Ron Saltmarsh is an American composer, producer, guitarist and performer. He has written many TV and movie scores, and also written many

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

songs. Saltmarsh was born in Portland, OR in 1962 and grew up on a ranch in Beavercreek, OR. He moved to Provo, UT in 1980 to attend college at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

. Saltmarsh served as a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

for

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ...

(LDS Church) in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

. Saltmarsh has a bachelor's degree in music from

(BYU) as well as an MBA from the Marriott School of Management. Among those he studied under at BYU was

K. Newell Dayley K. Newell Dayley (born 1939) is a prominent Latter Day Saint composer, hymnwriter and musician. He was a professor of music at Brigham Young University (BYU) and later served as the associate academic vice president for undergraduate studies at tha ...

and mentored by

Sam Cardon Sam Cardon is a composer whose credits include 15 large-format films: ''Titans Of The Ice Age'', ''Mummies'', ''Mystic India'', ''Texas'', ''The Big Picture'', ''Forces Of Nature'', ''Lewis and Clark'', ''The Legendary Journeys'', ''Shackleton's A ...

. Saltmarsh was part of the

Young Ambassadors __NOTOC__ The Young Ambassadors are a song and dance performing group from Brigham Young University (BYU). Consisting of 20 performers, 10 male and 10 female, they were founded by Janie Thompson in 1969. Since their first international performance ...

and the jazz ensemble Synthesis while at BYU. In 1993 Saltmarsh became a vice president of Flashpoint productions and while there composed music for many SEGA and PC platform games. In 1995 he moved to Nashville, TN where he worked for 615 Music Productions as a freelance composer and producer. He was one of the lead composer for the music of A&E's Biography Series. He also was the composer for the thriller movie ''

SIGMA Sigma (; uppercase Σ, lowercase σ, lowercase in word-final position ς; grc-gre, σίγμα) is the eighteenth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 200. In general mathematics, uppercase Σ is used ...

''. He has also done arranging for the band

Diamond Rio Diamond Rio is an American country music band. The band was founded in 1982 as an attraction for the Opryland USA theme park in Nashville, Tennessee, and was originally known as the Grizzly River Boys, then the Tennessee River Boys. It was foun ...

as well as many other music groups. He has performed with Marie Osmond, The Nashville Tribute Band, and many other cover and specialty types of groups. He regularly plays with the country group Joshua Creek. He has released two contemporary jazz CD's with his friend, fellow BYU graduate and keyboardist for

Dan Truman Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...

Since 2011, he has been an associate teaching professor of music at BYU over the Commercial Music Degree. Saltmarsh was a

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

of an LDS Church

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

for several years. Saltmarsh married Calene Cox in 1987 and they have 4 children.

Sources

Bio from Saltmarsh's website
* ttps://www.thechurchnews.com/archive/2000-06-10/music-city-lds-top-charts-in-nashville-17820 "Music City: LDS top charts in Nashville" ''

Church News The ''Church News'' (or ''LDS Church News'') is a weekly tabloid-sized supplement to the ''Deseret News'' and the '' MormonTimes'', a Salt Lake City, Utah newspaper owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It is ...

'', June 10, 2000 {{DEFAULTSORT:Saltmarsh, Ron 20th-century Mormon missionaries American male composers 21st-century American composers American leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints American Mormon missionaries in the United States Brigham Young University alumni Living people People from Nashville, Tennessee Year of birth missing (living people) Latter Day Saints from Oregon Latter Day Saints from Utah Latter Day Saints from Tennessee