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| CHRIS RICHARDS Kids in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, listened to plenty of Rush and Def Leppard. Not much country. So how did Chris Richards, growing up in Sheboygan during arena rock's prime, become enamored of traditional country music? "My Grandma Em was a beer-drinking woman. She loved a good tavern, and I mean that in the best possible way," he recalls. "I spent a good deal of time with her playing jukeboxes. Lots of Glen Campbell, Michael Martin Murphey and Kenny Rogers. Maybe not what some would consider the greatest of all time, but there was something about the story songs of that era that really captured my attention." So we have Richards' grandmother to thank, at least in part, for Tumblers & Grit, the new album showcasing Richards' outstanding country songwriting. The album was recorded in a veteran studio on Nashville's Music Row. But Tumbers & Grit is far from standard Music Row fare. Lyrically and musically, Richards' songs are understated but sly. He sings in a friendly baritone that reminds producer R.S. Field of Gordon Lightfoot. And while his songs explore traditional territory -- lost love, the open road, and a favorite topic of many a country singer: country music itself -- Richards infuses them with a subtle humor that's hard to pin down. It could be his upbringing in Sheboygan, America's bratwurst capital and home of many a bathtub manufacturer. Or it could be the self-reflection that must have come with leaving a good paying advertising job in Los Angeles, settling into a former drug house in East Nashville where addicts would show up at all hours after he moved in, and working "shitty jobs like janitorial stuff and grocery stocking" while immersing himself in Nashville's music culture and history. In any case, Richards has discovered a plainspoken lyrical wit that critics have compared to John Prine and Lucinda Williams. In "Hard Livin'," he describes the loneliness of being left, singing, "It's twelve-hour shifts in the foundry heat/Then I'm done with the easiest part of my week." Richards sets up "The Ballad of the Analog Kid" this way: "Burst from the dirt like a lottery ball Last one to talk, first one to crawl And as soon as someone left the door unlatched Just wandered out and he never looked back." Richards got a late start with music. He reports that during his days in Sheboygan, kids just didn't play much guitar. They didn't start rock bands. So, it wasn't untilhe was situated in L.A. that he stumbled upon songwriting and realized it could actually be a career path. "Somewhere along the way, I went out and bought a Tom T. Hall book on songwriting just to see if I was doing it right," he says. "I figured ol' Tom T. would give it to me straight." He must've been doing something right, because results came quickly. After hearing a set of Richards' demos, SoCal solo artist and Dave Alvin sideman Rick Shea offered to work with him on an album. The resulting project, Jam the Breeze, caught the attention of Mojo, No Depression, and BBC radio, and gave Richards the gumption to pursue music further. He moved to Nashville, set up a home in the aforementioned sketchy house, figured out a way to scrape by, became a true student of country songwriting, and began a scheming to make his next album. Rather than pursuing a record deal, Richards aimed to have as much control as possible. "I had worked for Atlantic Records in L.A. before I decided I was going to take a stab at (music). Probably the best thing any singer could do is to go work at a major label before getting into it too far. I got to peek behind the curtain, and it wasn't pretty." The indie options didn't look much more promising, so with the help of a family friend from Sheboygan, Richards set up his own independent label, Lake Effect Records. They hope to eventually put out recordings by like-minded artists, but the first order of business is Tumblers & Grit. Richards called in Field, a buddy and one of Nashville's most admired producers (credits include albums with Billy Joe Shaver, Webb Wilder and Allison Moorer). Putting their heads together, they called in a cast of stellar players, including guitar monster Kenny Vaughan (Patty Loveless, Marty Stuart); Ketch Secor, of the Old Crow Medicine Show, on fiddle; Jared Reynolds (Allison Moorer, Trent Summar) on bass; and a relatively unknown singer from Los Angeles named Dawn McCoy. Then there's Lloyd Green. Among the most recorded steel guitarists in history, Green has played with George Jones, Johnny Cash, the Byrds, Paul McCartney and Johnny Paycheck. Now he's played on a Chris Richards record. Green was out of recording from the late 1980's until about a year ago. Immediately sought after by traditional-leaning artists, he recently played on Alan Jackson's "Remember When" (a number one hit for Jackson, and Green's 117th contribution to one of those). Besides that session, Green says Tumblers & Grit was the most enjoyable of his comeback projects. "Chris is very bright, very talented. He writes such quality songs," Green says. "He's been one of the real bright spots for me getting back into recording." Green also enjoyed working with Field, who gave the players on Richards' album room to create. "He let me play without restriction," says Green, drawing contrast with most Music Row sessions. The result is a country album that falls into a comfortable, intimate groove, adhering to the roots while showing flashes of folk and rock. Richards will be hitting the road in the months ahead, with plans to cover as much ground as he can. He's especially excited to play in Wisconsin, where not all that much has changed. The weather's often too icy or too humid for most. And when you flip on the radio you're still more likely to hear "Tom Sawyer" than "The Bottle Let Me Down". But maybe in the Badger State honkytonks Richards and his grandmother used to frequent, they'll make room in the jukebox for one of their own. Publicity: Commotion PR www.commotionpr.com 615.467.6677 Kay Clary: kay@commotionpr.com Donica Christensen: donica@commotionpr.com |
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| CHRIS RICHARDS GLIDES ACROSS THE COUNTRY TUMBLERS & GRIT DELIVERS ON POTENTIAL...AND THEN SOME Nashville, TN (May 18, 2004)-- With his sweeping, pan-country exploration entitled "Tumblers & Grit", soulful singer/songwriter Chris Richards embraces and expands upon the glittering promise attributed to him in No Depression magazine two years ago. Set for release July 13th on Lake Effect Records (distributed by Emergent/Sony Red), "Tumblers & Grit" merges Richards’ cozy, "favorite shirt" baritone and enviable knack for marrying tune to lyric with a steady-rolling crew of some of Nashville’s most distinctive players. At once rugged, straight-up and well-crafted, Richards’ lyrics run the gamut from jubilant celebrations to closing-time weepers to brutal introspections, but in every case they’re delivered via a warm, soothing vocal instrument that variously recalls a remarkable assemblage of smooth, intimate stylists--most obvious among them Don Williams, Ray Wylie Hubbard and Gordon Lightfoot. By his own admission, Richards’ hometown of Sheboygan, Wisconsin was hardly a hotbed of musical creativity when he was growing up. A stint with a major record label in LA taught him more than he wanted to know about that end of the biz, but it was during that time that he became intrigued by the notion of songwriting as a career path. A book on the subject by revered tale-spinner Tom T. Hall provided guidelines AND the assurance that he was on to something, and, with the aid and encouragement of long-time Dave Alvin sideman Rick Shea, he recorded his debut disc, "Jam The Breeze," in 2001. Despite that project’s limited budget and Richards’ relative inexperience, "Jam The Breeze" caught the respective ears of such shakers-and-movers as Mojo, No Depression and BBC radio. Reviewer Crispin Sartwell (ND #37, Jan/Feb ‘02) cited John Prine and Lucinda Williams as touchstones, writing "Chris Richards’ performance of these ten magnificent songs is not polished, but that is not to say it is not in its own way perfect." Buoyed by the positive attention, Chris relocated to Nashville and applied himself to honing his craft, even as he--with the assistance of family friends in Wisconsin--set up his own independent label, Lake Effect Records. Richards enlisted legendary producer/iconoclast R.S. Field (John Prine, Billy Joe Shaver, Allison Moorer, John Mayall, Buddy Guy, etc.) to produce "Tumblers & Grit", and the two men assembled a suitably eclectic group of studio ‘A-listers.’ The core band features six-string wizard Kenny Vaughan, stringed-thing ace Chris Carmichael, Old Crow Medicine Show fiddler Ketch Secor, keyboardist Steve Conn, a crack rhythm section of bassist Jared Reynolds and Shawn McWilliams, and--in perhaps the biggest coup of all--pedal steel and dobro Hall-of-Famer Lloyd Green. Although "retired" from the music business for more than a decade, Green (whose steel playing has poured liquid fire on recordings by George Jones, Johnny Cash, The Byrds and Paul McCartney) recently got back in the saddle, greasing the rails on Alan Jackson’s "Remember When," which brought Green’s tally of contributions to #1 hits to an astounding 117--and counting. Whether or not number 118 is on "Tumblers & Grit" remains to be seen, but there is no shortage of worthy candidates on the set. Fueled by a driving beat and crisp interplay between Vaughan’s chiming 12-string and Green’s sassy steel, "To Sing The Blues" gets this stylish country roller-coaster ride off to a high-stepping start, and the rest tracks through like a particularly inspired feeding of a classic honky-tonk jukebox. With R.S. & Crew providing a rock-solid foundation, Chris Richards’ deluxe ‘stealth’ vocals guarantee he’ll get inside you but getting these sublime tunes back out of your head is another story. For more information: COMMOTION PR Ph. 615. 467.6677 Kay Clary: kay@commotionpr.com Donica Christensen: donica@commotionpr.com |
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| VIDEO / CMT's New Voices No Cover |
| "Chris Richards may not be a household name in the realms of Americana/smart-country music, but Tumblers & Grit (his sophomore effort after 2001’s Jam The Breeze) is one of the most consistently solid and competent CDs I’ve heard in a long time in terms of production, writing and even singing in what’s been called Richards’ “comfortable-old-shirt tenor.” Yes, he’s got some timeworn topics (love gone bad for a woman, love staying strong for honky-tonk music), but he manages to address them in fresh ways. “To Sing The Blues” says it wasn’t Blind Lemon Jefferson or Willie McTell who taught him the blues; it was a woman who’d only wanted him to play happy songs. The eerie showpiece, “One Foot,” is in the voice of a hungry Civil War soldier who chances to meet a single enemy he bears no ill will. Instantly he must decide whether to shoot or to transcend factions so the two can pass like strangers in the night (“I’d offer you my hand, but I ain’t seen it since Virginia. Your blood is of no use to me. There’s enough of it behind me.”). Producer R.S. Field — whose best includes Shaver’s Tramp On Your Street and Allison Moorer’s Miss Fortune — keeps the backup discreet. A feather in both Field’s and Richards’ caps is legendary steel guitarist Lloyd Green ebulliently emerging from retirement after a career of backing Johnny Cash, George Jones and even, on Sweetheart Of The Rodeo, The Byrds. Actually, Tumblers & Grit calls to mind Sweetheart’s masterful wedding of country and rock. Here’s a disc that sneaks up behind you and holds your attention for repeated listenings." Bruce Sylvester, Goldmine Magazine |
| "No alt-country artiste, Sheboygan-bred Chris Richards evokes a time in the early '70s when both Nashville and L.A. were producing a wealth of individualistic singer/songwriters... In a better world, Richards' talent for pouring himself into a lyric would be all that was necessary for a brilliant, nationally recognized career." Tom Laskin, Isthmus read full review |
| "Richards isn't one of those hip, alt-country firebrands; his top-flight original songs find new juice in standard country themes... and this sounds less like a "Honkytonk Graveyard" - to borrow a song title - and more like honky-tonk heaven. A vital contribution to the genre." Nick Cristiano, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER read full review |
| "Songs from Sheboygan: Not only do they make bathtubs and sausage in Sheboygan, but the city can now proudly claim fine singer-songwriters as one of its exports. Chris Richards has been turning heads in Nashville with his warm, rugged alternative country, anchored by a warm baritone that reminds a lot of people of Gordon Lightfoot's voice. Madison.com read full review |
| "Richards mixes cheerful-sounding jangle rock with rock-bottom honky tonk authenticity...fine country rock collection." Bob Strauss, LA Daily News read full review |
| "If the Country Music Association ever creates an award for the Best Album Written in a Crack House, put your money on Chris Richards' "Tumblers & Grit." TJ Simon, Country Standard Time read full review |
| "Sheboygan, Wis., native Chris Richards makes his home in Nashville nowadays and recorded this album in a Music Row studio, but there's nothing here that will put him on the right side of the tracks in Music City." Greg Crawford, Detroit Free Press read full review |
| "Hard-hitting country-folk with a heart and vibrant emotion, tremendous Americana with a powerful bite. Chris Richards is a true voice and a phenomenal songwriter, with as awesome backup band. This guy is the real stuff." Kathy Coleman, CountryMusic.About.com read full review |
| He really wasn't asking all that much."I had real simple goals with this," Chris Richards says of his new independent release, Tumblers & Grit. "I just wanted to make the best country-based record that a kid from Wisconsin could possibly make." Lucas Hendrickson, The Tennessean read full review |
| "Songs about working-class roots, first-person civil-war narratives, and country music's glory days provide only a few examples of how the South has taken hold of this Wisconsin native's writing. Richards has assimilated the elements that once made Nashville the center of American music, and is doing his part to help Music City regain its former relevance." Eli Messinger, East Bay Express read full review |
| "Not exactly 100 percent traditional country but way better than New Country, Chris Richards unleashes a series of songs that poise him to walk beside (or very closely behind) songwriting legends such as Lyle Lovett and Guy Clark." Jedd Beaudoin, F5 Wichita Weekly read full review |
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