Ronny Cox sings praises of ‘Pure Country: Pure Heart’

Ronny Cox is best known for his long list of TV and film credits that include “Deliverance,” “St. Elsewhere,” “RoboCop” and “Stargate SG-1.” During his 47 years as an actor, Cox has also toured the country with his band playing more than 100 shows each year and he has released five CDs, but he’s not as well known for his work as a singer, songwriter and musician.

Cox, 79, finally gets to show his musical chops again on screen appearing in the Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and WWE Studios production “Pure Country: Pure Heart.” The direct-to-DVD film — it also features country music icon Willie Nelson, Tony Award nominee Laura Bell Bundy and WWE’s Shawn Michaels — was released on DVD and Blu-ray on Tuesday.

“All my life, I have loved music and for me to get to play a character where I got to sing one of my songs in the film was a mighty inducement for me to want to do this film,” Cox says. “What made it doubly delightful was that I loved the script so I would have wanted to do it no matter what. But, the added bonus of getting to sing meant a lot to me.”

The film, the latest in the “Pure Country” series, follows teenage sisters Ada and Piper (Kaitlyn Bausch, Cozi Zuehlsdorff) as they travel to Nashville to look for details about their father’s past. Their search brings them to a top country performer (Bundy) who had partnered with their father for a short time. Cox plays a veteran who helps the young women in their quest and it’s during one of their visits to see him in a veterans home that Cox gets to perform.

It’s been 27 years since he was able to bring his passions for acting and music together with the ABC musical police drama “Cop Rock.” Even then, not a lot of people got to hear him sing as the Steven Bochco series hit a sour note with viewers and was canceled after only 11 episodes.

“Pure Country: Pure Heart” features 23 songs including “Silver City,” a tune written and performed by Cox. The soundtrack is a mix of familiar songs with 16 original pieces ranging from Willie Nelson’s “We Don’t Run” to Bundy’s all-new “Grass Ain’t Greener.”

The reason getting to sing in the film means so much to Cox is that his passion for music started long before he became an actor. The New Mexico native started cutting records while he was in high school and paid his way through Eastern New Mexico University with money he made playing with his rock ‘n’ roll band.

“All the years I was struggling as an actor, I was playing folk music in clubs,” Cox says. “I got my first film, ‘Deliverance,’ because I could play music. My second film was ‘Bound for Glory,’ the Woody Guthrie story.

“So, early in my career, everybody knew I was this actor from New Mexico who also played music. But, as typical with Hollywood, I started playing roles in ‘RoboCop’ and ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ and ‘Total Recall.’ So now, when people see me with a guitar, it blows their minds.”

Cox has rarely been seen playing his music on screen but there has been a lot of opportunities to see him live. He continues to perform a mix of jazz, folk and western tunes — combined with some storytelling — at more than 100 music festivals and shows every year.