When people think of the lute, they often picture it trapped behind a museum glass case or confined strictly to historic reenactments. But when Ronn founded Ayreheart in 2010, the goal was exactly the opposite: he wanted to release this historic instrument into the wild and let it drive a modern acoustic band.
Ronn spent decades mastering classical music traditions with the lute, releasing dozens of recordings through the Dorian and Sono Luminus labels over his career. Yet, he always felt a deep connection between the intricate textures of early music and the driving rhythms of modern folk music and Americana. To bring this vision to life, he brought together a unique rhythm section: Willard Morris playing the colascione (a rare, deep-toned Renaissance bass lute) alongside electric bass and violin and Mattias Rucht on world percussion.
From those early sessions, we discovered a beautiful truth: a great groove is timeless. Whether a melody was written in 1526 or 2026, the acoustic interplay of these instruments creates a sound that is both hauntingly ancient and entirely fresh.
