Jonny’s Secret Stash - Ep 86 with Naomi Ashley and Ralph Baumel from The Real Pretenders and the Naomi Ashley Band

Naomi Ashley got her start in music after moving to Chicago and working in Comedy Improv.  Initially, her songs were part of the joke and then she got serious in her writing.  She gave up improv and began playing folk/country music in the early 2000s and since then has issued at least two albums and is getting ready to go into the studio to make another.  In 2018, Ralph Baumel saw her perform a Pretenders song on stage and something clicked.  They formed the Real Pretenders and have been delighting audiences since.  Check them out at the Acorn Theater on May 28 performing the entire Pretenders "Learning To Crawl" album and Lucinda Williams 1996 album, "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road."