by Ken Pierson

When Ron Nauman retired from the Ronson Company in 1980 he already was a Pocono legend. Very few people ever earn the title “force of nature”; “Uncle Ronnie” Nauman was one who did. One look at his photo reveals much about the man. What is not revealed however is the efforts that he expended throughout his lifetime in promoting fiddle music and musicians. He was a teacher, who gave his time freely, a performer who, while mindful of his career was often found giving free concerts at old age homes. He also was the originator of what we are now calling the “Ron Nauman Fiddle Contest”, now in its twenty-fifth year. It is being held at the Elks Lodge in East Stroudsburg, Sunday April 3^rd at 3:00PM. Now organized by the Pocono Bluegrass and Folk Society it is this year funded by a very generous grant from the B&R Nauman Company from Swift Water.

“ “Keep her close to the ground,” that was the old man’s expression,” said Barry Nauman, Ron’s son and as “Snake Oil Willy”, his upright bass player. The expression comes from square dancing and means play tunes that people like and can follow and dance to, in other words, pay attention to the fundamentals.

Pocono legends have to begin early on their legend work and Ron was up to the task. When Ron Nauman was born he was so small that his mom and pop kept him in a mayonnaise jar near the fire to keep him warm. That way he could also be in the room when his father, Clair, would fiddle away the hours on winter evenings. It wasn’t until an outbreak of measles when Ronnie was eight (his hands had grown large enough to pluck strings by that point) that his Pop taught him to play the banjo. Those early years before his hands grew sitting around listening paid off and he learned in one week. He was later instructed in the fine art of fiddling by Cyrus Cory and found that he was one of those rarities, a string instrument virtuoso. From that point in his life until the very end he was in one band or another, performing as far west (and north) as Alaska.

Uncle Ronnie, of course, before he was an uncle, grew up during the depression. Being naturally small his family would tie him in a sack and toss him up on the slow moving coal trains that came down the line. He would work and fuss furiously and toss off as much coal as he could. When he was done he would tie himself and a little more coal up in that same sack and toss himself off more gracefully than when he was tossed on. Ron learned early that being in control of one’s destiny was of paramount interest. That coal heated many a winter night and warmed many a parlor where string band music went on. There were many nights when the “Boys”, Ron and his brother Lamont and their dad Clair would literally play for pennies.  Square dances were held in the largest room in people’s houses. The room was cleared and the Boys would “keep it close to the floor”.

After his time defending our country in the navy on the torpedo testing range (where he was a bosun’s mate- you know, the guy who blows the whistle, what else for a man with perfect pitch). Ron went to work at the Ronson Company. (Now that it’s spelled out that seems appropriate, doesn’t it.) At Ronson’s he rose to be the foreman of the polishing department. All those shiny Ronson’s had to come from somewhere.  When the company closed in 1980 Ron did three things. He joined his son Barry at R&S Nauman and helped that company become “Number 1 in the Number 2 Business”. This writer recently sat with Barry while he helped a very anxious man sort out his septic problems. They were not so severe and easily solved to the person’s relief. Still Number 1 it seems.

Another thing he did was establishing the Ron Nauman Fiddle Contest. The other was to play in about every venue that had room for him. He had overcome the diminutive nature of his youth and was by now quite a large man, as befits a legend, nevertheless, if there was a place in the Poconos, he played there. He also played in places that weren’t, as also befits a legend. Some of the bands he appeared in were; Pocono Mountain Promenadors, with his brother Lamont, Pocono Playboys, Nauman Brothers, McWilliams Brothers Band. 

Ron ran the fiddle contest for about ten years, sometimes holding it several times a year so that now we don’t really know how many of them there have been. We do have a partial list of the performers that entered the contest over the years (see sidebar) and it does read like a who’s who of Pocono fiddlers. Around 1990 Ron handed the contest off to the Lost Ramblers, in particular John Ace who had played with Ron in the band Pot Belly Stove. John said of his mentor “ He was a great inspiration, he would teach and encourage anyone who showed an interest…” in fiddle playing. “He always dressed to the max, just like the old time players.” Said Mr. Ace, adding, “His main musical forms were Country Swing, Square Dance, Hoe Down, Old Timey sort of music.” John Ace played at Ron’s funeral, doing Taps, Amazing Grace and to please the old man ripped off a few bars of Old Joe Clark, joined by Ron himself of course. It was fitting.

Closest to Uncle Ronnie during those years was John James, artist, educator and fiddler from Swift Water. He was taught to play by Ron. When the Smithsonian came to the area to compile tapes of the Pocono Fiddlers, of course with Ron as the main ingredient, they traveled around the Poconos and helped in the taping. All those tapes are available in the Library of Congress. “Uncle Ronnie only ever sang one song, it was “Hand Me Down My Walking Cane”, I guess he just didn’t like the sound of his own voice and he did have perfect pitch so I can’t argue with him.” Said John. “His favorite song to play was Sally Goodin”

Mr. James relates a story of how Ron was playing one night and the crowd got a bit rowdy. These things do happen. Some exuberant dancer crashed into Nauman’s bow arm and snapped his bow in half. “Uncle Ron went out to a willow tree and pulled off a branch that looked about right, stripped off the bark, dried it off and commenced to playing.” The fiddle that John James plays now was given him by the Nauman family after Ron’s death. “I didn’t feel good taking one of Ron’s best fiddles, the ones he played every day. The one I opted for was in a pillowcase in a closet and broken on three pieces. I had it fixed and I swear it plays sweeter than any other one I‘ve heard. It’s the one I play to this day.”