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Ronnie Deaton/Guitar
Ronnie’s contribution to Common Ground is lead/tenor/baritone vocals. He is also the lead/rhythm guitarist for the group. “I don’t claim to be a guitar player. I do love to play though.” His choice of guitar is a Custom 1997 Martin D-41. “I do want to say right up front, that a person is only as good as the other individuals who play in the band with him or her. It’s like a chain. You’re only as strong as your weakest link. The guys who have played with me in the past, and those that play with me currently in Common Ground, are fantastic musicians and vocalists. Any strengths that God has blessed me with, are brought to the surface by these guys. I’m nothing without them.”
Ronnie was born in 1962 in Hazard, Kentucky. He attended Buckhorn Elementary and High School until his Freshman year. It was at this point in his life he decided that he should transfer to the Kentucky School for the Blind, located in Louisville, Kentucky. . This was Ronnie’s first formal exposure to structured music instruction. “Mom and Dad weren’t very thrilled about me going to school in Louisville. That’s a long way from Hazard. We were familiar with KSB though, since I had a older sister and brother that graduated from there in earlier years. Actually I’m the one that made the decision to go. I realized that I wasn’t going to have much of a future where I was at.”
While at the Kentucky School for the Blind, Ronnie’s formal musical journey began in the form of jazz. Ronnie was a tenor saxophone player in a 5-piece all instrumental jazz combo on campus. “We would play at school functions and after hours dances and stuff like that. We had a blast. From jazz to bluegrass, who would have ever thought it. ” Ronnie also sang bass vocals in the school chorus and in an after hours barber shop quartet. “Now that was fun. I loved the harmony blends. That was where I was first exposed to different harmonies and stacks. The tonal blends that you could experiment with were nothing less than beautiful. I understand perfectly now how Doyle Lawson went in the direction that he did.”
From the Kentucky School for the Blind, Ronnie attended Lee’s Junior College located in Jackson Kentucky, and from there he attended Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights Kentucky, where he majored in Radio/Television/Film Communications. It was at this point in Ronnie’s life that his musical work took a different direction. “I was introduced to radio broadcasting during my high school years at KSB. They had a on campus, closed circuit radio station. When I was a freshman, I jumped into the middle of that as soon as I realized that the thing was there. Lee’s Junior College was the same. They had basically the same setup, as far as radio was concerned, only they had the advantage of being hooked up with WKYT-TV Channel 27 in Lexington Kentucky for the television aspect of their courses. There came into play my introduction to television broadcasting. I had decided when I graduated from KSB that broadcasting was the field that I wanted to go into, so after college I did just that.”
Fresh out of college Ronnie was given the opportunity to work at the sister station to WKYT-TV Channel 27 in Lexington. They were building a brand new station in Hazard Kentucky, WYMT-TV Channel 57 , and Ronnie was hired a few months before the station was even built. This was perfect for Ronnie since his home was in Hazard at that time. “I think working at WYMT was one of the greatest opportunities that has come along in my life thus far. Working at a television station is one thing, but getting to be in on actually helping to build one from the ground up is rare. I got to be in on everything from tower construction to setup and wiring of master control. And this thing was located pretty much in my bback yard too. I just couldn’t turn it down.” While working at WYMT Ronnie was a part of the commercial production department. He was in charge of studio lighting and he was a studio camera man for both weekday evening newscasts for several years. “Now there’s something to try to explain to the board of directors. Our Camera man is legally blind, right!”
Being raised in Eastern Kentucky, just outside of Hazard, he was exposed to bluegrass music from about the time he was born. “Dad and mom always were big fans of Ralph Stanley, The Osborne Brothers, and Jim & Jessie. The only other thing that they would listen to was Fats Domino or The Beatles. I didn’t know that there was anything else. As a kid, I used to sit on the bedside and sing with my mom and dad’s record player. As years went on, I became the family entertainment at the family gatherings and reunions. My greatest influences today would have to be Flatt & Scruggs, The Seldom Scene, Charlie Waller & The Country Gentlemen, and most of all Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. Nobody can beat Doyle. Their attention to detail and perfection on the harmonies, is incredible.”
When Ronnie was in his late teenage years, he started church and accepted Christ. He became friends with a bunch of fellow churchgoers from a little place called Altro, Kentucky, during his summers at home from the Kentucky School for the Blind and from college. A few years back they had a little gospel bluegrass group called the Farler Brothers. One of the guys in particular was kind of like a second dad to him. “George Farler first taught me how to play the guitar. Then he taught me the banjo and a little bit on the mandolin and bass. I would go down to his house any chance that I got. We would sit and play for hours. Sometimes we would play all night. Many times we would still be playing when the sun came up. On occasion his brothers would come over and we would throw together a band and have a blast just jamming for hours.” After a short while, they decided that they would visit local churches and play. That’s where he got started playing bluegrass and gospel.
After several years of being married and making Indiana his home, on New Years Eve of 1999, Ronnie was at a monthly held bluegrass jamboree in Madison Indiana. A good friend of Ronnie’s, (James White of James White & Dear Creek), introduced him to a banjo player who was filling in with the band that night for their regular banjo player. James invited Ronnie to get up with the band and do a couple of songs. After the show the banjo player introduced himself to Ronnie as Tim Howder of Skynny Lynyrd/Son’s Of Thunder. He asked Ronnie if he was currently playing with a band. Chuckling a little bit, Ronnie replied, “are you kidding? No I’m not.” He in turn told Ronnie that they had been looking for someone to fill the lead singing/mandolin position, but they hadn’t had any luck. He invited Ronnie to their next practice. This was where Ronnie met Jack Bustle. They joined Skynny Lynyrd/Sons Of Thunder at about the same time. This was the start of Ronnie’s playing around Southern Indiana. From Skynny Lynyrd/Sons Of Thunder Ronnie and Jack formed Common Ground.
Ronnie and Jack were with the group Skynny Lynyrd/Son’s Of Thunder from 1999 to 2005. The group was only around the local bluegrass scene, in South East Indiana for little more than 5 years, but in that short period of time they had managed to chock up a pretty good list of past stage experiences. The Skynny Lynyrd band name was used at general bluegrass events such as festivals and fairs. The Sons Of Thunder badge came out when they would play gospel functions or churches.
Skynny Lynyrd/Son’s Of Thunder was fortunate enough to open for Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, (1999), and The Lonesome River Band, (2000), at the NMLRA, (National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association), Fall Shoot held annually in Friendship, Indiana. They have played at The Bill Monroe Music Park located at Bean Blossom, Indiana several times, and one of their high points was winning the bluegrass-band competition there at Bean Blossom in 2000. At various locations, they have either opened for, or had performances with such acts as Tim McGraw, Toby Keith, Chris Cagle, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, The Lonesome River Band, IIIrd Tyme Out, The James King Band, Tim Graves & Cherokee, The Osborne Brothers, Larry Sparks & The Lonesome Ramblers, Seldom Scene, Dale Ann Bradley & Coon Creek, James Monroe & The Midnight Ramblers, Dean Osborne & East Bound, The Wildwood Valley Boys, and J. D. Crowe & The New South.
Ronnie currently lives in Versailles Indiana with his wife Pam and their daughter Mindy. “God has really blessed me throughout the years. I’ve had a great life thus far. I don’t have any regrets. I didn’t know just how much I could be blessed though, until he blessed me with my wife Pam, and then of course our daughter Mindy came along. Just try playing bluegrass music in a house with a teanage daughter around. She keeps trying to get me to listen to Puff Daddy and all of that kind of stuff. I try to, but then of course I’ve got her hooked on Doyle Lawson.”
Ronnie isn’t quite sure just what the future wil hold for him, but you can be assured that he will try his best to keep playing bluegrass in the mix. “I want to be sure to let you know that if you ever see me at a performance, or anywhere else for that matter, and I don’t seem to respond back to you if you wave or try to speak to me, It’s because I’m legally blind and I can’t see you. It may seem from time to time that I don’t have that great of a vision loss, but I do. As I get older I’m beginning to realize that I may have been in situations in the past where it may seem that I’m stuck up, not responsive, or something like that, but I’m actually not at all. I’m not ignoring you, it’s just that I can’t see your attempt to get my attention. If at any time you would like to shake my hand or tell me something, and I don’t reach back to shake hands with you or talk to you, please feel free to come up to me and just grab my hand, or speak to me first. I will always be glad to talk with you. Don’t ever feel afraid that you may offend me, because you won’t at all.”
