5 questions with WDVE's Randy Baumann about his 'Ramble' show

After a two-year hiatus caused by covid, “Randy Baumann’s Ramble” is back.

Baumann, the popular host of the WDVE Morning Show on 102.5 FM, is an accomplished musician, keyboard player and guitarist. Each year he invites fellow Pittsburgh musicians to join him on stage to perform songs drawn from the canon of Bob Dylan and the legendary group The Band and other songs they’ve inspired over the years.

Friday’s event gets underway at 8 p.m. at The Funhouse at Mr. Small’s in Millvale.

In all, some 25 musicians will be featured as Baumann’s Ramble Band backs up Liz Berlin, Paul Luc, Molly Alphabet, Josh Verbannets, Jenn Wertz, Chet Vincent, Jon Bindley, Max Sommerville, Melinda Colaizzi and Andre Costello, among others.

The term “Ramble” comes from Levon Helm, drummer and one of three lead vocalists for The Band, who famously held what were called Ramble Sessions in Woodstock, N.Y.

Baumann spoke with the Tribune-Review about the return of his signature event.

Question: What are the origins of Randy Baumann’s Ramble and how far back do they go?

Answer: We started doing them in 2014. (Clarks guitarist) Rob James and I had talked for a long time about doing something along the lines of a house band with a couple different guests singers each show and that kind of morphed into a revue of about 15-20 singers over time and went from a room of 100 people to a theater show.

Q: What was it about Levon Helm’s famous Ramble Sessions that inspired you?

A: Honestly, the songs seemed to have the widest reach among musicians in terms of them knowing the songbook. We kind of always used The Last Waltz (The Band’s 1976 farewell show) as the starting point for the canon of music to draw from and when you start unraveling that family tree it goes quite a long way. And while these shows only feature a very small amount of the incredibly rich and diverse Pittsburgh music scene, there are quite a few players from different genres that were featured that were inspired by Dylan and The Band. Rob and I always appreciated when we were able to make connections happen musically between people who previously didn’t know one another, and then they end up writing songs together or guesting on each other’s albums.

Q: What were you thinking about as you envisioned the look and sound of this?

A: At first just something that would be a great bar band and very low key. Something that you could sit at the bar and grab a few beers with your friends and the band would almost be secondary. And while they still are mostly huge parties for the people who show up, the performances demanded everyone’s attention. That’s what’s great about these shows is that each performer really inspires the others to really dig deep and the payoff is such a blast to watch unfold.

Q: What kind of an evening can patrons look forward to?

A: The crowds at these shows are so fantastic. Always high energy. Their appreciation for the music and the performance is really the overriding sentiment each show. Lots of people singing along and dancing and drinking beers and really just having a blast.

Q: How much fun is it to show a side of yourself that people don’t necessarily see or hear on the WDVE Morning show?

A: I’m really blessed to be able to use the platform at ‘DVE to meet so many musicians through the years, and that really helps to bring big shows like this together. I came into the job at ‘DVE having thought my career would be as a musician, and I think a lot of the ‘DVE audience knows that by this point, to be honest. And while I love my job and it’s a complete blast every day, there’s nothing like getting to play music.