LT Bobby Ross is an American ICON! One of the most controversial country music artists ever having recorded and produced the first 'New Country' album in Nashville in 1987 called "LT Bobby Ross - The Voice of America". Using the very best talents Nashville had to offer, he told them as their producer, "You play what you want to play. Remember, this album is honoring the Vietnam Veteran. And, it will be heard by the Mothers of those killed in Vietnam. So, do not forget where we are, on Music Row in Nashville. Honor Country Music!" With that said, his album made history, and is on sale here on cdbaby. As a matter of fact, LT Bobby Ross was one of the first artists on cdbaby and he and its founder are good friends. This new project is the 'dream' of LT. He wrote many of the songs before he arrived in Nashville in 1985. He was a commercial crawdad fisherman in the California Delta before he came to Music City where he lived as a hermit on a flooded island where he developed two full albums of his original music. The songs on this "Fisherman" album are American. They tell the stories of the small towns, the people, the communities and the history of the Baby Boomer Generation. LT is an innovator. He is a master musician having graduated from the world famous Music Department of San Francisco State University as a singer of opera. (He has never been to an opera!) An early folk singer, and a Rock 'n' Roller where he played with the Grateful Dead and the Jefferson Airplane early in the 'Flower Child' times of San Francisco in the early 1960's before 'hippie' was invented. He has played 49 States 'live' and many foreign countries, too many to mention. All this 'hype' is just that: hype. Listen to these songs. A few recent testimonials on "The Fisherman" album:   • Singer-songwriter LT Bobby Ross' "The Fisherman" CD is both deeply
personal, and universal. It strikes a chord with anyone who relishes
being immersed in nature, waiting for that elusive 'bite'. The CD's
songs range from moving to toe-tapping and are Ross' aural
autobiography. 'The Fisherman' would make a great gift for the angler
in your life. 


Carol Bogart 
Emmy-winning journalist and author

 • Greetings:
I promised Lt. that I would critique his new CD The FISHERMAN!
I am no singer, but I am a drummer, and I have survived many bands back in the 60's, so I have taken each and every song and have added my comments, so sit back, and here you go:
-The FISHERMAN.
Few songs in my life get my attention, but this song did just that and it even made me shed a tear, I was saddened to hear of the Fisherman's death.
I know now why the fish was kissed.
-Sam Jones General Store.
I was a lover of pickled eggs and pickled pigs feet, I love a song that tells a story, and you don't hear that on the radio anymore, and I love the way Lt. is telling this story!
This song has so much going on, music that is, I love the violin and especially the end, "Thats all folks"! 
-Million Dollar tag.
This song has reminded me of the late Johnny Horton how he used to sing his songs, and change his tone during that song, especially the chorus!
I love the way Lt. has reached the high notes in this song, damn, I couldn't even get that high, the musicians on this track are to be commended!
-Smallville, USA.
What a quality song, this is exactly how a small town is.
This song is exactly (3) minutes and (4) seconds long, I could sure listen to a longer version, I loved it!
-Mulligan's Memories.
I love the way Mulligan has taken care of the hobos, I like the way the guitar (sounds like a steel guitar) plays while the singer is singing.
-Lucky Charm Factory.
I loved the slide steel guitar (it sounds like it to me) in the beginning.
(4 minutes 11 seconds) that's how long this song is, I found it very funny, especially when they built it on a one way street, to much!
-Ballad of the Jolly Jay.
I love the medley, not to fast, and not slow, I loved the way Lt. is keeping this song going!
The striper king, I especially like the beat.
(3 minutes 22 seconds)
-Country Boy Raised on Good Ole Rock and Roll.
This song got me moving because in the beginning you hear the drums and the cymbals (probably hi-hats) being played loose.
I also loved the piano part and harmonica.
The individual parts of each instrument make this song a rocker.
This song sure does rock!
-Heroes.
This song ranks up there with Rock and Roll Heaven by the Righteous brothers.
I have always liked any song that reflects on the past such as our heroes, and Roger Maris was one of mine. The Rat Pack!
(3 minutes and 56 seconds) well worth re-listening.
-Dad, Can I borrow the car. 
The beat grabbed me right off the bat!
I can see Harry Chapin (Cats in the Cradle) saying why didn't I write this song, a true story!
(3 minutes and 3 seconds) a story doesn't get any better than this.
-All American Love machine.
I like the way it sounds like you are singing thru a mega phone (I love the New Vaudeville Band back in the day)!
I love the beauty of the way the song begins, I immediately started to tap my foot.
I just loved how it sounds singing thru a mega phone, I loved those!

-Ladder up to heaven.
Three minutes and 22 seconds, this song reminds me of Simple Man (Lynyrd Skynyrd).
When it rains, the flowers grow, and grown men do cry.
I used to listen to my late grandfather, and it all makes sense.
I liked the way it sounds like a shuffle beat is keeping the beat going, great shuffle sound!
-I don't feel that way anymore.
A heavy guitar beginning faked me out, I thought Lt. was going Rock, hahaha, 
Then it hit me when he says Uncle Sam took me away!
This is another sad song that reminds me of The Fisherman in the beginning.
The lead guitar is fantastic and it reminds me of the old fuzz boxes they used to use on the old Vox amps.
God Damn, Lt. hits those high notes like it is nothing, great song.
(Four minutes and 44 seconds).
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 -Well all, that's my take on this great CD by Lt. Bobby Ross.
Please keep in mind that I am being most honest in my comments, and not because Lt. is a personal friend of mine like he is to all of us!
If I don't like something, I am going to tell you, hahaha, Lt. is going to take our comments very serious, like any professional musician would, and either good, or bad, it comes with the territory, but for me, other than me beating on those drums, Lt. would have probably fired me the first session, hahaha, I loved this CD, and it is worth a lot more than the ten bucks Lt. is charging us. 
Thanks for sharing with me Lt., now my wife has it.

 Dave "Ventura" Betti 
Ventura, Calif.


 •     My pleasure to be among the first to hear Bobby Ross's new album.  I've known Bobby several years as a political activist with a common military background, as we were both LRRPs for the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam.  Before we met, we were also both songwriters and singers, he in Nashville, and I on the west coast, but haven't done that in a long time.  It is a great pleasure to see him get back into being a performing musician again, and it is an introduction to a whole new side of my friend the "LT". "The Fisherman" is a nostalgic take on a lifetime of country music. The voice that years ago was an earnest tenor has taken on an edge that fits the old-fashioned story-telling style that leads the album, songs sung by one who sounds like he remembers back when.  Those first tracks reminded me of my own youth, when I had a home-made crystal-set radio that would pick up XELO in Mexico, the only station powerful enough to reach my home at the remote White Sands rocket base, and I listened to Bob Wills... sentimental old-folks country attitudes about the simplicity of farm and family life, played post-war by the farm boys who had fought it.  The musical arrangement is straightforward classic licks, polished professional grade production in every respect, and right in period.  Some of it gets a bit over-sappy and Gramps'-old-doggy for my taste, and the lyrics sometimes get kind of cowboy-rappy and complicated, but I'd still say I like the sentimental ones best, like "Smallville."   Next I'm laughing to a friend here that I'm hearing the '50s coming through, then a Beach-Boys thing, lyrics about a teenager borrowing the family car, and the style and arrangement of the music too is evolving, echoing the new tech of the 70's.  Yes sir, this is a very nostalgic album, but not just an homage to one period or one style, but to the evolution of a whole generation of music.  The best track on it is saved for last.  "I Don't Feel That Way Any More" is not so much sentimental as bittersweet, the lyrics not so much clever as just simple and wise, and the music is a lovely modern reprise of the simple style of the '30s where it all began.  Like Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" it is a poignant but ultimately reassuring look back, and a grateful acceptance of our own growth, of the blessing of being right here now, and of watching it all pass. 

James Post  "Lancer 17"
 Postscrip Publishing Company.

 • October 8, 2010
I received my autographed CD of The Fisherman and popped it into the CD player and listened to all of your Heart felt songs.  My grandson really liked Lucky Charm Factory, well it is also one of his favorite cereals.  My favorite is still Sam Jones General Store.  And, it was easy to pay for with my credit card using PayPal.  Thank You LT. 


Dan Schave


 • HARD-COUNTRY-ROCK STORYTELLING
(with nostalgia for, and satire of, an America….that was)

I’ve written a lot of slyly satirical stuff over the past eleven years, as my way of storytelling about where America has been, where it’s at, and where it may go next, all, by taking potshots at seemingly dumbass moves by our career politicos and government along with commentaries on the weird and whacky happenings within our society.

Yet, like a lot of others who’ve been around for a while (some of us perhaps for too long) that time has seemed like a world turning upside down with velocities of changes and events buffeting our country almost every day of the week, and twice on Sundays. So, it’s comforting to come across another form of storytelling, that is, our country music genre, which remains constant.

In this instance it’s about a very handsomely designed and independently produced album titled – The Fisherman - . A hard-country-rock storytelling production….with nostalgia for, and satire of, an America….that was.

The sheer raw emotional power of its lyrics, and its foot-stomping instrumentals, are hard to beat. A true –cri de coeur – for something we’ve lost, but, may yet find again, even if its forms and ways won’t resemble those we’ve known before, but still remaining….pure America.

Well, if anything I write had half that effect and power, I’d have been long gone and kicking back in Kokomo and Margaritaville by now. As it is all I can do is feel good knowing that….despite things like Napster and I-Tunes….Nashville….is still around….and in a uniquely pure-art format.

CENTURION

 Bill Taylor (CENTURION)

 A bit more history on LT Bobby Ross: DO SOMETHING, lieutenant. Right or wrong, do something! He learned this lesson at a young age when he was an officer candidate in OCS (Officer Candidate School). It probably sums him up better than any other factor. "Do something!" In Vietnam he sure did that! But, that was long ago. Over three decades ago, Bobby Ross' first record hit the airwaves and a legend in American folklore began. That song was titled: "The Ballad of Ira Hayes". A country ballad about a "brave young Indian boy" who fought to the top of a mountain on a small Pacific Island, infamously known to American Marines as Iwo Jima, only to return home to an America that despised him. Bobby Ross sings about American veterans. In the early 1960's, a troubling time and a time America can not be too proud of, considering how she treated her Vietnam veterans, yet Bobby was out there in Berkeley, San Francisco, Atlanta, New York, Denver, Seattle, El Paso, in Veteran hospitals, singing about his heroes, to his wounded champions: America's warriors. His music inspires, encourages, and most importantly; heals. An exciting and productive life he had led. Can he fathom his achievement of reaching an age old enough to join the Army in 1966? And then journey to Vietnam? He did. Why did he live through that war? It's a miracle. Many of his friends in Music City know he has been successful, right in the heart of Music Row. Bobby Ross lived there for 25 years, the only Country Music recording artist who did so. He has taught many people in the music business there how to survive and prosper. His home overlooked most all of Music City's music industry, with his Webb Pierce guitar shaped swimming pool and Owen Bradley's Park out his window, he was Music Row's caretaker. He watched Music Row grow up and around his swimming hole and his garden. This is his world! The fulfillment of a promise he made to all those unsung heroes who lost their lives under his command in a far away place. He pledged that he would live his life to the fullest. This word of honor has not been broken. A hollowed place is his on Music Row. The late Gordon Mills was an old fishing partner of his, back when Bobby was a commercial crawdad fisherman on the California Delta in Northern California. Gordon discovered Bobby way out in that wilderness, as he had the likes of Tom Jones. Mr. Mills was one of the greatest music producers in the world. Bobby was his protege. He prepared him for Nashville. Gordon had been an officer in the English Army, stationed in Burma. He also fought communism. Gordon and Bobby had a peculiar relationship. Once, when Bobby and Gordon were at a "end of the world tour" party for Tom Jones at the MGM Hotel in Las Vegas, they had knock-down-drag-out argument about ambush tactics in Southeast Asia. The whole party hushed as Gordon and Bobby conducted a yelling and hollering contest about who had the better tactics, the English or the Americans. Bobby kept concluding his portion of the dispute with a genteel reminder that if the English knew "anything" about ambush tactics, America would be flying the Union Jack instead of the Stars and Stripes! This especially agitated Gordon because Bobby ambushed that most sacred of English virtues: pride! In truth, Bobby and Gordon were entertainers. They were the best of friends. They just liked making folks uncomfortable around them. It was an act! Bobby Ross has been a fighting man all his life. Born in Sacramento, California, his father had him hunting and fishing before he could practically crawl. Every generation of boys in the branches of his family tree bore the burden of battle for America's conflicts. His grandfather told him stories about his direct descendants, the Lamb Boys, who were the first two to fall at the Battle of Concord during the Revolution when that infamous shot was fired, heard around the world. His father was a Navy pilot in the Pacific in WWII, and one of his uncles was a SeaBee. Another uncle fought in General Patton's Army across all of Europe, including the Battle of the Bulge, meeting up with Russia's Red Army in Berlin. Bobby was raised to bear arms. This indirectly led to his long time friendship with Eddie Bayers, and his family. Eddie's father was a famous "ace" pilot in the Pacific Theater of World War II, and Mr. Bayers and Bobby's father flew together. Eddie befriended Bobby when he first came to Nashville, and helped him inspire many of Music City's greatest talents to record his unique music, dedicated to America's fighting men and women. Bobby's and Eddie's fathers made both their sons grow up hard. Bobby's father had him cooking in his cowboy honky tonk, The Rough & Ready Room, at Lake Tahoe, California, starting when he was eight years old. He had to stand on an egg crate to get his hands into the sink to wash the dirty dishes. He ran away from that restaurant shortly after he graduated from high school and joined the Army. He had to jump over Joan Baez sitting cross legged on the sidewalk singing "Kum By YA" on Clay Street in Oakland, California, protesting' the 'Nam War when he was inducted at age 18. Then the Army drove him in an old OD bus to Ft. Ord, whereby a buck sergeant jumped in and slung him out by the collar of his Madras shirt and stuck him in KP. He slaved there for two weeks. He didn't even warrant a uniform. He looked like a grease tramp by the time he was issued his first set of fatigues. He was so proud to be a lowly private. And, he found out his father and his honky tonk weren't so bad after all. He learned a valuable lesson: You can't run away from yourself. In Basic Training at the Army base at Fort Ord, he passed all their written tests because he basically cheated, filling out all those dumb test forms like they were Keno tickets. (Remember Lake Tahoe borders the gambling state of Nevada where he was raised.) They kept him too tired from KP to think, and plus, he wasn't that great of a thinker anyhow because he was more interested in playing his guitar. He was lucky, however. His test scores came back qualifying him to be everything from a brain surgeon to an astronaut! That's the Army! They said he qualified for the OCS test, too. He said, "What's OCS?" They said, "If you pass this one, you won't never have to do no more KP again!" Bobby said, "That's for me!" He cheated on that one, too, and passed with one of the highest scores the Army ever recorded. All that learning he got in those gambling casinos at Tahoe paid off. Though he never won a Keno ticket, he won big in the Army. Made some pretty good money in those barrack poker games, too. After Basic, he was shipped to Ft. Knox, Kentucky, for Armor training. After graduating from tank AIT, he entered OCS at the age of 18. He made it through the grueling OCS, but not by cheating! That was real tough duty. Pogey Bait was the best part! Then it was off to Ft. Carson, Colorado, where he took charge of his own M-60A1 tank platoon in the 5th Mechanized Infantry Division. After a year, they shipped him off to Jungle School in Panama and then to the war in Vietnam. He was stationed in the 2/17th CAV with the 101st Airborne Division. That was during the TET Offensive in 1968. Really rough stuff. He started out commanding the Air-O-Rifle Platoon with 47 men, then 3 weeks later there were only 5 of them left. His colonel then sent him to RECONDO School in Nha Trang, and he became a LRRP. (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols) Did a lot of strange stuff in Vietnam. He came home with a chest full of medals and such, but like so many, he was met with impudence and acrimony from his fellow citizens in the Bay Area of California. He was also pretty messed up, physically, with PTSD, Agent Orange poisoning, intestine trouble, and a very bad attitude. He was 21 years old when he got his honorable discharge from the Army, with a rank of 1st Lieutenant. He has lived an incredible life. He was an Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts and had his own troop at Lake Tahoe. He learned to be a gourmet chef and has studied in France, and has worked as a chef in some of the best restaurants in Nashville, including the Bluebird Cafe. He is an expert marksman and can still make a bulls eye see red. He has caught a trophy salmon and sailfish on light tackle, still holds a record in Colorado for taking a trophy bull elk, deer and antelope with his bow and arrow, and is an avid hiker. He has been a traveling minstrel touring most of the USA and four other continents. He has been a director of a public company that was listed on the stock exchange, and he has been successful in business. Once he was even a Wall Street maverick when he hired about a dozen attorneys to launch a major proxy fight and learned that doing corporate business can get you ruined! He has been a Pacific commercial fisherman for albacore and salmon. In his early 30's he became a college student and graduated from San Francisco State University's music department with a degree in opera. He was a sport fishing guide when he met Gordon Mills and struck up that friendship that eventually led to him moving to Nashville. Tennessee folks really love their veterans. There was no draft card burning in this state. So, Bobby got nick-named "Music Row's Real Rambo" by Robert K. Oreman, the noted music critic, after he unveiled his rare music interpretations of his one of a kind "Veteran Art". Veterans and active duty military personnel all over the world have come to realize Bobby Ross sings for them. They are his heroes. Bobby Ross in innovative. He designed one of the first internet web sites in country music, and has developed a network of Veterans and active duty military known the world over in cyberspace. If you ever enter Nashville's Bluebird Cafe, where many of today's best country songwriters and performers saw their first start, you can find a picture of Bobby Ross hanging on the wall. Amy Kurland, owner of the Bluebird Cafe, hired him years ago to assist her in managing the club and to continue her philosophy of helping gifted singers and songwriters pursue their dreams. Bobby considers himself an "underground" artist in today's "New Country" movement. His music about America's veterans has hit the top of the country charts. He believes country music is the heart and soul of America's culture, but he isn't afraid to explore the new progressive sounds. His fans span the globe and he has worked with a wide array of artists from the Grateful Dead to Vince Gill. Unlike so many of today's artists, he doesn't seek the bright lights of fame and fortune, but takes comfort to reside year-round on Music Row in Nashville. Whether he is singing his own music or helping a new artist spread his, one thing is for certain, he truly lives out what he believes and writes about in his music. He has had the privilege to perform his music live at many special places, from the dedication of the Canadian Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Windsor, Canada, to "The Wall" in Washington, DC. He was there in Berkeley years back when they opened the Berkeley Vietnam Veterans Museum right in the town square where the protest movement began, and comforted the families of those soldiers from Berkeley who lost their lives in Vietnam. He has opened Willie Nelson's FARM AID with a platoon of 58 Veterans from around the country in formation launching "Operation Pitch Fork" where American Veterans have pledged their support for America's small, family farmers. And though his music has been heard around the world, he maintains a low profile and enjoys helping younger artists fulfill their dreams. A recognized music producer and songwriter, he is constantly working with new talents, mingling with the vintage expertise, helping the veterans in his community and around the globe. So, it all comes back to that old lesson he learned as a young man: "Do something, lieutenant. Right or wrong. Do something." In Nashville, on Music Row, close to Owen Bradley Park, one doesn't have to look too far to see that Bobby Ross has put that lesson to practical use.