Photo and story by Carrie Jaymes

Not all bands offer widely diverse musicianship while still filling a special niche with their music. Rising Son, a roots reggae group out of Ventura, California, has that distinction.
Rising Son launched their fist album project in 2006 and has since risen to fame through highly charged live shows that provide their audiences and themselves a signature experience as well as more album projects. Live or recorded, they continue to offer music that resonates with their growing fan base, which ranges in age from kids on up.
“I’ve noticed that it appeals to every age group. I’ve seen kids liking it to elderly people liking it,” said drummer Ezra Brooks Robinson.
The debut album, Take Root, contained a dozen songs including anthemic acoustical collections and next generation funk.
Themes woven in the project reached a broad range of music lovers. In 2007 they recorded the widely received song, “Worldwide Love” and in the fall of 2014 they released Forward, a 7 track EP. “Ethiopian Sonrize,” one of the tracks off this EP, shines through as an anthem with touching lyrics combined with beautiful harmonies and their outstanding musicianship.
“Ethiopian Sonrize” was written to encourage the downtrodden people of this world,” said singer songwriter Levi Williams. “It is directed toward Ethiopians who have seen a degradation of their culture and have struggled through a harsh regime and propaganda to discredit Haile Selassie and the monarchy that reigned for 2,000 years. It is to remind them of their royal roots and culture and of their indomitable spirit. It can also be applied to any person in this world that is going through struggles because we all originated from Ethiopia where the most ancient hominid fossils were found—our common ancestor ancient civilization. The place where we all come from.”
The band includes Williams on vocals and guitar, Teknique on guitar, K.C. Easterling on bass, Filiblunt on keys, Robinson on drums and Doc Smith on percussion. The band members have shared the stage with the likes of Steel Pulse, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Pato Banton, Bob Marley’s reggae/hip hop musician son Ky-mani Marley, Alpha Blondy and the late Mikey Dread. They have also loaned their musical strengths to projects with Bad Brains, The Divine Crime, Ska Daddyz, and have been featured on other recorded and live projects. Including a track Williams recorded in 2008 with Pato Banton titled “Heal This World,” on Banton’s Destination Paradise album.
Rising Son is hitting the festival scene, nightclub venues and other locales spreading their positive energy and letting their uplifting music ring through the air.
The band is also working on a full-length album they plan to release this year.
Be a part of the live experience and catch Rising Son on Friday, April 24 from 9 p.m. to midnight at Rancho Nipomo Gold Rush Cantina. There is a $5 cover charge at the door.