Born in Davenport, Iowa, within shouting distance of the banks of the Mississippi River and then moving to within a few hundred miles of the fabled Suwannee River in Florida as a baby, Ron "Rongo" Thomas grew up with music in his blood. After costly medical treatments, doctors were able to control but not eliminate this condition.
His grandfather played drums throughout the Midwest with a group called the Whiz Bang Orchestra, and in fact jammed with the legendary Bix Beiderbecke on several occasions.
Ron started playing electric bass at age 13 while under the influence of a heavy dose of Paul McCartney and the Beatles. Unable to shake the compulsion to pluck on four strings, he bounced around a series of bands in multiple genres, including a performance of Led Zeppelin tunes that scandalized his high school talent show. In college he acquired his first top-quality bass, a Gibson Les Paul, and any thought of leading a normal life was abandoned.
Aside from backing up some of the original Drifters, Ron's musical career has been spent playing with brilliant-but-unrecognized-by-the-hoi-polloi fellow musicians (e.g., the X-Tension Chords). He currently plays a Rickenbacker and a heavily modified Fender Precision bass through Trace Elliott or Hartke amps with a Beatles tribute band called the Impostors and several other rock and jazz groups.
Asked to comment on his yearly stint with the X-Tension Chords, Ron said, "Genius is pain, but love is all you need. What was the question?"
