Verde Valley News – Music in the Stacks returns on Thursday, November 9th at 5:00 pm to Camp Verde Community Library’s Fireside Room. Music in the Stacks is a showcase of local and national musicians who entertain regularly in Northern Arizona. There are 3-5 different performers during the show, with a rotating variety each month.
November’s concert features Eric Ramsey, Ryan Biter and Virgil Brown.
Award winning songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Eric Ramsey has been active in the Arizona music scene since the mid-70s, performing solo or as part of any number of bands. Following a career as an electrician, he has recently – thanks to the support of his wife and family – been able to concentrate on writing and performing full time. He has self-released six CDs – 2015’s debut Wills And Won’ts, 2016’s acclaimed Up We Go, 2017’s bluesy, resonator soaked It’s A Rough World, Baby and 2018’s Road Of Man. 2018 also saw the release of Rough, Raw Or Wrong:LIVE, recorded in concert. His newest release, in May of 2022, is On The Record. Eric is the 2022 Winner of the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN. He is three-time champion of the Phoenix Blues Society’s Blues Showdown and is the winner of the Stefan George Memorial Songwriting Contest. He was named Peoples’ Choice Award winner at the Wildflower Music Festival, and a Finalist in the Al Johnson Songwriting Competition in 2022, a four-time featured performer at the Dripping Springs (TX) Songwriters Festival and has been tapped for the prestigious Songwriter’s Showcase produced by Tempe Center for the Arts, filmed for PBS distribution. With soaring vocals and organic arrangements, Eric’s writes from experience about the human condition – at times sensitive, at times humorous, always thought-provoking. His arrangements and delivery encompass a spectrum of styles, from delicate fingerpicking to raucous, bluesy bottleneck slide, and he can often be found in his garage, where his family prefers he practice. Especially the banjo….
Ryan Biter was raised and currently resides in Flagstaff, AZ at 7000 feet. His music echoes the expansive soul of The Southwest. The sound is equal parts rural Americana, spectacled college town hipster, mountain bluegrass, and new age funk beatbox drum circle. It feels like your favorite pair of jeans; utterly unique, yet enjoyably familiar. Armed with expertly crafted songs, percussive guitar playing, and an affinity for beatboxing and loop pedals, Biter delivers a concert that is commanding yet intimate. He has a unique way of making a coffee shop feel like a concert hall and a club feel like an intimate house show. Ryan can be found sharing his music with audiences all around the country. He was the 2013 winner of Northern Arizona’s Got Talent, and his music has been featured on National and Internationally syndicated radio stations. Ryan has also shared the stage with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and was a featured performer at the 2019 Dripping Springs Songwriters Festival.
Neal Virgil Brown is a storyteller, through song and the written word. There are plenty of Neals and Neils in the music business, so he goes by his middle name, Virgil. Virgil got his start playing guitar as a kid in a family who all sang and played an instrument of some kind. In his young life he worked as a logger, a fisherman, a radio disc-jockey & newsman, and as a taxi driver on the mean streets of Vancouver. All the while he was writing his own songs and performing them in coffee houses and nightclubs. Eventually Virgil was based out of Seattle where for many years, he was on the road playing whatever music he could get paid to play. In the 1980’s he toured the far-east with a rock-n-roll band called The 57s, and in the 1990’s it was Europe, with stops in Amsterdam, Prague, Berlin and Munich. As an encore, he spent a couple of decades being a father and working as a coffee roaster. He has spent the last few years writing, recording, and drifting. He found his way to the warm sunny desert, and the time to look back. He’s written and recorded a collection of new songs, and a series of short stories that chronicle his reckless youth.
Camp Verde Community Library is located at 130 N Black Bridge Road just off Montezuma Castle Highway in Camp Verde. The library is open Monday-Thursday 8:00a-7:00p and Friday-Saturday 9:00a-5:00p. For more information about this or any other library program visit the library’s webpage at https://www.campverde.az.gov/cvcl or call 928-554-8380 during library open hours.