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Richmond Fontaine

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Richmond Fontaine
Background information
OriginPortland, Oregon, U.S.
GenresRock, Alternative country, punk rock (first three albums)
Years active1994–2016
LabelsCavity Search, Decor Records, Fluff And Gravy Records
Past membersWilly Vlautin
Freddy Trujillo
Sean Oldham
Dan Eccles
Dave Harding
Paul Brainard
Joe Davis
Stuart Gaston
Matt Gilley

Richmond Fontaine was an American four-piece rock and alternative country band, based in Portland, Oregon. They were active between 1994 and 2016 and recorded eleven studio albums, four live albums and two EPs.

Underpinned by lead singer and songwriter Willy Vlautin's lyrics, Richmond Fontaine songs often evoke imagery of Reno, Nevada, Portland, the Western United States, and Mexico, while telling stories in a style that critics have compared to Raymond Carver.[1][2][3] The group has cited influences such as Gram Parsons, X,[4] Green on Red[5] and Dave Alvin.[6]

History

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Formed in 1994, Richmond Fontaine started touring the Pacific Northwest live circuit to support their first three albums released on Cavity Search Records. Gradually gaining attention in the UK and Europe the band began regularly touring there. Most of the core musicians and producer J. D. Foster have worked together for a decade, and produced several albums. The band is named after an American expat, "a burned out hippy", who helped bassist Dave Harding when his car was stuck in the desert in the Baja California Peninsula.[7]

Richmond Fontaine first gained exposure outside the United States through a song that was included on a Vinyl Junkie Records 'Loose' compilation[4] released in the UK. This was followed by the band's self-released fourth album, Winnemucca. The band signed with Decor Records in Europe during 2003 with their next two releases proving pivotal to the band's success. Both were made "Albums of the Month" in influential magazine, Uncut, which named both their fifth album Post to Wire (2004) and sixth The Fitzgerald (2005) "masterpieces".[8][9] U.S. critics have been generally complimentary but have also cited the band's musical similarity to Uncle Tupelo.[10][11]

The band's 2007 album, Thirteen Cities, received positive reviews across Europe.[9] This was followed by We Used to Think the Freeway Sounded Like a River in August 2009,[12] The High Country in September 2011 and You Can't Go Back If There's Nothing To Go Back To in March 2016.

Other projects

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Lead singer and songwriter Vlautin is also a novelist, with five books published since his debut, The Motel Life, in 2006. He formed new group The Delines, along with fellow Richmond Fontaine members Freddy Trujillo and Sean Oldham, in 2014.[13]

Members

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Selected discography

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Studio albums

  • Safety (1996)
  • Miles From (1997)
  • Lost Son (1999)
  • Winnemucca (2002)
  • Post to Wire (2003)
  • The Fitzgerald (2005)
  • Obliteration by Time (2006)
  • Thirteen Cities (2007)
  • We Used to Think the Freeway Sounded Like a River (2009)
  • The High Country (2011) (UK Albums Chart peak: No. 115)[14]
  • You Can't Go Back If There's Nothing To Go Back To (2016) (UK Albums Chart peak: No. 65) (UK Country Chart peak: No.1)
  • Don't Skip Out On Me (2018) - Instrumental soundtrack to the Willy Vlautin book of the same name. (2018)

References

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  1. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2006-10-25. Retrieved 2006-12-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2006-10-25. Retrieved 2006-12-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ^ allmusic ((( Miles From > Overview )))
  4. ^ a b "Interview: Richmond Fontaine (Willy Vlautin) by Stav Sherez". Cwas.hinah.com.
  5. ^ "Inkblotmagazine Resources and Information". 1.inkblotmagazine.com.
  6. ^ "[[Willy Vlautin]] interview on the official website of writer, Laura Hird". Archived from the original on 2007-10-07. Retrieved 2006-12-10.
  7. ^ Vlautin, Willy (2008). "PS". Northline. Harper Perennial. pp. 4. ISBN 978-0-06-145652-7.
  8. ^ "Richmond Fontaine". Uncut.co.uk.
  9. ^ a b "Richmond Fontaine - Thirteen Cities - Review Zwebsite=Uncut.co.uk". Archived from the original on December 19, 2007.
  10. ^ Kasten, Roy. "Richmond Fontaine". Riverfront Times.
  11. ^ "Richmond Fontaine: Lost Son: Pitchfork Record Review". Archived from the original on 2008-05-26. Retrieved 2007-11-19.
  12. ^ "Richmond Fontaine announce new album and tour | NME.COM". NME. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
  13. ^ "Richmond Fontaine: 'We're ending the band while we all still like each other'". The Independent. 2016-10-19. Retrieved 2020-11-25.
  14. ^ "Chart statistics" (TXT). Zobbel.de. Retrieved 2020-04-03.
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