BIO
Chris Ramey is a multi-genre multi-instrumentalist from West Virginia with over 35 years of professional music experience. Now residing in Boulder County, Colorado, Chris is "21 strings of psychedelic-country-funk-rock-reggae." His guitar playing has been described as a 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.
As a performer Chris Ramey has been privileged to open for many national and international acts, including George Clinton and P-Funk, The Wailers, Burning Spear, Culture and Rusted Root. Past band memberships include Jolly Gargoyle, Joint Chiefs (co-founder), Rasta Rafiki, Other River Project (leader), Psycho Billy's, Tom Batchelor Band, Exit Strategy (leader), US Pipe, WD-40, Crowboy, Bonnie and the Clydes, Lil' Ween and Danny Shafer and the 21st Century.
Chris has done studio session work for a diverse range of artists, like the Tom Batchelor Band (reggae-rock), Crowboy (alt-country), Craig Corona (Americana), Bonnie and the Clydes (country), Full Belly (funk-rock-reggae) and Danny Shafer (singer-songwriter).
As Chris Ramey's Not Dead Yet, he features original tunes and early Dead and Dead-related material. Here's a performance of "Operator."
Chris just completed his first full-length recording project, “Children's Songs for Adults Only.” The twelve tunes explore humor, marijuana and sex using multiple genres. Chris wrote all the material, sang and played kazoo, harmonica, ukulele, banjo, dobro, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, B-Bender, steel guitars, pedal steel guitar, bass and snare drum. If Willie Nelson, Ween, the Wailers, Weird Al and Wheeler Walker had a love child, it would sound a lot like Chris.
His latest release “Front Porch Jams (A Collection of Delta Blues Instrumentals)” is a 12 song exploration of the genre, specifically the 1920s. Using bottleneck slide on a resonator guitar, acoustic rhythm guitar, harmonica and light percussion, we can relax and experience a trip through archetypal early blues. These tunes are available for licensing and are ideal for synchronization.
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"Ramey’s background brings the funk — and the reggae."
- Steve Weishampel, Boulder Weekly
“Boulder banjo picker Chris Ramey sings about getting stoned and popping sex pills in his tongue-in-cheek new record, Children’s Songs for Adults Only, released independently on June 2. The dirty dozen sees Ramey bounce between blunts (“Do You Like My Cologne?”) and brashness (“The Porta-Potty Peeper”) with an old-timey twang and charm that keeps it all lighthearted and snappy.”
- Justin Criado, Westword