Walking Song

Ron Block, long regarded as one of the leading lights of contemporary acoustic music, will release Walking Song, his third solo set for Rounder Records, on July 30, 2013. While Block is best known as a two-decade veteran of Alison Krauss & Union Station, he is also a highly regarded songwriter, singer and producer. In recent years, he has also come to prominence for his writings about Christian theology and spirituality.

Block has written many a gospel song for Alison Krauss and Union Station, and has had songs recorded by Union Station band mate Dan Tyminski, Michael W. Smith, Rhonda Vincent, Randy Travis, The Boxcars, April Verch, The Cox Family, Sierra Hull, and The Forbes Family. He's also an in-demand sideman, who has contributed to albums by everyone from Dailey & Vincent, Bill Frisell and Andrew Peterson to Dolly Parton, Alan Jackson and Vince Gill.

For Walking Song, Block enlisted the help of a newfound co-writer, award-winning poet Rebecca Reynolds, whom he first encountered through his non-music writings. Block explains, "I would write posts on the theological topics that I tend to write about, and Rebecca would be one of the commenters. Whenever she’d write something, I'd think, 'Man, she's smart. Smart without trying to be smart, with a very poetic way of putting things.' I don’t know how it actually ended up happening, but she said, 'Hey, would you ever want to try to write a song together?'"