Ranger Kidwell-Ross: percussion
Ranger Kidwell-Ross started playing drums about 1966, and used this talent to finance his way through college and graduate school playing in the band "Rain.’"Although his degrees were in economics, musical performance has remained a central activity in his life since that time.

"Although I still enjoy playing a drum kit," Ranger relates, "over the last decade I've moved more toward unusual, non-standard instruments. My current favorite 'trap set,' which is a term that arose from the 'contraptions' put together by black musicians during the beginnings of the jazz era, involves a snare drum, hi-hat cymbal and a turquoise Samsonite suitcase for a bass drum. A surprising number of percussive input can spring from the combination.

"Another mainstay has become the zydeco 'scratchboard' I play with Zydeco Explosion. It's indispensable for that type music that comes from around the Louisiana bayou country. The board provides what is, to me, an opportunity to delve to the very essence of a song. Although standard fare for Cajun and zydeco music, the instrument is basic enough to traverse from rock to bluegrass to world beat to rockabilly and more.

"A well-played scratchboard can become the foundation on which the melodic current rides. Basic, primal -- and let's not forget eminently portable. For me, it's been my ticket onstage with some extremely fine players, including Tab Benoit, Jude Taylor, Kelly Thibedoux and Etouffee, Rock Bottom, Jr. Cadillac, The Clumsy Lovers, The Bumblebees and many more. I've now played some form of the instrument in Australia and over a dozen countries throughout Europe and Asia."

Ranger was fortunate enough to be chosen, along with Cajun and blues guitar aficionado, Gypsy Lou, to headline a Cajun music performance at the 2007 2nd World Music Festival in Nahkon Sawan, Thailand. As best as anyone could determine, that marked the first time anyone had ever heard America's Cajun music style. Audience members were astonished, he says, at seeing the scratchboard played and in hearing the raw rhythm it injected into an already brash style of music.

"Gypsy Lou and I were concerned about how the audience would react, since we followed a legendary Thailand band whose leader was introduced to us as 'the Bob Dylan of Thailand.' The show went very well, I think in large part because of the complete uniqueness of both the music style and the idea of 'scratching on a metal board' as a musical instrument. We learned that even on the other side of the planet, when it comes to Cajun and zydeco music, what's not to like?!

"Although I've always been glad my perseverance with the business world kept me from relying on music for my primary income, my 'other life' as a drummer and percussionist has allowed me to hang around what I believe are the finest people in the world, and by that I mean musicians. In my experience, if there's a thread that can bring life into balance, it's the playing of music. Fortunately for me, there are few musical styles not made better by at least a bit of percussion. Wouldn't you agree?"