Growing Up in Music's Most Gifted Family, Playing with Stevie Wonder, and What It Means to Be a Drummer's Drummer in the Modern Era
Ronald Bruner Jr. came up in one of the most musically gifted families in Los Angeles -- and that is saying something. His brother is Thundercat. His upbringing was steeped in the language of jazz, funk, and the deep Los Angeles musical tradition that produced some of the most important records of the last half century. Ronald went on to become one of the most respected drummers in the city, playing with Stevie Wonder and carving out a reputation as a musician's musician -- the kind of player other players talk about in reverent tones.
In this conversation with Elmo, Ronald talks about what it was like to grow up surrounded by music at that level, how he developed his own voice on the instrument, the influence of jazz on everything he plays, his time with Stevie Wonder, and what he believes is the core of what great drumming actually requires. This is a conversation about craft, family, and the specific culture of musicianship that the Los Angeles scene has produced -- from someone who has lived it from the inside.
"The music always comes first. Everything else -- the technique, the chops, the gear -- is in service of that. That's what I grew up understanding."
What it was like to come of age in a household where music was the central language -- the influence of his father, the relationship with his brother Thundercat, and how that environment shaped the musician he became. The specific musical education -- formal and informal -- that the Bruner household provided, and what he absorbed from that world before he ever stepped into a professional setting.
How jazz shaped everything about the way Ronald plays and thinks about music -- the specific artists and records that formed him, the harmonic and rhythmic sensibility that jazz gave him, and how that foundation informs his playing even in contexts far removed from traditional jazz. Why he believes jazz is not a genre but a way of thinking, and what that means in practice for a drummer working across multiple worlds.
His experience holding the drumming chair for one of the most legendary musicians alive -- what the standard demands, what he learned about listening and about the relationship between rhythm and melody, and what it taught him about himself as a player. The specific things you can only learn by being in a room at that level, and how that experience changed the way he approaches every other musical situation.
Ronald's direct and specific account of what separates genuinely great drumming from merely impressive drumming -- the elements of feel, intention, and musicality that he believes are unteachable but not unlearnable, and the specific things he has worked hardest to develop over the course of his career. His philosophy of the instrument and what he is always listening for in the music around him.
His perspective on the unique musical culture of Los Angeles -- the intersection of jazz, funk, R&B, and hip-hop that the city has always produced, the community of musicians who have shaped that culture, and what it means to be part of a lineage that runs from the great session players of the 1960s and 70s through Thundercat, Kendrick Lamar, and the new generation of LA musicians redefining what the city sounds like.
What it means to be known and respected primarily among other musicians -- the specific kind of career that represents, the tradeoffs it involves, and why Ronald has always prioritized the music over anything else. His perspective on the relationship between artistic integrity and commercial success, and why he believes the musicians who stay true to the music are always the ones who end up mattering most in the long run.
The family conversation: Ronald's candid account of growing up alongside Thundercat and what the Bruner household was actually like -- the musical education it provided, the pressure and the inspiration it created, and how that environment shaped his specific artistic identity. One of the most revealing windows into the making of a world-class musician that Go With Elmo has produced.
On the jazz tradition: why Ronald believes jazz is the grammar of all Black American music and why he thinks musicians who don't have that foundation are missing something fundamental -- delivered not as dogma but as lived musical philosophy from someone who has applied it in every room he has ever played in.
The Stevie Wonder stories: specific, personal, and illuminating -- what it was actually like to play behind one of the greatest musicians who ever lived, and what Ronald took from that experience that he carries with him into every session and performance to this day.
On groove and feel: one of the most technically and philosophically rich passages in this conversation -- Ronald's direct account of what he is actually doing when he plays, the specific thing he is always chasing, and why he believes that feel is not just a vibe but a discipline that requires as much focused development as any technical skill.
The Los Angeles perspective: Ronald on what the city's musical culture actually is, why it keeps producing the artists and sounds that define each generation, and what he thinks is the essential ingredient that makes LA different from every other music city in the world.