Richard Stevens

Birthdate: March 5, 1971
Birthplace: Birmingham, Alabama
Current Residence: Jonesboro, Arkansas

I started beginning band in the ninth grade because of multiple moves and the need to make my schedule endurable. The trombone was definitely one of the more feared musical weapons in brass class and I took a liking to it. I stuck with the trombone in high school and endured the travails of that pseudo-military organization known as marching band. I had to learn fast in order to save face in front of the other students, some of whom were in the seventh year of playing while I was in the second. The director was a brilliant yet irascible man whom I did not wish to anger so I learned music theory to cover my ass.

My curiosity for all instruments grew as I learned more by observing, listening, and reading about them. I started playing flute, cornet, piano, bass, and guitar and tried to relate them to one another so I could find a wide range of timbres with which to play.

I went into college with the hope of becoming a music director but became discouraged with the program and dropped out never wanting to be a music student again, but vowing to always be a student of music. My use of wind instruments virtually ceased until I befriended a coworker while driving school busses. Al Vick is a guitarist songwriter hippie from Rhode Island who brought me back out of my musical shell by allowing me to play mandolin, flute, flageolets, and guitars with him in a folk-oriented duet.

He and I played at restaurants, coffee shops, bars, and an art gallery in Fayetteville to many patrons who enjoyed it enough to say nice things and not flagellate us. I had to move back to Jonesboro because of financial difficulties and I sorely missed playing live music until I happened upon Larry and the gang in the last four months of Blues Alley.

I stuck around and I am grooving on the learning experience. I get the honor of playing bass and occasional flute in Aaron Love and his TV Band, and the opportunity to play in the horn section with the Hungarians. Playing the blues is my best defense against depression. I am also writing songs with my 12 string acoustic and piano bagatelles whenever I have access to a keyboard. There is much opportunity upcoming for the group, especially for originals. You'll be hearing from us for a while to come.