Chris "Crispy" Ramey is a multi-genre multi-instrumentalist with over 25 years of professional music experience. A native West Virginian now residing in Boulder County, Colorado, Chris is a talented guitarist, pedal steel guitarist and clawhammer banjoist. "21 strings of psychedelic-country-funk-rock-reggae" may be an apt description. His guitar playing has been described as a funky twanged-up Deadhead mix of Jeff Beck and Clarence White, while his pedal steel has been compared to Sneaky Pete Kleinow and Jerry Garcia. Chris' clawhammer banjo style is straight-up oldtime mountain music, but delivered with unexpected melodic and rhythmic twists.
Chris has been working with three different area studios in the past year as a session musician providing pedal steel, banjo and dobro tracks: Beyond Sound in Lyons, CO; Tolstar above Jamestown, CO; and Sawmill Sound in Longmont, CO. He truly enjoys the rigors of session work and is becoming more and more in demand as word of his abilities gets out. Check out what one producer/studio owner had to say about working with Chris in the News section (TOP SECRET PROJECT).
One of the newest and most exciting projects Chris has engaged in is the Connolly-Ramey Duo. This is Chris playing semi-acoustic shows with Chris Connolly from Full Belly, with CC on guitar and CR on banjo and steel. They're focused on Dead-Jorma-country-rock-blues-oldtime kinda material. Here's what one happy agent had to say about a recent Duo appearance: "The Connolly-Ramey Duo played a killer set and clearly are top notch musicians. Our crowd loved it and I plan to book them again as soon as possible!" Check their latest singles, available for just an email address, RIGHT HERE! The Duo are currently continuing to write and record, so watch for more new music from them soon!
Chris was playing professionally by the time he was 15 and was the lead guitarist in numerous high school rock groups (Fallen Angel out of Long Valley, NJ, Live Bait out of Charleston, WV, etc.). Early musical education included AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Van Halen, ZZ Top and other classic, hard rock and metal acts.
In 1989 Chris went to West Virginia University in Morgantown, WV, and within a month was tagged to be the lead guitarist for Jolly Gargoyle. Neil Young, the Grateful Dead, Dylan, Country Joe and the Fish and other 60s and 70s artists were the focus of the group's cover material and the inspiration behind their songwriting. Jolly Gargoyle released a self-titled cassette of original tunes in 1992 and soon afterwards disbanded. It was during these college years that Chris began exploring other instruments, like bass, drums and banjo.
Chris continued on making music in Morgantown with Mike Pushkin, the rhythm guitarist and singer for Jolly Gargoyle, and together they founded the Joint Chiefs, a psychedelic-funk-rock group focused on original country funk, classic funk, R&B and rock covers. They released the "Joint Chiefs' Greatest Hits" CD in 1995 with the help of Jon Kessler, formerly of NPR's Mountain Stage, and Joe and David Loyd, brothers of P-Funk-affiliated visual artist Overton Loyd. By early 1996 the Joint Chiefs were a regional success but quite disorganized, and Chris left to become the new lead guitarist for another more successful Morgantown group composed of long-time friends, Rasta Rafiki.
Chris toured with Rasta Rafiki throughout 1996 and played over 200 shows that year, opening for the Wailers, Burning Spear, Culture and Rusted Root, among other national and international reggae and rock acts. Rasta Rafiki retired at the end of '96, and Chris quickly created a psychedelic-country-rock group Chris and Friends with members of Rafiki and the Recipe, another Morgantown jam band. He then flew to Tokyo, Japan for 15 months for family and business and returned to West Virginia in 1998 with freshly written material.
With the new songs penned overseas, Chris formed the Other River Project, focusing on his original roots-rock-reggae and country material. He also bought a pedal steel guitar and added it to his ever increasing instrumental repertoire. In 1999, Chris moved from Morgantown to Las Cruces, NM, where he played the pedal steel for the infamous psycho-rockabilly group Psycho Billy's.
In 2001 Chris moved back to the east coast to the DC Metro/NOVA area, and began traveling back to Morgantown regularly to play lead guitar and steel with the Tom Batchelor Band, a reggae/rock/world music outfit fronted by a former member of Rasta Rafiki. Chris' pedal steel guitar is featured on the "Runes" 2008 release by the Tom Batchelor Band on the song, "The Road Behind," which can be heard in the Listen section on the Home page.
In late 2002, Chris moved to Burlington, VT and formed the power trio Exit Strategy. Focusing on Chris' brand of psychedelic funk and rock, Exit Strategy was beginning to gain local notoriety when, in the late summer of 2006, Chris and his family moved to Boulder, CO. Shortly after moving to Boulder Chris hooked up with Citrus from the United Sound Pipe funk band. A short run with the Pipe culminated in an opening slot for George Clinton and Parliament/Funkadelic at the Ogden Theater in Denver, Feb. of '07.
Chris then began focusing intensely on pedal steel guitar, teaching himself by ear traditional techniques and songs from masters like Tom Brumley and Ralph Mooney (Buck Owens), Norm Hamlett (Merle Haggard), Jimmy Day (Ray Price and Willie Nelson), Jerry Garcia (Grateful Dead, New Riders of the Purple Sage), Buddy Cage (NRPS), Lloyd Green, Buddy Emmons, and many more. Chris soon began offering his pedal steel skills to several area alt-country groups, including WD-40 and Crowboy.
Chris participated in sessions for the 2008 Crowboy release "making up for lost time," and appears with the group regularly. You can hear two tracks with Chris' pedal steel from the critically-acclaimed release right here on this site ("Cry Willow" and "Steal Away" in the Listen section on the Home page). Rumors of another Crowboy recording effort abound. Check out their website!
Chris' pedal steel playing is featured on several tracks on Full Belly's upcoming release "New Voice." Check out this great Colorado funk-rock-reggae band and watch for this exciting CD! Chris' pedal steel can currently be heard on the following songs: "Politics," "Old Cadillac," "Red, White and Blue" and "Smile." Chris has also had the occasional opportunity to appear with these guys live, most notably for an awesome wedding reception at the top of the mountain ski resort in Steamboat Springs back in 2008, and the 2010 Cannabis Festiva event at Dick's Sporting Goods Stadium outside of Denver.
Chris also plays instrumental clawhammer banjo music for a variety of occasions: children's parties or events, fundraisers, restaurants and lounges, farms and hoedowns, solo and opening or 'tweener sets. This is traditional oldtime-hillbilly-Scots-Irish banjo music that has everybody stompin their feet. Check out the new "West Virginia Girls" melodic clawhammer release, NOW AVAILABLE at the Chris Ramey Music Store HERE. There is also a companion banjo tablature and notation book NOW AVAILABLE HERE!
He also has an occasional affliction with the L-Town Allstars (aka TUNACORN), formerly The Icemen house band from the Waterloo in Louisville, CO. This group is loose and fun and ready to party, performing classic rock, funk and reggae tunes with style and smiles. The Allstars are composed of two Full Belly members, Chris Connolly on guitar and Kevin Herrington on drums, the effervescent Tony Soto on bass and Chris Ramey on steel, banjo and guitar.
Chris has also sat in on pedal steel with one of Boulder's premier reggae bands: Jubal and the Rude Boys. On June 3rd, 2010, Chris had the distinct pleasure to play the Boulder Draft House with Nicky Bomba and the Boulder Reggae Randoms, a pickup group assembled by Jubal for the occasion. Nicky, currently the drummer for John Butler Trio, led the band and crowd through an exciting evening of ska, reggae, calypso and mento jams that had everyone seriously groovin. Here's a Boulder Weekly article from the day of the show. Hopefully there will be more such "pedal steel reggae" events in the near future, so sign up on the mailing list and don't miss out!
Lots more in store, and more will be revealed. Please sign up to receive updates!
