He is a guitarist born in South Dakota who later moved to Omaha, Nebraska. He found a guitar which had been his father’s and went on to teach himself during the first years of playing it. He then went on to earn a Master’s degree in music education and composition from the University of Nebraska.
When he was in his twenties he played with the rock band Pilot and went to Guam with it when he was 22 years old. They performed for two months in the final years of the Vietnam conflict and after returning to the US they broke up.
He relocated to Boston where he took studies with the jazz guitarist Michael Goodrick before returning to Omaha and meeting up with the conductor and musician Chip Davis. The two of them performed as a duo and went on tour with the singer C.W. McCall, who Chip Davis had co-written the hit song “Convoy” with.
During the 1980s he was a member of the River City All-Stars in Omaha and performed with Chip Davis’s successful ensemble Mannheim Steamroller. He remained with them for many years where he would record and tour with them nationally. It would put on concerts where seven shows were performed over four or five days and then move on to the next city and later arenas. Its performances were also broadcast on several television shows.
Also during his time with Mannheim Steamroller he performed with the singer Charlotte Church and also at the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony where he has met both the presidents Bill Clinton and George W Bush.
No stranger to the recording studio he released his own Daydreams, Rainbows, The Ancient and The Infant, Livin’ The Good Life and Fireplace Memories as well as performing on Day Parts: Party Music That Cooks by Chip Davis’s Day Parts, Easy to Love by Camille Devore, Unexpected Journeys by Jeff Jenkins, Fresh Aire III, Christmas, Fresh Aire Christmas, Yellowstone: The Music of Nature, Christmas in the Aire, Christmas Live, Christmas Collection, Romantic Themes, Chrismas Symphony and 30/40 by Mannheim Steamroller, Wolf Creek Pass by C.W.McCall, Don’t Cry Till You Get to the Car and Snug by Mulberry Lane, Classical Gas by Mason Williams and Mannheim Steamroller, Jackson Berkey’s American Shadows by Soli Deo Gloria Cantorum along with many others.
In the field of musical education he has taught guitar at Omaha’s Creighton University.
Mannheim Steamroller recordings
Carol of the Birds(Traditional Catlonian)
American Gramaphone records AG 1984 (CD: Christmas)
Coventry Carol (Traditional English/Robert Croo/Thomas Mawdyke)
American Gramaphone records AG 1984 (CD: Christmas)
Deck the Halls (Welsh Traditional)
American Gramaphone records AG 1984 (CD: Christmas)
Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella (Traditional/Emile Blemont/Marc-Antoine Charpentier/Louis-Denis Seguin)(English Translation: Edward Cuthbert Nunn)
American Gramaphone records AG 1984 (CD: Christmas)
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (Traditional/Anonymous)
American Gramaphone Records AG 1984 (CD: Christmas)
Good King Wenceslas (John Mason Neale)
American Gramaphone records AG 1984 (CD: Christmas)
I Saw Three Ships (Traditional/Anonymous)
American Gramaphone records AG 1984 (CD: Christmas)
Wassail (Anonymous Middle Ages English/Ralph Vaughan Williams)
American Gramaphone records AG 1984 (CD: Christmas)
We Three Kings (Rev. John Henry Hopkins Jr.)
American Gramaphone records AG 1984 (CD: Christmas)
Sources:
- https://www.omahamagazine.com/2020/04/15/306717/omahas-godfather-of-music-ron-cooley-his-global-adventures
- https://nebraskaauthors.org/authors/ron-cooley
- https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0177618/
- https://www.discogs.com/artist/384474-Ron-Cooley
- https://rateyourmusic.com/artist/ron-cooley
- https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?artist_id=384474&ev=ab
- https://www.allmusic.com/artist/ron-cooley-mn0000275923#credits