www.rockyball.com
Playing Since: 1976
Experience Level: Expert/Professional

Interests:
[Teaching] [Jamming] [Socializing] [Helping]

Occupation: musician/graphic artist

Gender: Male
Age: 73

My Instruments:
1925 Bacon & Day Superbanjo

Classified Rating: not rated
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Profile Info:
Visible to: Public
Created 4/1/2009
Last Visit 10/22/2014

Rocky Ball Rocky Ball is the lead banjo player of the current Ruby Red's Band. Rocky was born and reared in Thunderbolt, a small shrimping village on the Georgia coast near Savannah. As a child he studied piano and played in church, eventually playing music in bars and clubs along Savannah's famed River Street to help pay his way through art school. Rocky moved to Atlanta in 1973 to study Commercial Art at Georgia State University and soon founded the Raz'Mataz Jazz Band at Six Flags Over Georgia. Raz'Mataz began working throughout the Southeast playing Dixieland Jazz. In 1976 Rocky switched from the piano to the banjo and soon landed a gig with the Ruby Red's Band in Underground Atlanta, one of 5 banjo players that played regularly with this group. In 1978 Raz'Mataz was summoned to perform at Kennywood Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and eventually the band members formed a partnership to write, produce and perform a variety of live entertainment in several amusement parks around the country including Stone Mountain in Atlanta, Dorney Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania and Elitch Gardens in Denver, Colorado. In 1992, after 14 years as Kennywood's Director of Entertainment, Rocky partnered with fellow musicians Marty Martin and Hal Johnson to form their own nightclub, Fanny Moon's Beer Hall, in Underground Atlanta. They formed the Big Butt Band to serve as the house band for the club. After 4 years as club owners, the Big Butt Band closed Fanny Moon's and sought other interests in addition to continuing to perform. Rocky launched a freelance graphic design business, ArtWorks Graphics, finally putting his art school experience to use. He can regularly be found playing with several Dixieland bands in the Atlanta area including George Carere's Riverboat Drifters, the Dixieland Stompers, Don Erdman's Hotlanta Jazz Band, Lee King's Chick-fil-A® Moo Cow Band and the Ruby Red's Band. Rocky also plays solo banjo at events throughout the Southeast.