Oakland-born drummer and vocalist Ronnie “Groove” Smith is one of the East Bay’s most in-demand players. He grew up singing and drumming in the Pentecostal church, then recorded with Bay Area gospel quartets like The Gospel Hummingbirds and The Sons of the Soul Revivers.
From there he moved into blues, R&B, jazz, hip-hop and roots music, and in 2010 won a Blues Music Award for his work with the Tommy Castro Band. He has toured and recorded with Joe Louis Walker, Kim Wilson, Rick Estrin & the Nightcats, Ronnie Baker Brooks and many more, and played sessions for Little Village Foundation at Greaseland Studios. Outside the blues, he has worked with Ledisi, Goapele and Linda Tillery.
These days Ronnie tours with Alligator Records guitarist Chris Cain and soul singer Alabama Mike, and still performs with 7x Grammy-nominated roots queen Maria Muldaur.
