Bo Ramsey learned to pick out the notes to Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" on a Gibson L-7 that his father bought in 1934, and the blues have been in his blood ever since.   "The power of that music affected me to the point where it was like, 'God, I've been listening to this stuff and I can't take anymore.   I've got to pick up my guitar,'" he told the Des Moines Register .

Guitar in hand, Ramsey has earned renown from Nashville to New Zealand, and taken on local legend status in his home state of Iowa.   Born in Burlington in 1951 to a father who played guitar in 1930s swing bands and a mother who sang him songs from her Louisiana childhood, Robert Franklin Ramsey was raised with music all around him, and by the time he was 23, music was his livelihood.

In 1974, Bo formed the Mother Blues Band with Joe Price and Patrick Hazell, then in the late-70s founded Bo Ramsey & The Sliders, which toured the Midwest for more than a decade.   Ramsey later led The Backsliders and The Middle of Nowhere, and has also toured extensively with folk singer Greg Brown.

In recent years, Ramsey has become an in-demand producer, session guitarist, and hired gun for touring bands.   He's played on the records of such luminaries as Lucinda Williams, Pete Seeger, Ani DiFranco and Iris DeMent; produced or co-produced records for Williams, Joan Baez, Pieta Brown, Kevin Gordon and Dave Zollo; and toured with Williams, Greg and Pieta Brown, and John Prine.   In addition, Ramsey has recorded nine albums of his own, including his breakthrough effort, 1991's Down to Bastrop .   Bo's efforts on stage and in the studio have helped forge Eastern Iowa's blues-rock scene and influenced artists the world over.