Interview and Photos by Scott Preston
I was lucky enough to sit down with Dan Tyminski (Union Station, Lonesome River Band) and Ronnie Bowman (Lonesome River Band) before their gig at The Master Musicians Festival in Somerset, KY on 7/17. This was a treat, as both men have very busy professional and personal lives and they said they enjoy when they can find time to gig together.
Cincy Groove: When did the two of you start playing together?
Ronnie Bowman: Back in 1990.
Dan Tyminski: We met when we started playing for The Lonesome River Band. The first time we really met was at a fiddlers convention in Virginia.
Cincy Groove: How often do you guys get a chance to go out and play together?
Dan Tyminski: Not a whole lot really, but I think we have 6-8 shows under our belt so far on this tour.
Ronnie Bowman: I believe there is about another 10 shows to go.
Dan Tyminski: Ronnie is a songwriter and spends most of his time in Nashville working with various artists. My kids are still small, so when I’m home I spend most of my time as a professional chauffeur. I truck them from one place to another, so it takes up most of my time. My day job so to speak has been with Union Station for the last 18 years.
Cincy Groove: Ronnie, who else do you perform with?
Ronnie Bowman: I have my own band, The Ronnie Bowman Band, I go out as myself (laughing).
Cincy Groove: How is Nashville recovering from the floods?
Dan Tyminski: I think the general spirit is pretty good. There were a lot of people with a lot of damage and it will take years to rebuild. The great thing is to see so many people helping each other. I think the last time I saw Ronnie in Nashville he was pressure washing someones driveway. People just pull together and do what they can.
Cincy Groove: Didn’t The Grand Ole Opry suffer a lot of damage?
Dan Tyminski: The Opry House, Opry Land, and the Soundcheck storage facility was one of the places that got hit really hard. Many people lost a lot of equipment. I had stuff in storage there, but we were conveniently gigging the second night of the flood. Our guys went in with water up to their ankles at that point and were able to get our stuff, so we were lucky not to lose anything.
Cincy Groove: How did the stage itself turn out?
Ronnie Bowman: You can see pictures on Tennessee.com, I forget how far but the water was up above the stage. The whole thing needed to be replaced.
Cincy Groove: Dan, what has been your most recent project?
Dan Tyminski: Well mine was Wheels which came out back in 2008, Ronnie I think has about 15 projects in the can.
Ronnie Bowman: I am working on a lot, I’m not sure whats coming out , but I do need to get something released. The last thing I released was “Its Getting Better All The Time”. I record all the time, I’m fortunate enough to write for Sony Publishing. They have a great studio, with all the best mics, all the best gear. I get to go in there and write songs and get to play with some of the best players in the world.
Cincy Groove: Do the two of you have anymore gigs coming up together?
Dan Tyminski: In about a week we have a teaching workshop we are going to do. It something that’s going to be new to us, we haven’t do this type of thing before. We are going to be talking about songwriting, harmony singing, general band dynamics. We haven’t talked about it much but I’m sure the two of us will work on a project together soon.
