Charlie Richards

I was born and raised in New York.  My parents were folk singers and my first “gig” was singing with them--I was about 5.  There was school band, school choir, religious choir, then guitar, then a lot of guitar. I moved to Louisiana in the early nineties and played blues with some of the most soulful and talented (Tabby Thomas, Henry Gray, Chris Thomas King).  In the mid-nineties I moved to Austin and started working with singer/songwriters.  I have played and recorded guitar and lap steel with a very diverse list of artists including James McMurtry, Beth Garner, Wendy Colonna, Cheryl Bliss, Cameron McGill, Tucker Livingston, and Craig Marshall.

 In the last couple of years I have performed on Austin City Limits with James McMurtry, playing on his 2006 Americana Music Awards song of the year “We Can’t Make It Here Anymore”.  I have also recorded with McMurtry for a record to be out in late 2007. I have recorded with Beth Garner and toured England twice with her. I have done many sessions and many more gigs.  My playing has appeared on prime time television (ABC’s “Men In Trees”), national and international radio (Bloomberg Network), major motion (“Moving McCallister” due out early ‘08) and indie films.

My musical interests have never strayed from my folk roots.  The artists I consider “influences” and the music I love to make and listen to, has always been about real people talking about real life.