SouthFlorida.com | City Link Magazine

Deep in Miami's Design District, past galleries and showrooms and design centers specializing in everything from faucets to lampshades, Lake Worth resident John Ralston is not at all at home. Sitting at a table at Elements Tierra restaurant, dressed in jeans, a white T-shirt and a black hooded sweatshirt, Ralston doesn't belong amid the chic, suited crowd. After ordering a grilled portobello salad, the singer-songwriter confirms this by murmuring, "I guess I would rather be at Howley's," referring to the far-more-casual landmark watering hole in his hometown.

But Ralston is a big fish in larger ponds than Lake Worth. His former band, Legends of Rodeo, even signed to MCA Records in late 2000. However, the band's hopes were dashed when the album it released, A Thousand Friday Nights, went nowhere in terms of sales. The most positive reviews saw the 2002 CD as a righteous blend of emo and Americana rock like the music of Bruce Springsteen and John Mellencamp. Sean Michaels of Tangmonkey.com called the record "insistent, diluted Americana." Ralston's opinion falls somewhere in the middle.

"That's certainly not my favorite record. I mean, just being perfectly honest, I find our earlier stuff much better," he says. "Not that it's a horrible record. We weren't -- for whatever reason -- we weren't right. It's not as though it's the record company's fault, though. I mean, they didn't write the songs."

Such ready forgiveness for MCA Records seems shocking coming from a man who, after his experiences, has every reason to loathe major labels, specifically MCA. After signing with the label, the band went straight into the studio, following that with a year and a half of touring.

"We did 250 dates in a year, and we never had a booking agent," Ralston recalls. "I mean, they couldn't even get us an agent. We had done everything by ourselves up to that point, from doing all our own artwork to printing our own T-shirts. We kept it in a closed circle. And then, there's all this other input, and maybe you don't like that input. All in all, it just wasn't the place for us."

For the next two years, Ralston and his bandmates sought a way out of their contract with MCA. "We gave the van back; we gave the trailer back. We did just about anything to get out of the contract," he says. "It was like losing everything in a divorce."

With Legends of Rodeo locked in legal battles with a behemoth of the recording industry, Ralston headed to Knoxville, Tenn., to put together some songs for a demo. "Things were looking pretty dark for Legends. We were still signed with MCA, and it was taking a lot longer to get out of the deal than we thought. We hadn't put out anything in two years. We hadn't toured in a year and a half. So a friend who had a recording studio in Knoxville called me up and said, 'You've written a few songs; why don't you come up and demo a few things?' � So I went up there to Knoxville and basically stayed awake and recorded for five days. We realized really early on that we were making a record, not a demo."

The result was Needle Bed, which City Link declared "Best Local CD" in its Best of 2005 issue. The album certainly deserved it, what with its glistening harmonies, memorable tunes and Ralston's skilled songwriting and rather nasal, endearing, Thom Yorke-ish voice. One listen to the album, and you can understand the dark mood of the time. Song titles include "No Catcher in the Rye," "No One Said It Was Easy," "Gone, Gone, Gone" and "Time for Me To Ruin Everything." But negative assumptions about Ralston's state of mind may be wrong.

"I'm a songwriter," explains Ralston, who takes time every day to write new material. "I don't always draw on my own feelings. Like, a lot of people came up to me and were like, 'Man, I can't believe that song. Are you OK?' And I'm like, 'Dude, I write songs.' So it's not all [autobiographical]."

In fact, the recording of Needle Bed was the light at the end of a long, dark tunnel filled with record executives and unsupported national tours. "Over the course of these five days, I really started having fun with music again," Ralston says. "Instead of there being a deadline or a budget to worry about, it was just the music. And it was an amazing five days, something I'm really proud of."

The experience proved such a positive one that Ralston has even bitten the bullet once again. "I am signing with Vagrant Records," he admits. "It's a great deal, and I know all the people over there. They were helping me with my solo record before I'd even signed. They paid for the first pressing of the record, though I was able to return their check to them after my third show. It was the way I had always wanted to do business."

With a new record deal ahead as a solo artist, Ralston spent this past New Year's Eve in a one-off reunion with his former bandmates. "We hadn't played together in probably six months," he explains. "And some of the best Legends shows were really drunken, Replacements-esque nights. But it wasn't as much of a bloodbath as I thought. Somebody came up to me after the show and said, 'You guys were great, but I wish you had been a little worse.' "

John Ralston will perform 9 p.m. Saturday at the City Link Music Fest. For more information, see schedule.