I Called It

Description

Ramsey Thornton composes contemporary folk music ideal for auroras and moments of calm. His warm, rhythmic music is driven by virtuosic guitar playing and stories filled with observation, befitting a longtime musician who continues to explore new horizons. Long before becoming an under-the-radar figure on the Tulsa music scene—playing banjo in Ken Pomeroy's band, drumming in jazz ensembles, and collaborating with local artists like Wilderado—this Oklahoma native started playing drums at age 6. By his late teens, he was also playing stringed instruments. The banjo was his first instrument. The acoustic guitar followed, and Ramsey developed a hypnotic, percussive style—characterized by complex rhythms and arpeggios with a unique phrasing—that seemed to echo the two instruments he already mastered. Ramsey recorded "I Called It!" in Brooklyn, where he collaborated with Isaac Stalling and Sam Skinner (Pinegrove) in a Bed-Stuy studio. Each track is built on a live performance of guitar and vocals, enriched with other instruments—from interlaced string swaths running through "Tony's Song," a beautiful duet with Ken Pomeroy, to subtle percussion and keyboards punctuating "Backyard"—for a textural effect. Back home in Oklahoma, Ramsey brought in Chad Copeland (Broncho, Wilderado) to add synths, drones, and other atmospheres to tracks like "Fourth of July." Despite everything, I Called It generally unfolds as a solo show, capturing Ramsey Thornton in his element: intimate, focused, and fully present. "I like my music to sound natural," he says simply. "These are songs I wrote around my kitchen table. I recorded them with my friends. I hope they sound like me." With I Called It!, Ramsey Thornton keeps one eye on the outside world and his hands on the guitar neck, creating a gentle, rhythmic soundtrack for everyday life.