JR Ruston
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Born and Raised in Southern Indiana, I was influenced by the music I heard at grandma's house on Sunday afternoon. Grandpa played fiddle, lap steel and guitar, uncle Dee played guitar and sang, Uncle George played piano, Aunt Elva played accordian. They played gospel and country songs and everyone would join in. Uncle Dee would later write songs and sell them in Nashville. His lead player and producer was Spider Rich who wrote songs for Chet Atkins and Boots Randolph. When I was 15, grandpa had an accident that severed two fingers on his left hand, rendering it useless. He gave me his guitar and my cousin Tim got his lap steel and fiddle. Tim lived across the street so we would jam alot. After moving to Illinois at age 19, I spent six years in the military, then I played solo and duet acoustic acts in area clubs. In the early 80's I played in a country band for eight years until the bass player and I left to form a blues/jazz/rock band called SMALL TRAIN with my cousin Tim. We were fairly successful in a five state area and we played the WC Handy Blues Festival four years in a row. We finally made it to the studio and cut our first album- SMALL TRAIN ARRIVES which created a cult following. In the 90's, I joined QWICHERBICHEN as a bass player. It was a much more avant-garde eclectic mix of all original songs. We cut the album NO NEED TO SPLUDGE and toured all over the tri-state area. It had a very Native-American spiritual feel to it. I am currently writing new material and playing bass on another studio project and enjoy playing, studio work and recording tracks at home. This song, JUST LIKE FAMILY, is country blues, humble, tasteful and down to earth- back to my roots. JR Ruston: Vocals, Bass & Acoustic Guitars, Organ Ron Garcia: Acoustic Lead Guitar, Background Vocal Chuck Bondi: 12 String Acoustic, Electric Slide Guitar Ron Grove: Drums Produced By Chuck Bondi & JR Ruston and mixed by Chuck Bondi at Box On Wheels Recording, Soquel, Ca.
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