Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Don’t Retire from Life: Music, Rituals, and Joy - with Ron Sowell
216 Plays13 days ago
Ron Sowell is a lifelong musician, singer-songwriter, and performer who has spent decades exploring the transformative power of music. From stage performances to songwriting workshops, Ron’s life offers a rich example of how creativity and personal growth can intertwine—especially in the years beyond traditional career paths.
Ron shares the pivotal moment he stepped off the law-school track and committed to music for life, the joy and meaning he finds in performing and mentoring, and the simple daily practices that keep him grounded and strong as the years add up. We talk Mountain Stage, creative purpose beyond “traditional retirement,” and why gratitude, meditation, and consistent movement are non-negotiables for staying vibrant.
Key takeaways:
* Purpose isn’t a job title. Ron never planned to “retire” from the thing that gives him energy—music.
* Daily anchors matter: meditation, gratitude, and some form of strength/mobility work are simple but compounding.
* Creative contribution evolves with age: performing, producing, and coaching other artists are natural extensions of a lifetime in music.
* Community keeps you sharp: bandleading at Mountain Stage means constant learning and collaboration with top-tier musicians.
Connect with Ron via his website: https://ronsowell.com or @RonSowellMusic
Recommended
Transcript
Is Retirement a Dull Prospect?
00:00:03
Speaker
Retirement. That's what we're all aiming at, right? But exactly what does that mean? conjures up visions of endless days of golf, drinks with little umbrellas in them on a tropical beach, feet up reading a book.
00:00:16
Speaker
Is that what it's all about? I don't think so. Life would get pretty dull after a while without anything meaningful to do, don't you think?
Introduction to Jackie Doucette and Ron Soule
00:00:25
Speaker
I'm Jackie Doucette, and I'm on a mission to discover exactly what life is like beyond retirement.
00:00:30
Speaker
Join me while I chat with people who've already done it, who've retired to something rather than from something. Let's find out together exactly what's waiting for us when we say goodbye to that nine to five.
00:00:44
Speaker
Hi, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Beyond Retirement.
Ron's Musical Journey and Parental Influence
00:00:50
Speaker
hi everyone welcome to another episode of beyond retirement I'm Jackie Doucette and I'm here today with ah Ron Soule. Ron's a lifelong musician, singer, songwriter and a performer, and he spent decades exploring the transformative power of music.
00:01:08
Speaker
From stage performances to songwriting workshops, Ron's life offers a rich example of how creativity and personal growth can intertwine, especially in the years layered beyond careers.
00:01:20
Speaker
Ron, thanks for coming and joining me today. Well, thanks, Jackie. It was a pleasure to be with you. I've got a lot of questions. um I haven't had a a singer-songwriter on my show yet, which is and apologies to anyone who is one who's been there and I've forgotten.
Choosing Music Over Law
00:01:40
Speaker
I'd like to know a little bit about how you got started in it and when you decided that it was going to be kind of your life.
00:01:50
Speaker
Yeah, um well, yeah you know, I sang sitting next to my dad at church. um I joined the high school choir and I had a folk group in high school that actually we sang all the way through college. And and they're still my dear friends today, all these like 60 years later it's ah It's amazing. um But the music has always been a love of mine, but but my parents always supported it, but they never really...
00:02:23
Speaker
push ah It never really recommended it and pushed me and it sort of discouraged me from being a a vocation and an occupation. So I was um in a college ah ah majoring in political science and getting ready to go to law school.
00:02:43
Speaker
And and I went to fill out my LSATs, which is the test, you know, you take to to to two get get into law school. And and I could not complete the form. I mean, I'm literally my hand would not write. i was just like frozen.
00:03:00
Speaker
And I thought, what is going on? And I realized I don't want to do this I know I've studied ah in in all these years, but, you know, what is it that did I want to do? And I thought, I'm a musician. You know, if if I do anything else but that, I won't be
Flourishing Career and Passion for Music
00:03:15
Speaker
happy. So I i just made a a decisionintuitive decision, decision.
00:03:20
Speaker
of course, it was not very popular with my dad the time. Yeah. when i eat and When I told him I wasn't going to go to law school, I was going to load up all my all my so earthly belongings into my end to my car and drive to the nearest big city and play in a bar, you know.
00:03:38
Speaker
But... but i did I did it for love. I did it for the love of of music and for because that's that's what made sense to me. And I've never looked back. I've never regretted it. And things have worked out really well. You
Why Artists Never Truly Retire
00:03:53
Speaker
know i've had I've had a great career. um and And not only ah as ah just an independent musician, but I'm i'm also the ended up being the musical director of ah of a radio show on NPR, National Public Radio, called Mountain Stage.
00:04:11
Speaker
which is, um we are on about 300 stations of and nationwide and and and into Canada too. And ah so I do that every week and and and i perform, i i write, I teach.
00:04:27
Speaker
i work I love working with kids. I love encouraging other people to to play music.
Inspiration from Fellow Musicians
00:04:35
Speaker
It's just, ah i'm still I'm still passionate about it. i just don't see how that that it will ever change.
00:04:43
Speaker
You know, it's a, it's a, I've never, musicians and artists really never really retire. because it's like retire to do what? To do more music? I mean, we're already doing that. So I just, I had a, had a, I had a,
00:05:04
Speaker
journalist interviewed me one time for mount our Mountain State show was we were having a 30th anniversary show. And he said, well, Ron, you've been doing this a long time. Do you ever think about retiring?
00:05:17
Speaker
and i And I said, so ruy so I'll have more time to play music. What kind of question is this? So anyway, that's ah that's a long rambling answer to your to your question.
00:05:29
Speaker
No, that's great. And
Passion vs. Financial Gain
00:05:30
Speaker
I think it's it shows that A lot of self-awareness, I guess, to to be going into university and and be strong enough to say, you know, whoa, step back. This isn't what I want to be doing, because so many people start out doing something, going to university and discovering later on, hey, that wasn't the right path.
00:05:53
Speaker
At least you pick the right path at the start. Well, people would would say to me, um and I know this is very common, and they would say, well, Ron, just go ahead and get your law degree and you know be make make make your money and and you know get established. and And then when you're 30 or 40 whatever, then you can do music.
00:06:16
Speaker
And that never made sense to me. It never made sense me. I thought, what kind of person am I going to be?
00:06:25
Speaker
20 years later, if I do something that I really don't like every day for 20 years. so in anyway but and That's not to disparage anybody who went into law or accounting or any business or any of those things. If that's your passion, if that's what is that is that what what what turns you on and and gets you going in the morning, then I'm all for it.
00:06:48
Speaker
But ah that's that wasn't the case with me.
00:06:52
Speaker
And I think i think there's a lot to be said for that. There there are people who say, you know, make your make your way, make your money, then do what you want. But if you can make money doing what you want right from the start and you can make a living, then why turn that off? Why turn it, you know, hold it back? i I don't see the point.
00:07:14
Speaker
Well, i'm not I'm not saying that it's easy. It's been, you know, there were times when it was, you know, it pretty meager. um but ah But it always worked out. It always worked out. And um I just ah i just always had that faith that it was going to it was things were going to work out.
00:07:37
Speaker
and ah and And they have. and and
Daily Routines for a Fulfilling Life
00:07:40
Speaker
ah And I i have have a very rich life with friends and relationships and filled with music and all the things I love. And never...
00:07:51
Speaker
and i never ah Money was never the the first ah guiding force for me anyway. um Although I've become, I've come to appreciate it as I get older, other things that it can, that that it can do for you, ah especially later in life.
00:08:09
Speaker
But, um but it was, it's still not not the driving force. It's always it's the passion for what I love to do. And I agree with you. If you can,
00:08:19
Speaker
if you can marry what you love to do with how you make your money, how you make your living, I think that you'll be a happy person.
00:08:32
Speaker
Yeah, and exactly. So as you go along through life, since you've been doing you know what was ah hobby, it became your kind of your life's work, how do you continue to challenge yourself every day?
00:08:49
Speaker
Well, you never I've been playing the guitar since I was 13, and I've been writing songs since I was probably about 20 years old.
00:09:00
Speaker
And, um you know, yeah you never you you can never master an instrument or a discipline like songwriting.
00:09:16
Speaker
You just evolve. And ah and i'm to ah luckily for me, on on Mountain Stage, I'm exposed to to some of the best musicians and best ah artists and singers and songwriters in the world every week.
00:09:34
Speaker
So um that continuously challenges me to... I'm continually inspired... and to to to raise my art and to to get better at what I do. And I don't know, it's just fulfilling...
00:09:52
Speaker
it's a fulfilling exercise. and and and so i and And also, you you know, I'm continually getting opportunities to go and play for people.
00:10:06
Speaker
I love to play for older people. I love to play for kids. I
Diverse Musical Engagements
00:10:09
Speaker
have a kids album that I i taught in a Montessori school for 20 years when my daughter was younger.
00:10:16
Speaker
and um And so I did it. I love playing for kids. ah I just... I just love everything about it. I i spend a lot of time in a recording studio. I produce other people, other other singer-songwriters. and And I also play the harmonica, which is a big love of mine. My dad played the harmonica.
00:10:39
Speaker
and And that's become a real passion of mine, something I've i've become skilled at. And I i get ah play with a ah lot of other people. And... i I don't know. it's just It's just every day just seems like a ah gift and ah and ah and an opportunity to to explore music and it's and and all the things that go with it. And it it it just seems to never end.
00:11:06
Speaker
you know it's ah It's a wondrous thing, really.
00:11:11
Speaker
like the year I have a friend who plays, or at least she used to play guitar and a harmonica, and it always amazed me and with her harmonica around her mouth, and she'd sing a little bit, and she'd play the harmonica, and she'd play the guitar.
00:11:28
Speaker
yeah I don't have those talents. Or I do, they're hiding somewhere. Well, you know, everybody has their own has their own skills, their own talents. It's like people will say to me, Ron, you know, writing a song, that's magic.
00:11:44
Speaker
And I said, well, yes, but it's, I mean, that to me is, it just makes sense. I say, now magic to me is balancing a checkbook. Now that's, that's magic, you know, so everybody has their own, you know, we're all wired differently. We all have different skills and thank God for that. Or that's what makes the world go round. Right.
00:12:04
Speaker
That's what makes it all. We're all interdependent on each other. And, and, uh, And so they're all the things that
Family Life and Personal Interests
00:12:12
Speaker
I'm i'm just i'm just happy that that that I can do this and people people like it. And they ask me to play for them and continue to spark something in them. And and and and all those other skills, the things that I can't do, um you know like being a handyman and all that. When I got married, I told my wife, she says, if you want somebody that's handy around the house, I got to tell you right now, you're marrying the wrong person. Yeah.
00:12:38
Speaker
So and I don't have those skills my and it just don't make sense to me. But I can sit down and produce an album, ah take somebody's singer songwriter and they can sing me 12 songs on the guitar and I can turn it into ah ah a studio piece with a six piece band. and and and And that makes perfect sense to me.
00:13:01
Speaker
but But fixing the air conditioner is is ah is is's a mystery. Now you've got two mysteries on me. This writing the song and fixing the air conditioner. I'm not going to do that.
00:13:15
Speaker
but but So along with your music, since since the music, the the that creative part of you is kind of your main focus. Do you have any other kinds of hobbies that fit in around the edges or is is music and and that type of art that your main thing?
00:13:36
Speaker
Really, that kind of consumes me. i mean, i love i ah I love all kinds of, you know, ah movies and plays and art and and all that. But ah music is is is my main, ah
00:13:54
Speaker
is my the main thrust of of my my life. in all its different forms. um Although, you know, I enjoy getting together friends, I enjoy my ah relationship with my wife and hanging out with her.
00:14:11
Speaker
And I have one daughter who who who lives in
Ron's Ideal Day
00:14:15
Speaker
Portland, Oregon, and she ah ah I always thought that she would rebel As I did with my my dad was a banker.
00:14:23
Speaker
So I rebelled, right? I became a musician. um I thought that she would probably rebel and become an accountant or a lawyer or something. But no, she's a professional musician. So... wow oh That's great. but But no, I mean, ah music and friends and and and that's its just that's that's pretty much it in all its different forms. I mean, I love sports.
00:14:53
Speaker
I wanted to be a professional baseball player until I was about 15 and realized that was not going to happen. but So I love i love ah following following sports and and a lot of different interests i love to read look you know uh all those things but music uh music is just my overwhelming passion really and you mentioned earlier and we've we've talked about it you don't consider yourself retired and and you can't see how you're going to retire from music right so what does a fulfilling day look like to you
00:15:30
Speaker
Oh, that's a very interesting. um Well, ah ah you know, for me, i have this little ritual in the morning. I wake up, and before i I turn on the the the the news or or or look at a newspaper or or anything, i will ah spend a about 30 minutes to an hour meditating and breathing.
00:15:51
Speaker
And um really ah start every day with gratitude. that that that that I think that is one of the most important things that I've discovered and one of the most important things that I could recommend to anyone.
00:16:07
Speaker
It colors your whole day. it it you start out You start out in ah and a frame of mind ah that is going to make you receptive to all the good things that can come your way in the daytime in the day. And and it's um I read a lot about, you know, there's a lot of...
00:16:28
Speaker
there's a lot of a lot of you know, uh, talk and, and, and, uh, and about the law of attraction and the, and, uh, I mean, but, uh, I really, I really believe it starts with gratitude and, and setting, raising your frequency to the highest level. And then, and then, uh, playing my guitar, writing songs,
00:16:52
Speaker
ah um you if I'm involved in a project, a recording project, or or if I, um with my mountain stage thing, i my job as a mountain stage band leader is to, ah if, let's say you were a singer, songwriter, and you were going to come on the show, and it was your, um and and and you recorded ah an album with a whole band, but you're just coming by yourself and you wanted to use our house band, which we have a fabulous house band.
00:17:29
Speaker
It's my job
Creating an Album During COVID
00:17:30
Speaker
to help you pick out those songs, to sit down and chart all those songs out. I do it by ear, you know, and, uh, and then distribute the, the songs to all the members of the band and, and, uh, and coordinate all that and, and, and prepare for their, their appearance on a mountain stage.
00:17:47
Speaker
Um, uh, you know, uh, uh, Spending time with my wife, my my my little dog, Joey, our little dog, Joey, I should say. It's really my wife's little dog, Joey, but she he lets me he lets me live in the they let me live in the house, too.
00:18:03
Speaker
um But he's i thoroughly enjoy ah being and being with them and and and then, you know, being with friends. um it if I have very often have rehearsals or preparations for Like if I'm going to go play somewhere, like um ah let's say next next ah Friday, for instance, I have ah i have a a performance with my band. Can I can i do promote my little album album here? yes you can. Well, yeah, we're definitely going to talk about that.
00:18:38
Speaker
Were you going to do that anyway? Okay, well, sometimes I get caught caught up and forget, you know, that that's one of the reasons that that the reasons I want to, this is called Dance So The Music Stops.
00:18:49
Speaker
and And I have like a so ah seven-piece band. that that played on the album. So next a week, a week from today, I'm going play a performance with with them. And so ah on on out those particular days, I'll spend all day ah preparing and getting all my equipment together. And course, I had to have rehearsals.
00:19:13
Speaker
but beforehand and um and and and just just focusing back on the on the material and getting ready to go and and preparing myself mentally and physically and everything.
00:19:25
Speaker
And i also so also so also, the other thing is, is i I think that exercise is a very important part. It should be an important important part of anybody's day. And so i tried to i walk usually walk a couple of miles, do my little you know routine and at at at home. um i don't really I don't go to the gym or anything, although I've been thinking about it. but I have my own little regime of you know exercise I do at home, and that that keeps me in a good frame of mind. And also, as you know, as we all know, as you as you get as you get older you it's ah you you need to
00:20:03
Speaker
um You need to really focus and take that and take that part seriously. i don't know if you've... There's a guy named ah Peter Atiyah, who's a doctor, that who so talks a lot about longevity that i that I've listened to. And he talks about it physical training as ah training for the... and say How does he say?
00:20:26
Speaker
The... it it's it's like a decathlon, but it's for, for, for, for centurion, centurion or something like that. It's like, you know a training to, to be a hundred.
00:20:39
Speaker
It's something like that. And, and, um, And so it's it's like yeah yeah to to to to train.
00:20:50
Speaker
yeah so i So I'm
Themes of Aging and Living Fully
00:20:51
Speaker
i'm in continually training for that. So that's a part that's a part of my day. ah And i just trying to be present and in the moment and be there for my ah for my friends and for my for my family. and you know Sounds like a pretty busy day overall. Yeah.
00:21:10
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's because because i'm because i've always I've been self-employed all these years. It's like I generally, for the most part, can make my own schedule.
00:21:22
Speaker
yeah yeah and Thank God for that because i'm not really I'm not one of those people that wake up at 5 o'clock in the morning. and i um ah Musicians are ah night owls, and so I ah tend to stay up late and and sleep in a little little little later. oh um and um And then I can make my own schedule accordingly.
00:21:46
Speaker
I am one of those people that wakes up early, unfortunately. Oh, are you? i i not im Not unfortunately. I like the morning. that's a It's a good time to be up. I love to be up in the morning. I just hate getting up.
00:22:00
Speaker
It's hard to get out of bed early. but
00:22:05
Speaker
So let's talk little bit about your music. You've got ah an album that's come out recently. Tell me about the history. How did it evolve? That kind of thing. Well,
00:22:17
Speaker
Now, this will be my fourth solo album. And also, I had two bands before that, which I did two albums apiece for them. so So this is like my all over, like my eighth album that I've done.
00:22:30
Speaker
But um this one began and and COVID. And I was, ah like everybody else, I was spending a lot of quality time at home.
00:22:41
Speaker
And ah all the all the live performances and everything got canceled. and And I said ah to myself, you know... I've always said that I would write, I would spend more time writing if I just had a little more free, unstructured time. And and boom, you know, COVID kind of wiped off any excuse that I had.
00:23:04
Speaker
And i had I had written several songs and I had a lot of a lot of ideas. i had I felt, it's like the creative process is like you yeah things well up inside and you feel like you have something to say. You live some life, they live a little bit more life and you make observations and you you you start feeling like you you you need to you need to say so say some things.
00:23:32
Speaker
And so I felt like I really needed to get these these things out. So I called my dear friend, John Wickstrom, who lives in ah Baltimore, but he ah he used to be from Charleston, West Virginia, where I where i live right now And um he ah he and i' have been writing songs for 30 years. and And I said, John, would you like to help me, you know, bring these songs into the world?
00:23:58
Speaker
And he said, absolutely. So we made a um FaceTime. appointment about an hour a week. And over, over the next year and a half, we wrote 25 songs.
00:24:09
Speaker
And, um, and I paired those down to about 10 for the album. And when it got around, around to, to doing the album, um, That's one of my skills. I've spent a lot of time in the studio. I produce other people, so I knew how to produce the album myself.
00:24:25
Speaker
So i um I put together a collection of really wonderful musicians, a ah ah great... studio, which is about 50 minutes from where I live and um and um started the process. It took me about six months to to complete complete the album.
00:24:47
Speaker
And then about another six months to ah ah do post-production and bring it, you know yeah you know, album cover design and promotion and and get it out into the world. And so that people like you would want to talk to me. Yeah.
00:25:03
Speaker
and um and and and ah and And I really felt that the underlying um message I wanted to get out there at this point in my life is that aging is inevitable, but getting old is optional.
00:25:21
Speaker
Right. Right. And I think that's a choice. And I really passionately believe that. And so um that is
Advice for Retirees to Stay Engaged
00:25:29
Speaker
a that's a that's a um um it's an underlying theme of the album. um the The thing that that the you were mentioning, the the song, It's All Up To You, which is on the album.
00:25:41
Speaker
And it's kind of a whimsical ragtime song, but it's all about, you know, it's it's all up to you. You can be old if you want to. You can be young if you want to. It's all up to you. and um And then there's there's another song on the album, which is the title track of the album. It's called Dance Till the Music Stops.
00:26:00
Speaker
And this one has this one has a really... um ah This one kind of drove... opened the door for the album. And I had a friend in high school ah who um over the years... We were just acquaintances in high school. Over the years, we became ah much better friends. He married ah a A lady who worked for my dad at the bank.
00:26:23
Speaker
And so she was a wonderful person. And and we be we we kept in touch all all those years. and And so when he was in his 50s, he was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's.
00:26:39
Speaker
and um and And when his wife, wife Heidi, ah um told me this story, it just stopped me in my tracks and and it ended up being the, I knew I had to write a song about it.
00:26:51
Speaker
It ended up being the title song for the album. But a friend of his has said, his name was Dusty. he said, well, Dusty, says, yeah you know what's happening to you?
00:27:01
Speaker
What are you going to do? And he just thought for minute, he said, well, I guess I'll just dance till the music stops. Wow.
00:27:12
Speaker
I got a full body chills, you know. And you know, living you know living life to the fullest, being having a young attitude, being passionate, that's all a choice.
00:27:28
Speaker
And Dance When The Music Stops is about being present for every moment. and and that And that to me has become the most important thing.
00:27:40
Speaker
ah When you said, you know what is what is your perfect day or what is your... you know To me, it's all about... uh, being present in every moment and get, and bringing your best, bringing your fullest and your full attention to whatever you're doing.
00:27:57
Speaker
And, and, and that's, that's another, uh, the album is, you know, is all all about that in certain one way or another, and these songs. That's a beautiful story. I'm sorry for your friend. That's nice.
00:28:12
Speaker
Yeah, he recently, he has since, of course, passed away. But, you know, but he he gave he he gave us all a big gift by his the way he taught us how to how to live, you know, in that last the last part of his life.
00:28:25
Speaker
And it's so true. It's it's all our choice. And people don't seem to realize that, or or some people don't. they They go along saying, oh, I had such bad luck and things aren't going well. And it's all how you look at it and what you choose to do with what's thrown at you.
00:28:44
Speaker
And I think I make those choices every day. Yes, I absolutely agree. and And, you know, my personal belief is that that that that we we ah we create our reality by our thoughts and and and that we draw those opportunities, either good or bad, but whatever happens to us, um ah by by what we hold in mind. And and um um the the little a church that I belong to ah has a saying, um ah thoughts held in mind create after their own kind. And that's that's kind of where I come down on that.
00:29:26
Speaker
Yep, exactly. yeah so along those lines with your um album in in in your mind, Dance Till the Music Stops, keep living intentionally in the moment. What would you say to someone who's getting ready to retire? And they aren't they aren't creative type. They haven't really thought about things in in those words in the past. They've had a full life. They're kind of looking at you know, maybe life is over now.
00:29:55
Speaker
Yeah. Well, that, your last statement there, that would that that that that's like, if somebody says something like that to me, it's like waving a red flag in front of a bull, because I just really vehemently disagree with that. um And ah it's I think that everyone has something they're passionate about.
00:30:23
Speaker
it might just It might be your grandkids, you know? It might be ah that you've always wanted to draw and and or paint, and you've never you've never done that. But there's always been something, you know, there's something that,
00:30:41
Speaker
In every one, when something something happens, and some a lot of times it doesn't make sense, you'll be doing something or you'll see something or read something and you get this little, you know, little buzz.
00:30:54
Speaker
You get this little, little, little buzz. And I tell you tell people, pay attention to that because that is your intuition. That is your inner creativity sending you a message.
00:31:08
Speaker
You know, that's how I know that I need to write a song about something. If something, if I get that that that little vibration And and and it it's just, it it it i may not even be, i probably at the time I don't even hear a melody or a chord or a lyric or anything, but I know that there's something there.
00:31:35
Speaker
And I would say to to to people who are who are retiring, ah or you know, if if you want to step away from your job, you know,
00:31:46
Speaker
Good for you, you know, if that's what you really want to do. But don't retire from life. Oh, my God. You know, ah because you're sending a signal to your body.
00:31:57
Speaker
You're sending a signal to your mind. um I heard it said one time that it's like a it's like ah the the a factory going um saying, well, ah ah the the lights are on, but we don't make anything anymore.
00:32:13
Speaker
you know? Yeah. Make something. make you know Find your passion. yeah it Maybe travel. It could be anything. you know Everyone's different and everyone, and it and it may seem silly to you. It may seem insane to you.
00:32:29
Speaker
Your family may think you're crazy. ah My family thought I was crazy you know when I was 21 and decided I was going to be a musician. And and no one in my family was a musician.
00:32:43
Speaker
No one in my family was an artist. No one around me was that way. I grew up in a little town in New Mexico, and it was just, you know, everybody thought I was insane. And I guess, actually, I think they were right. think I was insane. I think crazy, but...
00:33:00
Speaker
i've all I've owned that and and i've realized that I've attracted all my, most of my friends are and insane and crazy. And so we're just, so you know, it's a new norm for me. So, but anyway, you know, just don't, don't, to don't ignore that. But don't, don't, don't retire from life. You know, retirement is, your retirement is great yeah to focus on what you enjoy. But
Supportive Partnership with Ron's Wife
00:33:25
Speaker
as you can tell, that's one of my, yeah you touched a nerve here. in little bit.
00:33:30
Speaker
And that's great. I think that's a good message. It's important to to get that out there that retiring doesn't mean the end of the road. And that's the whole point of my show. said there's There's a whole lot of world out there. There's a whole lot of life out there. You got to be enjoying it.
00:33:46
Speaker
Good for you for, for you know, getting on your soapbox and getting the word out there. So what does your wife do? Does she help you with your a song production or does she have anything to do with the artistic side of your life?
00:34:00
Speaker
No, no, my, my wife is a a retired psychologist. And, um, and, I, I tell people that, um, uh, well, I'll just tell give you a little, a little history. When I met my wife, she's a very smart lady, much smarter than I am.
00:34:17
Speaker
She, but she was, um, uh, a CPA and she was, um, uh, and she, uh, ah Within the about the first couple of years of our relationship, I found out that she kind of did had done that. She's got to have had a master's degree in and and a CPA and ah ah that she had sort of done that for her dad to please her dad.
00:34:42
Speaker
And she kept coming home every day and she would say, you know, i really don't like this. And so she's telling the wrong person, of course, tell me. And, and, and I listened for a while. Then I, and finally I said, well, just do something else. And of course she reacted.
00:34:59
Speaker
And so how can I do that? And I put all these years in, I got ah acquired all these skills and i went to school and spent all this money. And I said, well, okay, we'll just, you know, I understand. But, and but after a while, I just said, look,
00:35:13
Speaker
Just do something or don't do something, but stop complaining to me because I don't want to hear it anymore. And so one day she came home she said, um i I enrolled in ah in a post in ah in a graduate class. And I went, well, you did? What? In what? In a local community college.
00:35:30
Speaker
And I said, ah ah doing what? She said, it's psychology. And it ends up that she is um she's the person who's who ah yeah ah who's who's like, when you're at a restaurant and and you know women excuse themselves and go to the restroom, she will be putting her touching up her makeup and and and the woman next to her, well well who she has never seen before in her life, will tell her her life story. Yeah.
00:36:00
Speaker
She's just that kind of person that you want to tell. So she finally said, you know, I might as well make a but a vocation to this. so So she went back to school, got a um degree, ah degree in a master's degree in in psychology and was a therapist for a long time and was wonderful.
00:36:20
Speaker
And she loved it. But she wrote she finally retired, and I'm still in long-term therapy, of but which will probably never stop.
00:36:31
Speaker
But she it um she makes jewelry. She's found a passion there, and she is incredibly supportive of of whatever I do. and and And her her her passions right now are jewelry, her friends, Joey, our dog,
00:36:51
Speaker
and and And and and and helping helping me, you know, and and whatever success I have or anything that goes to my head, she she's in charge of keeping my feet on the ground, which she does an excellent job.
00:37:04
Speaker
of She keeps me grounded. Sounds like you're complimenting each other very well. Yes. Yeah. She's, but she's not a, she's not a um musical person at all. She, she loves music.
00:37:17
Speaker
She
The Experience of Listening to Albums
00:37:18
Speaker
can barely carry a tune and, and, and that's just not her skill, but she, she is so, so smart in so many other ways that she keeps the rest of our life together. So it's, yes, it's, ah it's a good, it's a good partnership.
00:37:32
Speaker
It's great. I understand that. um I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, as they say. and would wouldn't be able to do anything with with music.
00:37:44
Speaker
But I do enjoy catchy songs. And I really I put on It's All Up To You. And it caught me right away. And I, you know, I sat down and I listened to it and I can just see the the character in it, you know, sitting in your yard yelling or sitting on your porch yelling at the kids, you know, whatever whatever you want to you can do.
00:38:06
Speaker
yeah Yeah. And there's also, Jackie, I don't know if you saw it, but there's a really fun video. I did. that i Did you see that? Yes. Great time doing that.
00:38:18
Speaker
So, Ron, where can people find you and your music if they want to find out more about you? Well, the best best place to look is my website, which is ronsowell.com.
00:38:34
Speaker
And you can order any of any any of my albums. or um I've also got <unk>ve also got a vinyl for this la lace one. but Besides the...
00:38:44
Speaker
And if, and if anybody has a CD player still have CDs, um, you, you can get, uh, uh, you can find out what I'm doing and, and follow me on Ron soul music but on Facebook.
00:38:58
Speaker
And, uh, And also, if if if I mean, I would love it if you would support me in ordering a physical copy, but but you can if you listen to music on Spotify or Apple Music or YouTube or however you do it, it's my my music is is it's it's in all those places and it's in it and you can download download download that for free. so Excellent. I'll make sure that those locations are in the show notes so people can go and grab them, take a look at things.
00:39:29
Speaker
Thank you. And I did listen. Yes. Honestly, for free. When I was on Spotify, just to check it out, see what I was getting into. Yeah.
00:39:39
Speaker
But it's ah well not not a but there wasn't a but there. I really enjoyed all the songs that I heard and I will probably pick up a CD because I've got a CD player in my car. Oh, bless you. Yeah. And I still have a turntable as well, but I'm not going to get both the ah vinyl and the CD.
00:39:59
Speaker
Well, you know, people, it's it's so interesting, and I don't understand this, but but vinyl has, there's a as you probably know, there's a there's a big resurgence of vinyl.
00:40:11
Speaker
And i sell, ah when I'm at my performances, i I sell as much vinyl to people as I do CDs. um and and And although I i just think...
00:40:24
Speaker
I know that CDs will come back because everything has come back. So I'm just waiting for it. and And I hope so because I have a but ah have a about probably over my wall over here.
00:40:41
Speaker
So I've not thrown them away because I know, but, but, but it's, it's, you know, if you have a CD player um and and people, people, I love, I I've noticed it. My, when I play live, which is my favorite thing to do.
00:40:55
Speaker
And when people, even if they don't have a CD player, sometimes they will buy a CD because they want, they want something tactile. They want something physical take home to them to connect with the music. Right.
00:41:10
Speaker
But the CD the the cd also has has a little booklet inside, which I really, I'm very old school about this, and it has all the other lyrics.
00:41:22
Speaker
Oh, nice. you know And it has all, everybody who played on it, has has all yeah you know, they're, um So, i mean, when when i when I was growing growing up, at this you and most of your the audience, people that are listening to this, or you know my favorite one of my favorite things was you know when the Beatles' new album came out, you just you rushed down, you got it, you you played the whole thing back to back, you got the liner notes out, you read the lyrics, you you you looked you know who produced it and and who played on it. and and and and so i
00:41:58
Speaker
ah And there's a lot of lot of good things about the way music is heard now because it's so accessible. You know, you'd like you say, you can just go to Spotify and boom, Ron Soul, boom, there I am, you know.
00:42:12
Speaker
um but ah But there's so much that's lost too and that people usually just listen, no and a lot of times will just listen to one song.
00:42:24
Speaker
Instead of the an album, to me, it takes you on a journey. Right. And way I construct it. I spend a lot of time deciding which song goes after which song.
00:42:37
Speaker
and um And it starts somewhere and it ends somewhere and it takes you on a journey. and um And that's pretty much lost in our digital world because people will just listen to one song or download one song.
00:42:52
Speaker
And, um and, um you know, that's, I mean, I understand that that's the world we live in, but, ah but I don't have to like it. That's true. I mean,
Reflections on Happiness and Meaning
00:43:04
Speaker
I think about all the albums that I've got and I used to listen to the the records, the vinyl, and I'd listen to the whole thing.
00:43:13
Speaker
But there's always one or two songs that I really, really like and I go back and listen to them. So now, of course, those are a playlist because those are the ones that I enjoy. But yeah, exactly. I never really thought because I'm not an artist that there might be a story to go with that album.
00:43:30
Speaker
I never thought of the placement of the songs. It's just, oh, I don't want to hear this one now. And I'd skip that. Right. Right. Yeah. And a lot of times the the the the newest, like if you're a pop artist or or ah or a country um commercial artist, a lot of times instead the way they'll they'll um sequence an album is just put all the ones that are the most popular and are going to be played the most right up front. Right. Right.
00:43:59
Speaker
and And that's pretty, that makes a lot of sense in that though those, if some people might not get into the rest of the album, but um but that's not, um yeah you know, it's my favorite albums, some singer-songwriters.
00:44:15
Speaker
ah It was all always, you know, John Prine and James Taylor and and people like that would just, the yeah the the the albums, state that the songs just,
00:44:28
Speaker
Just one song to the other. li ma what One song, John Prine, you'd be laughing on hilariously on one song and crying on the next one. And and to me, it's a dynamic. that's It's a dynamic journey that...
00:44:44
Speaker
that an album a really, if if you look at it as a piece of of piece of art, which it is, you know, it to it it it it it it guides you through all those dynamics and makes you experience all those parts of yourself.
00:45:00
Speaker
So, anyway.
00:45:03
Speaker
Well, Ron, you mentioned that the message you wanted to get out is that we do have to get We do have to age, but we don't have to grow old, basically.
00:45:15
Speaker
Yes. And yes as a kind of a final thought, is there anything you'd like to share, anything that we haven't touched on that you think the audience needs to know about that kind of topic?
00:45:28
Speaker
Growing old is optional.
00:45:32
Speaker
Well, just just that, and maybe this is a little bit of a restatement, but um I think I really do passionately and fervently and from the core of my soul believe that it's all up to you.
00:45:49
Speaker
And that is you, it's your choice. Like um happiness is, ah is not something that happens to you because everything in your life is going well.
00:46:07
Speaker
that's not That's not where happiness comes from. ah there are There are people, as you know, who who have, you could look at their life and it seems like everything in their life is going well and they're not happy.
00:46:21
Speaker
You can look at people who looks like they have no reason to be happy who are happy. and um And I think that that the essence of of of happiness is to decide, make a choice that you're going to be happy, that you are happy.
00:46:40
Speaker
And then everything else will come from that. um Have you ever read the book by Viktor Frankl? the I forget. He was the he was the ah the survivor of Auschwitz the and um and famous survivor of the Holocaust.
00:46:59
Speaker
And and he his extreme example is that when he was in the Nazi labor camp, that they he said they took everything from him.
00:47:12
Speaker
everything They took his name. He just was a number. he He was a doctor. He wasn't a doctor anymore. He was just, he stripped him of everything. He said, but the one thing they could not take from him, it was what how he thought about things.
00:47:29
Speaker
And and he made he made the decision two to ah b ah hopeful and And that was probably one of the things that that helped him survive these camps.
00:47:47
Speaker
But that's the extreme example. Thank God, you know, we we don't have to to experience ah ah those kinds of challenges.
00:47:58
Speaker
But um I really do think that happiness is a choice. And so for ah for for forever all your listeners out there, you know, just... ah yeah just as Bobby McFerrin said it.
00:48:12
Speaker
Don't worry, be happy. Don't worry, be happy. That's it exactly. Ron, thank you very much for joining me today. I've really enjoyed chatting with you. I think it's been
Episode Conclusion and Listener Invitation
00:48:23
Speaker
eye-opening experience to talk to someone whose life is creating music.
00:48:31
Speaker
Well, thanks, Jackie. I we really enjoyed talking to you to some great questions and, and thank, thank you for the opportunity to come on and, and and talk about ah my passion and to to let let people know about my, about my music and my album.
00:48:47
Speaker
Thank you.
00:48:50
Speaker
And that's it for this episode of Beyond Retirement. Thank you so much for hanging out with me. hope you enjoyed it. To check out the video interviews, please go to my YouTube channel at bit.ly forward slash beyond retirement. That's B-I-T dot L-Y forward slash beyond retirement.
00:49:07
Speaker
Be sure to subscribe so you won't miss any new episodes.