Ron Bretz was, along with Tom Cantalini, one of the founders of the band that became The Bouys. He is also the only person who played in every version of the band. Ron started as the rhythm guitarist but spent most of his time as the bass player. 

 

Ron graduated from Detroit Catholic Central in 1969 and began attending MSU. There he sold his Gibson Jack Bruce style bass and his Ampeg B18 amplifier stupidly cheap. He used the money to buy a Martin acoustic guitar and began learning and singing acoustic music. 

 

Also at MSU Ron met his wife of 48 years, Leslie. Together they have two daughters, Elissa and Sarah, two sons-in-laws, Phil and Zane, and three grandchildren, Henry, Lucy, and Charlie. After MSU, Ron attended Wayne Law School and, in 1976, began working as a public defender in Detroit and Lansing. In 1996, he began his second career as a law professor at Thomas Cooley Law School in Lansing. He retired in 2013.

 

Ron took up the bass again in 1994 and began playing swing, blues, and standards with Cats Pajamas, a group of attorneys in Detroit. Since 1999, Ron has played bass with the Lansing blues band Stan Budzynski and 3rd Degree. That band has played hundreds of gigs throughout Michigan. The Capitol Area Blues Society selected 3rd Degree three times to represent mid-Michigan at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN.