A Tribute to Richie Havens!

These pages are a tribute to the music of.....

Richie Havens !!!
( and don't miss those rings! )

                    I first heard Richie Havens [Richie who???] on a Woodstock Tape that I bought.

... and no, it wasn't the one with "Freedom" on it.

It had this marvellous song called "I can't make it anymore"  (a Gordon Lightfoot song).

Clearly the song stood out.  It was something fantastic,  nothing like what I'd heard before......

with this unique strumming style and soulful voice...

God knows how many times I  must have listened to that song after that.

It was truely remarkable.

Later on this classic concert series on the tele, (the Bob Dylan Anniversary Concert),

I saw him again, doing "Just like a Woman" (Bob Dylan song) ....and man  I tell you,

 it was out of this world!  unique...absolutely!

Anyway,

One thing that struck me most was the way he played his guitar....very strange indeed.

He actually barred with his thumb! (I can tell you its crazy, try doing this. Its almost

impossible unless you've got a 9 inch thumb!!!).

I'm sure Richie's a man with HUGE hands :O).

Not only that, halfway down the song, he goes into these super fast strumming sequences

(almost percussive)........it kills!

Since then, I've finally got a hold on "RESUME" - a collection of his hits.

This is a great buy, believe me. (If you haven't listened to any of his stuff, i guess this would

be the perfect place to start).

Richie's covered some beatles stuff here.

Now, I'm a really big fan of the Beatles and these songs  just show how uniquely Richie

interprets their material.

Ex: Take the song 'Rocky Racoon'. The original is a great song , lots of melody et al.

 Now the Havens version. He just puts up the tempo. I mean the way it picks up, right from

the intro to when the bass kicks in and those amazing tongas , the sheer energy of it all......

blows you....totally!

The album also highlights the superior guitar work of Paul Williams, who does some really

groovy "fill ins" (most notably on Minstrel from Gault---another terrific no).

That fast paced fill-in guitar work blends splendidly with Havens percussive strumming,

the output of which is a unique sound.....

Enough said. Now get the album and give it a listen.

Remember its Folk -with a difference.

Here's a shot of Richie in action which I stole off an other site!

Guitar Information Page:

Info on Richie's guitar, tunings , and chords to his songs. Go on to this page.

New! - Interview with Richie at Guitar.com

Misc articles:

NOTE: All "external" links will open in the same new window.

Surfing around recently, I came across these articles. Take a look -

2) September 24, 1971 issue of LIFE magazine featuring Havens.

3) Hobokenfest article on Richie.

4) Richie's new book "They can't hide us anymore" - read a chat transcript at Barnes and Nobles.com!

5) About.com's section on Richie and some nice pics too!

6) New! An article on Richie's book at CNN - includes mp3s! Be sure to check out his wonderful performance of "Just like a Woman".

7) An article/interview of Richie at Creative-Outpost.

8) Assorted pics of Richie:
Pic1 Pic2 Pic3 (This one features his amazing sideman Paul Williams!)

Audio links:

Radio Woodstock - Check out real audio interviews of Richie!

Web Pages:

Karen's Web Page - Karen's put up great pics of Richie in action!

Brian Mathieson's Richie Havens Pages - Brian's put up a great site. This was the first one and its pretty comprehensive too!!

New!The Unofficial Richie Havens Website - Timi's put up a great site - Lots of pictures and album covers + more!!

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