About

Ron Bennett was born and raised in Philadelphia. He founded Ron Bennet Music and taught guitar in Center City Philadelphia from 2001 to 2022 before relocating to SW Virginia. When he was 11 years old, he met B.B. King in his dressing room at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, little did he know that it would ignite a passionate love affair with the guitar that would span five decades.

He has been playing guitar for over 50 years and writing songs for over 36 years. After graduating from St. Joseph’s High School in Camden, NJ, he completed a stint in the Air Force working in Tactical Reconnaissance, attaining a top secret security clearance. He later completed a Bachelor’s degree, double majoring in Political Science and Economics at the University of South Carolina and received a fellowship to study Economics in the USC Masters Program.

After graduate school he worked as a fundraiser and congressional legislative aide for US Public Research Group and Clean Water Action Project in Washington, DC. and later worked as a Director of PR for the City of Philadelphia’s Recycling Program for 12 years. In 1990 he co- founded Café 90, a salon dedicated to nurturing the work of emerging artists and hosted the Open Mic at the Café de Arts on Broad St in Philadelphia.

He decided to embark on a full time career in 2000 teaching and performing music. This culminated in headlining the emerging artist’s event in 2001 at the Kashmir Klub in London, England, and established Center City Philadelphia Guitar Lessons by Ron Bennett Music which has been a mainstay in the Philadelphia music community for the last 22 years.

A versatile and itinerant musician, Ron has performed his mixture of folk, rock, and blues bottleneck in Philadelphia, nationwide, and internationally in Denmark, India, England, Ireland, Mexico, Japan, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Argentina. He has also had a hand in developing the careers of many artists as a teacher, and a studio guitarist.