Bo Ramsey

Born and raised in the blue-collar Mississippi River town of Burlington, Iowa in 1951, Robert Franklin (Bo) Ramsey not only played a vital role in shaping Eastern Iowa’s distinctive blues-rock hybrid, but has continued in his still vibrant career as a performer, producer, recording session guitarist and touring “hired gun”.
Ramsey broke out in the mid ‘70’s with the seminal Mother Blues Band, a honking powerhouse which also featured Iowa blues legends Joe Price and Patrick Hazell. In the latter part of the decade, the guitarist broke off to form Bo Ramsey & The Sliders.
Photo By Roman Cho
In the late ‘80’s Bo began a collaboration with revered folksinger Greg Brown that continues to the present. Ramsey has played guitar on ten of Brown’s discs, and produced 1990’s “Down in There”, 1994’s “The Poet Game”, 1996’s “Further In”, 1997’s Grammy-nominated “Slant 6 Mind”, 2000’s “Covenant” and 2006 “Evening Call” (all on Red House Records), as well as 2000’s “Over and Under” and 2004’s “Honey in the Lions Head” for Trailer Records.
The past 16 years have brought a dizzying array of cross-pollinations. In between gigs with Greg Brown, Ramsey briefly co-fronted a band with Nashville singer-songwriter Kevin Gordon, led his own bands, and has recorded and toured with singer-songwriter Pieta Brown.
Bo produced Iowa City treasure Dave Moore’s “Breaking Down to 3” (Red House) Tuscon roots-rocker Teddy Morgan’s “Lost Love & Highways” (Hightone) and acclaimed singer-songwriter Jeffery Foucault’s “Ghost Repeater” (Signature Sounds ‘06).
He also coproduced Pieta Brown’s self titled debut (Trailer), “I Never Told” (T Records), “In The Cool” (Valley Entertainment) and “Remember the Sun” (One Little Indian ‘07). He coproduced Kevin Gordon’s “Down To The Well” (Shanachie) and perhaps most notably- alt country superstar Lucinda William’s “Essence” (Lost Highway).
The Lucinda connection began in the early ‘90’s. Ramsey played on her Grammy - winning “Car Wheels On A Gravel Road” (Mercury), and joined her for part of that record’s tour. Bo coproduced Lucinda’s follow-up, the Grammy nominated “Essence”- again joining her band on tour in support of that record. That tour included many television appearences including German film director Wim Wenders “Soul of a Man” segment for Martin Scorcese’s seven-part series on blues for public television
Photo By Jim Herrington
In 2005 Bo was inducted into the Iowa Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame and in 2006 he was inducted into the Iowa Blues Hall of Fame.
Bo has recorded ten albums under his own name, four of which - “Down To Bastrop”(1992), In The Weeds”(1996), “Stranger Blues”(2006) and “Fragile”(2008) - remain in print on Bo Ramsey Records.
In 2007 Bo produced The Pines “Sparrows In The Bell”(RedHouse).
In 2008 Bo coproduced Pieta Brown’s “Flight Time” and played guitar on Calexico’s “Carried To Dust”. In 2009 Bo produced the record “Redemption Man” for fellow Iowan Chad Elliott. He also produced “Walking With Angels” for Ernie Hendrickson and the critically acclaimed “Tremolo” for The Pines (Red House). Also in ‘09, Bo worked with Pieta Brown and Don Was on Pieta’s EP “Shimmer” for Red House Records.
In 2010 Bo produced Charlie Parr’s record “When The Devil Goes Blind” and coproduced Pieta Brown’s first full length record for Red House “One and All”. Bo has been touring with Pieta behind “One And All” which included opening North American dates for Mark Knopfler.
Bottom line: This ol’ Iowa boy surely can rock it - always has, always will.... -Jim Musser (2010)