Ed Romanoff

Early life

Romanoff was raised in Connecticut and played sports at PineRock Park, the inspiration for the name of the company he founded in 1996. He was 17 years old when he purchased his first guitar and began playing the music of John Prine, whom he credits as an inspiration for him becoming a musician.

Romanoff graduated from the University of Virginia where he earned a Bachelor's degree in Communications. He dabbled in various professions before going into communications, including carpentry, special education teaching, and cattle branding. Between 1988 and 1992 he worked as an account manager, director of sales, and assistant to the general manager at Jack Morton Co.. He then moved on to become the general manager of Ray Block Productions, Inc. where he stayed until 1996. That year, Romanoff founded PineRock, a global brand communications company that specializes in events, digital and video production as well as communication strategy for corporations internationally.

Music career

Romanoff began writing music in 2008. He studied at The Song School in Lyons, Colorado where he studied with artists Darrell Scott and Beth Nielsen Chapman.

He released his first album, self-titled, in June 2012 at the age of 53. The album contains 10 original songs (11 total), with guest vocals by Josh Ritter and Mary Gauthier, and guest accompaniment by Duke Levine, Jaroslav Rodriguez, Tom West, Kimon Kirk, and Eugene Friesen on different tracks. The album peaked at number 12 on the European Americana Charts and was a Roots Radio Top 100 Album for 2012. Romanoff also announced that he is working on a second album.

Awards and recognition

Romanoff won first place at the 2011 International Songwriting Competition for the lyrics to his single St. Vincent de Paul. The song was inspired by his search for his biological father. He also received top honors for his songs Two Yellow Roses and Breakfast for One on the Fifth of July in the Great American Song Contest. Romanoff was also the winner of the 2013 New Folk competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival, an award previously won by singer-songwriters like Steve Earle and Lyle Lovett.

Personal

Romanoff grew up believing he was of Russian descent. In 2008, he accompanied a friend taking a DNA test and took the test too as an act of solidarity and to learn more about his heritage. The results revealed that he was actually of Irish descent. The man he believed to be his father was, in fact, not his biological father, and Romanoff had been adopted. The opening song, St. Vincent de Paul, of his 2012 self-titled debut album, discusses his search to find his real father.