My friend Ron Whitehead is coming to The Rosine Barn Jamboree again, and he’s bringing his Storm Generation band August 15, 2025, 7pm, and I’m excited as ever to see and hear them. It’ll be an experience!
(photo by Jinn Bug)
I know some of you may be asking, “Who’s Ron Whitehead?” It’s not uncommon for a renowned person to be unknown in his or her hometown or home county, or for a famous place to be unknown by folks living in the same general area.
Ron Whitehead is, in fact, a native Ohio Countian from Centertown where he grew up on a farm. He graduated from Ohio County High School in 1968. Then Ron left home for college and pursued his dream.
(Ron as a Centertown Demon basketball player, from Blistered Asphalt on Dixie Highway)
Ron is a poet—he knew it from early on. He dreamed big at the University of Louisville and at Oxford University in England, where he was awarded for his work.
After his studies, Ron returned to Kentucky as a U of L literature professor. And he wrote! And he wrote! And he wrote some more! Ron today has a collection of work including more than 30 books and over 40 albums.
Albums, you say? You see Ron is a champion of the spoken word. For him, poems are to be heard, not just written and then read from the page.
For decades now, Ron has been traveling the world performing his poetry, which by the way, has been translated to 20 different languages. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that Ron has set foot on every continent on earth, even Antarctica.
On one particular tour of planet earth, Ron met the Dalai Lama, who gave Ron a message for the world. Ron translated it into a poem and published it for all to read.
(from Google Images)
But Ron still comes home to Centertown to visit family. He’s been officially retired from teaching for many years now, but he’s still teaching in his own beautiful way, writing poems and songs and publishing in print and on stage.
Ron has been an inspiration for me since the first time I saw him at OCHS in the late 90’s where I was teaching English literature myself. He didn’t just stand behind the podium and read. His poetry burst from him with the raw energy of a volcano.
And he talked about writing like it was mining feverishly for gold, like it was sent from Heaven…
It was nothing short of a revelation for me. I didn’t know poetry could be that powerful. At the time, I had been singing the praises of poetry to 11th and 12th graders for almost a decade, and I thought I knew a little bit about it.
In that one moment, Ron showed me what it was really about, and my teaching was never the same.
Not only did Ron influence my teaching, but even more so, he influenced my writing. Much of Ron’s work is written in a “Stream of Consciousness” style. Here’s what Professor of Literature Liz Delf at Oregon State University says about this style:
This style has been around since the early 1900’s, but I didn’t much understand it or even care much for it until I saw how Ron Whitehead used it.
As a matter of fact, when I published my first book Monroe Country Volume One, I included six poems written in Stream of Consciousness. Those poems would never have been written, much less published, without Ron’s influence.
For a long time now, I’ve searched for that one who compares to Ron Whitehead, and I’m here to tell you it can’t be done. Not with just one.
All at the same time, he’s a hellfire and damnation preacher, he’s a young Abe Lincoln on a stump in Illinois, he’s Jim Morrison lighting a fire, he’s an ancient Druid mystifying at Stonehenge. Boil all these down and you’ve got someone that even today’s AI couldn’t replicate.
Oh, and I’m not alone in holding that Ron has some Lincoln in him.
(David Amram, composer, arranger, conductor)
Certainly, Amram isn’t the only one with kind words for Ron.
Yes, that’s the same Hunter S. Thompson who wrote the book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the movie for which starred Johnny Depp. Thompson, a Louisville native, was one of the creators of “gonzo” journalism; in fact, he coined the term.
For years in L’ville, Ron Whitehead organized and produced GonzoFest, a celebration of Thompson’s life and work.
(from Google Images)
Thompson said Ron was “…crazy as nine loons…”
Speaking of “crazy”, here’s what Dan Denton said of Ron in The Factory Poet in August of 2024.
”You’d have to be crazy to even think you could accomplish what Ron has in one lifetime, and you’d have to be damn near superhuman crazy to pull it off.”
Proof of Ron’s crazy dedication to his art would be the numerous Insomniacathons he has produced in his lifetime. These are non-stop, round-the-clock poetry, music and artistic performances that have lasted as long as 90 straight hours.
Appropriately, Ron’s work has earned him much recognition, such as being nominated for both the Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize for Literature. In addition, Ron was named U.S. Beat Poet Laureate for life.
Ron’s most recent accolade is a documentary about him, which you can view on Amazon Prime in the “Documentary” section.
(from Google Images)
If you’re looking to read one of Ron’s books but don’t know which to choose, join the crowd. For you, I will share my two favorites:
The Beaver Dam Rocking Chair Marathon
This one is still #1 on my list. I’ve read it multiple times. I love the book so much I would put forth that it should be required reading for all OCHS seniors. It’s based on the actual 1973 event in Beaver Dam at which Ron placed second by rocking in a rocking chair non-stop for 89 hours and 50 minutes.
I’ve enjoyed the book so much over the years that 20 years ago when I decided to make Ron a cedar walking staff, I knew a rocking chair must go at the top.
Ron was gracious enough to let me write a Beaver Dam Rocking Chair Marathon adaptation for both stage and screen. They’re written; if only we could find someone to fund, produce and direct.
Mama: a Poet’s Heart in a Kentucky Girl
My runner-up, this book Ron co-wrote with his mother Greta Render Whitehead. The last time Ron came to The Rosine Barn Jamboree he had Mrs. Whitehead with him, along with other family.
If you want another title to consider, checkout Blistered Asphalt on Dixie Highway, especially if you love basketball.
Ron, doesn’t sing much, but he was very much influenced by music from an early age. Ron, has perfected the art of blending the spoken word with music.
You’ll know what I mean when he performs at The Rosine Barn Jamboree 7pm Central, August 15, with The Storm Generation band doing old-timey music. If we’re lucky he’ll perform “Mama Killed Chickens.”
I could go on and on about Ron, a book’s worth even. I’ll end with this: Ron is Kentucky child, wild child, rebel child, flower child, and sweet child all at the same time, and in his mid-70’s he’s still a child at heart.”
Can’t wait to see Ron Whitehead and the Storm Generation August 15, 2025, 7pm, at The Rosine Barn Jamboree!
