Ralph Ezell Tribute

I am blown away. I moved back to Nebraska from Nashville in 2001 and tonight was searching on Facebook for old friends and searched for Ralph. He worked for me - just a little part time job to fill time and pick up some bucks that was flexible when he got session work or a gig. And my heart just broke when I saw that he passed. If anyone from his family sees this-I have some SUPER FUN photos of Ralph from some office parties we had. He was such a joy and so fun to know. Truly a loss to all.

I didn't know about this until now while on YouTube and I'm very sorry to hear about this. What a great person he was as well as a great bass player. I met Ralph back in 1990 when my country band (Jodie Jay Band) opened up for Shenandoah here in Texas at a place in the country called Rowe Valley. I'm a bass player myself and I was really nervous on that gig just knowing that Ralph was there. I even got to play through his bass rig and that sent chills down my spine. After we played, Shenandoah played and what a great performance it was and all of their songs sounded great. After the show, we met Shenandoah and what an honor it was to meet such a great group of guys and very talented musicians they were. Several years later in 2003, my wife had a conference in Nashville and we went walking around Nashville and went to the Country Music Hall of Fame and there I saw Ralph working in the gift shop putting cd's on the shelf. I told my wife that I knew him, so she went up to him and told him that I knew him, so he came up to me and we shook hands and talked about the gig in Texas and of course, we also talked about bass gear. I then bought Shenandoah's greatest hits cd and Ralph signed it for me, so I was very thankful for that. Again, I'm so sorry to hear the news and my thoughts and prayers go out to his family. I'm honored to have met Ralph and he will truly be missed.