Ripe!
- Drew Layman
- Apr 13
- 6 min read
Going through my mom’s things after her passing in 2023, I came across a Columbus Dispatch article she’d saved from January 20, 1993. I was in my third year at Ohio State then—about as dialed in to the campus music scene as I’d ever get—and seeing that piece again snapped a whole era back into focus. The article covered ripe!, a Columbus compilation assembled by Abbe Turner, and it reminded me just how much was happening here at the time.
Ripe!
Thornapple Records – TS 107
1993
Released with a January 22, 1993 party at Chelsie’s, ripe! stands as one of the best snapshots of Columbus music ever put together. That’s not just nostalgia talking. It pulls off something that’s harder than it sounds: reflecting the stylistic sprawl of the scene while still hanging together as a coherent listen. Folk, rock, blues, acoustic singer-songwriters, a little left-of-center experimentation—it’s all here, and it all makes sense.
The opening stretch alone sets the tone. Shirley Jay’s “Driftin’” carries a quiet authority, rooted in the same tradition that put her on bills with the likes of John Gorka and Patty Larkin. From there, Room Nineteen’s “Way Above” leans into their Celtic-tinged, alternate-tuning approach—one of those bands that felt unmistakably local but never limited by it.
Boley & Finck bring “Beer, Whiskey Or Gin,” a song that feels like it could’ve been pulled straight from one of their long Thursday runs at Union Station. It’s a reminder of how much of this scene was built in rooms that no longer exist. Peter Finck’s passing in 2023 only sharpens that sense of time moving on.
Then there’s Rj Cowdery—credited here as Rhonda Cowdery—making her recording debut with “What A Day.” Michael Perkins’ liner note description, a “soothing feathery celebration of life,” still fits. Hearing it now, knowing the body of work she’d go on to build, it feels like a beginning in the truest sense. Ripe! holds some personal weight for me here, too. Around the time of its release, I met Abbe (then known as Abbe Siet) through my brother, and through her I met Rj—which eventually led to me contributing a little conga to Bernie’s Daughter. Cowdery has blossomed into one of Columbus' best singer/songwriters.
Donna Mogavero’s “I Can’t Talk” is another standout—and a bit of a hidden one, since this is the only place you’ll find it. By ’93 she was already firmly established, and the performance here shows why.
The compilation isn’t strictly local, either. Todd Burge’s “Together,” recorded at his first Mountain Stage appearance, slips in seamlessly. His long relationship with Columbus—including an early Stache’s show that led to recording with Mick Divvens—makes his inclusion feel earned rather than incidental.
Instrumental color comes from players like Pete Cary, while Eric Nuzum’s “#A317 (Pulling The Witch’s Tail)” hints at the more experimental edges of the scene—before his later career in public radio and podcasting.
The centerpiece, at least for me, is Rob Brumfiel’s “Forever Haunted.” Brumfiel was already a legend here—Jerry Flaherty’s description of him as “the Jeff Beck of Columbus” doesn’t feel like a stretch—and this track plays like a lost single from a Bruce Cockburn album. The supporting cast—Jeff Ciampa, Louis Tsamous, Mogavero, Craig Fuller—and the Geoff Workman production only elevate it further. If you needed one track to justify the compilation’s existence, this might be it.
From there, the record keeps moving. Bob Sauls delivers blues that feel lived-in rather than studied. Willie Phoenix contributes “Ball And Chain,” a reminder that Columbus rock has always had teeth and that Phoenix always writes corkers seemingly at will. Barry Weaver quietly turns in one of those songs that sticks with you longer than you expect.
There are also the near-misses—the “should have been” moments. West Exit’s “When Monday Comes” has all the makings of a radio song that never quite got its shot. Same goes for El Kabong’s “Cry,” made more poignant now with the recent passing of Doug Edwards, who played bass and helped write it. The late Rob Brumfiel was also part of the group.
By the time the compilation closes with artists like Libby Benson and Crush, what lingers isn’t just individual tracks, but the sense of a scene—loosely connected, stylistically scattered, but real.
The origin story underscores that. A November 1991 session with Voices Of Winter sparked the idea. As Abbe told the Dispatch, she and Steve Carter recognized that there were bands out there with original material worth documenting. That instinct—to capture rather than curate too tightly—is what makes ripe! work.
Looking back through the timeline—Shirley Jay hosting songwriter showcases, Boley & Finck holding down regular gigs, the Banding Together For Choice lineup at Stache’s—you can see the connective tissue. These weren’t isolated acts; they were part of an ecosystem. One that felt, at the time, both expansive and cohesive.
A lot has changed since then. Venues are gone. Some of the players are gone. Others are still at it, still writing, still showing up. Ripe! doesn’t freeze that moment so much as reflect it while it was happening. Many of these artists continue to perform and evolve.
That’s why it holds up. Not as a relic, but as a document that captures Columbus music in motion. Just one point along a line that’s still being drawn.
Tracklist
1 Shirley Jay – Driftin'
2 Room Nineteen – Way Above
3 Boley & Finck And Friends – Beer, Whiskey Or Gin
Acoustic Guitar, Harmony Vocals – Peter Finck
Bass Guitar – Doug Edwards
Drums – Scott Shepard
Harmony Vocals, Electric Guitar – Rob Brumfiel
Lead Vocals, Acoustic Guitar – Mike Boley
Piano – John Evans
4 Rhonda Cowdery – What A Day
5 Donna Mogavero – I Can't Talk
6 Todd Burge – Together
Left to right; Mike Parks, Kozmos, Willie Phoenix, Jim JohnsonThe True Soul Rockers,
7 Pete Cary – Three Little Words
8 Eric Nuzum – #A317 (Pulling The Witch's Tail)
Recorded By – Doug Dickson
9 Rob Brumfiel – Forever Haunted
Backing Vocals – Craig Fuller, Donna Mogavero, Jeff Ciampa, Rob Brumfiel
Bass – Jeff Ciampa
Drums, Percussion – Louis Tsamous
Keyboards – "Shopper" John Evans
Producer – Geoff Workman, Rob Brumfiel
Recorded By, Mixed By – Geoff Workman
Vocals, Guitar – Rob Brumfiel
Words By, Music By – Rob Brumfiel
10 Bob Sauls – Heart Full Of You
11 Willie Phoenix – Ball And Chain
Bass – Kozmos
Drums – Jim Johnson
Guitar – Mike Parks
Vocals, Guitar, Organ – Willie Phoenix
12 Goodwin And Pangborn – Heart To Break
Composed By – Craig Goodwin, Jeff Pangborn
13 Voices Of Winter – Daydream
Bass – Rich Keen
Drums – Jeff Peters
Guitar Synthesizer, Lead Vocals – John Hondroulis
Lead Guitar, Vocals – David Boothby, Jr.
14 El Kabong – Cry
Bass – Doug Edwards
Drums – Scott Shepard
Guitar – Rob Brumfiel
Vocals – Diana Otero
Written-By – Diana, Doug, Rob
16 Barry Weaver – Ready For Red
17 West Exit – When Monday Comes
Bass – Adrian Allen
Drums – Ian Hammond
Lead Guitar – Rob Minton
Vocals – Lonnie Neil Dearth
18 Chuck Fink – Borderline Of Love
19 Crush – All I Feel
Performer – Cardo, Ken Lambert, Stephen Rayburn, Suzen Carson
20 Libby Benson – Reflections Of Love
Written-By – John Alcorn, Libby Benson
Companies, etc.
Copyright © – Yellow Bird Productions
Recorded At – Thornapple Studios
Recorded At – The Recording Workshop
Recorded At – Mountain Stage
Recorded At – Birnudio
Recorded At – Sisapa Recording Studios
Recorded At – Barking Dog Studios, Columbus OH
Recorded At – Belief System Studio
Recorded At – The Reel Thing Studios
Recorded At – T. Rock Productions
Credits
Compilation Producer – Abbe Siet
Cover Artist – Abe Olvido
Design, Layout – Eric Nuzum
Engineer – Bill Stone (track: 18), Don Birnie (track: 8), Doug Edwards (track: 14), Gary Burton (track: 10), Geoff Workman (track: 9), Jim Lynch (track: 20), Lynn Murphy (track: 12), Peter E. Chimbidis (track: 15), Rob Brumfiel (tracks: 3, 14), Steve Carter (tracks: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 11, 13, 16, 19), Tom Dannery (track: 18)
Compilation Engineer – Steve Carter
Legal Counsel – Tamela Murphy
Liner Notes – Michael A Perkins
Producer – Doug Dickson (track: 8)
Comments