Ronnie Bowman, a preeminent bluegrass singer who was additionally famend for co-writing songs recorded by high nation stars like Chris Stapleton, Kenny Chesney and George Strait, died Sunday at age 64.
Bowman was concerned in a bike accident in Ashland, Tenn. on Saturday and died from his accidents the next afternoon at Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville.
“His was the voice that outlined ’90s bluegrass,” wrote the web site Bluegrass At the moment in reporting his passing.
“Ronnie Bowman was a tremendous singer and songwriter,” wrote Billy Strings, in one in all many posts that his fellow performers put up on social media. “Among the best entertainers in bluegrass and nation music. He lit up any room he was in. I’m terribly unhappy to listen to that he has handed on after a tragic motorbike accident. Might our pricey buddy relaxation in peace.” Strings had had Bowman be a part of him on stage on the Ryman final yr.
As a celebrated tunesmith. Bowman gained the ACM Award for track of the yr for co-writing Chris Stapleton’s “No one to Blame,” one in all three contributions he made to that nation famous person’s breakout album in 2015. (Stapleton and Bowman are pictured above on the 2016 ACMs.) He additionally shared songwriting credit score for 2 No. 1 nation hits, Kenny Chesney’s “By no means Wished Nothing Extra” (additionally a co-write with Stapleton) and Brooks & Dunn’s chart-topping “It’s Getting Higher All of the Time.”
Different artists who reduce Bowman’s songs included Jessie Buckley (for the movie “WIld Rose”), Nick Cave, Cody Johnson, Lee Ann Womack, Ralph Stanley, Invoice Gaither, Del McCoury and Marcus King. And as a singer or participant, he appeared on recordings by Loretta Lynn, Sierra Hull, Alan Jackson, John Fogerty, Jake Owen, Yola, Randy Newman and lots of others.
However he was greatest identified to bluegrass followers as a singer-songwriter in his personal proper, first as lead singer and bass participant for 11 years with the Lonesome River Band, the place he started a partnership with Dan Tyminski in 1990, and by the mid-’90s as a solo artist. He was the recipient of quite a few awards from the Worldwide Bluegrass Music Affiliation, beginning with an album of the yr win for “Chilly Virginia Evening” in 1995, and the IBMA named him male vocalist of the yr 3 times.
Dierks Bentley, the nation star who is understood for his bluegrass bona fides, paid tribute to Bowman in an emotional Instagram put up.
“Going to take awhile for it to sink in that Ronnie Bowman is gone,” wrote Bentley. “He was the favourite bluegrass and nation singer of everybody I do know. And he was everybody’s favourite grasp.”
Bentley famous that he had many reminiscences of hanging with Bowman on the Station Inn in Nashville, however stated his favourite was of a favor he known as in on the inaugural DelFest (named after bluegrass legend Del McCoury).
“My spouse cherished Ronnie’s track ‘It’s Getting Higher All of the Time’ (which Brooks and Dunn reduce). Obsessed actually. And whereas she was sleeping in a bunk on the bus, I went and located Ronnie and requested him if he would come serenade her! He got here up on the bus together with his guitar, snuck again into the center bunk part which may be very darkish, hit the primary chord and ‘I don’t cease respiration each time the telephone rings…’ Think about sleeping and unexpectedly you hear somebody whose voice you like, however hadn’t met, singing your present all-time fave track, six inches away out of your head on the opposite facet of a bus bunk curtain, within the pitch darkish. Shock and confusion adopted by tears and laughs. It was the sweetest factor to do, and that’s simply how he was.
“Listening to that track takes on a complete new which means now,” Bentley concluded. “Can’t think about what Garnet, his household and all his shut mates are feeling proper now. Ideas and prayers for them, and for all of the RoBo followers on the market, as he’s affectionally referred to in my band. All of us cherished him.”
An announcement posted by Garnet Bowman, Ronnie’s spouse, learn: “We’re in full shock and totally devastated to verify that our beloved Ronnie handed away yesterday… Ronnie was beloved by so many in our music neighborhood, whom he cherished so dearly… and we’re past grateful for the entire love & outpouring towards us already. Proper now, as we course of, we simply covet your prayers. We now have no phrases at the moment, however thanks and graciously request that you just honor our privateness whereas we attempt to put our heads round this and grieve. What we all know and maintain onto, is that he’s together with his Savior Jesus in Heaven, though already terribly missed right here on Earth. Any additional particulars or plans will probably be made public when there’s any data to share about honoring the legacy of our beloved Ronnie.”
“Love that man,” posted nation singer-songwriter Ernest in response.
His onetime bandmate Tyminski wrote that Bowman was “a lot greater than an outdated buddy and band mate. We fashioned a bond years in the past that we carried with us by life realizing that we had one thing particular collectively. For a very long time nobody considered my title with out his being hooked up. We had been a pair. I’m not the person I’m right this moment with out him in my life. The entire world will really feel this devastating loss and he’ll perpetually be my brother.”
One in every of Bowman’s final posts on social media was to repost an excerpt that George Strait’s account had put up of the track “The Journey of Your Life,” with the caption, “Thanks for recording this one George!” It’s a composition that’s prone to come up as Bowman is remembered, with lyrics impressed by a grandfather determine that embody the strains, “Trip the wind ’til we meet once more / On the opposite facet of life… / I’ll be the angel flyin’ by your facet / On the journey of your life.”
