NOTE: Ramo first met Charlie Byrd at a master class with Charlie and the great classical guitarist Carlos Barbosa-Lima in Royal Oak, Michigan. Ramo had only been in the United States for a couple of years and was starting to speak English. In this class Charlie told Michéle that he had nothing to about say about his playing and composing — except to keep doing what he was doing and that he should move to New York City. A few years later Michéle sent Charlie a solo album (not yet released) - a mix of Ramo originals and some standards....Becky, Charlie's wife called us, left a message on our answering machine and said Charlie wanted to talk with Michéle. Upon returning home, Ramo called Charlie right away....music to a young guitarist's ears....Charlie Byrd spoke about how much he loved this album, Ramo's smooth playing, his composing ability, and wanted to send it to the President of Concord Records. We visited Charlie and Becky at their home some months later and Charlie again talked about the album, Ramo's playing, composing and our voice/guitar Duo and that we should move to NYC to be heard in a bigger way.....he had sent the CD on to Concord Records President and called him on the phone telling us he said: "You really gotta' hear this guitarist!" (Concord was in court litigations at that time dealing with many other issues.) We loved our visit with Becky and Charlie and we keep doing what we always do...write and play music. We plan to release that CD on our own as we have our last three albums. It is 'Ramo's Tribute to Charlie Byrd' - just as it should be with the wonderful history behind --- right in Charlie and Becky's living room. We finally got things together and moved to New York in fall 1999 – we called Charlie on the way --- his last words to us were: "You're gonna make it!" We were saddened when Charlie passed away — but we know he has made the world a richer place for having been here.
