait till you feel like it and ever gets done. Yeah. But I mean, you live in life like the rest of us with all of his distractions. Oh, yeah. How do you protect that time? You know, I have to be fairly protective. Sometimes I tell my wife and kids, I say, call me if there's blood. You know, because I have to, if I'm, if I'm not on the road and I'm working downstairs, I do have to protect that time. I do have to look at it as work time. And I have to be careful because I use my computer all the time. I have to be careful about what I allow myself to do. You know, it's, it takes a real discipline, which I don't want to always succeed. Well, Ron, again, thanks for the invitation to come to your place, your private songwriting place, your place where you come and just play for yourself and for the Lord. But last question for you. Yeah. What does Christ mean to you? The older I get, the more he means all. You know, Christ is all. And you know, I thought I knew that you know, years ago, but the older I get, the more I realize it's the only place to go in any situation, in any temptation situation, in any heartbreaking situation. He's the only place where you're going to find solace. You can find anesthesia elsewhere, but you're not going to find solace. You're not going to find healing and, and, and wholeness, anywhere else. It was a real treat to sit there in Ron's own studio and look at all those guitars and banjos on the wall and see them as mere instruments, tools that he uses, what really gives Ron purpose in life and purpose to his music is the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, we've placed links to Ron's own website at firstpersoninterview.com. There you can read more about him, his solo CDs, his work with Alice in Crouse and Union Station. And by the way, their new CD is coming out called Paper Airplane. And you'll also find Ron's writings at his website, and you'll find the link at firstpersoninterview.com. Well, if you're a new listener to first person, welcome to this weekly conversation designed to encourage all of us to thank God for his faithfulness and calling. We can be found on Facebook and Twitter using the respective buttons on the front page at firstpersoninterview.com. You can reach us through Facebook or by sending your email to info@firstpersoninterview.com. Again, that's info@firstpersoninterview.com. Next week, our guest will be Dr. Erwin Lutzer, pastor of Chicago's Moody Church, the author of dozens of books and the speaker on Running to Win. We'll learn about his early life in calling. With thanks to my friend and producer, Joe Carlson, I'm Wayne Shepherd. Join us next week for First Person. [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]