Richard Thorne

"Buddy Holly might have sounded something like this if he had migrated to the Village scene in the latter 1960s, as folk music was transforming into folk-rock - in other words into an intelligent, inner-directed, generally acoustic pop". This is how one insightful critic described Richard Thorne and his music when reviewing his CD, "Amalgam" in 2004. Inevitably , the word "quirky" pops up whenever anyone attempts to describe his music, whether it is in the chord progressions, the constantly changing time signatures within a song, in the melodies and lyrics or in his voice. He has always taken a somewhat atypical approach to song writing while still being mindful and influenced by the " masters " of the art of song writing.
Richard was born and raised in Central Upstate NY , and In his younger years, had the good fortune to grow up in a musical household where he was exposed to just about every style of music possible, from classical to jazz, to folk, country, pop, rock and musical theater. Thus, he has a great appreciation for all styles and genres of music and his influences are equally as broad and inclusive . This is reflected in his song writing. So that at times, hints of anything from 60's pop to bluegrass and traditional country, to even Tin Pan Alley and musical theater, can be heard in his compositions.
He has been playing music since the age of 6 when he began with the obligatory piano lessons, Then, at age 10, he eagerly started playing the drums, and later at 18, he picked up his first guitar in order to take a tentative stab at song writing.
He moved at a young age to New York City, where he has been a long time resident, to pursue a career in both theater and dance, which included studying acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse, a brief scholarship at the New York School of Ballet, numerous performances in both fields and even a stab at choreography. But in the late 70's, he returned to music playing the drums for several "New Wave" bands. In 1980, he stepped out front as a guitar strumming singer songwriter, accompanied by a saxophonist and a bongo player to make his debut at a Greenwich Village folk club, playing very nontraditional folk songs ,baffling the owner of the club. He soon added an electric violin and bass to the mix, named the group Richard Thorne and The Side Effects and preceded to write and play his quirky acoustic folk pop songs at various venues in the city. He continued to tinker with his sound, constantly changing the personnel and instrumentation, including forming a somewhat standard rock band with whom he released in 1981, a 45 RPM, single Junkie For Your Love. One of his more successful and entertaining projects, was his somewhat theatrical "Richard Thornes Summer Party"  show in which he fronted an eight member female band singing songs both celebrating and bemoaning the summer experience in an urban environment. Then in 1993, except for one impromptu performance at a hotel bar in Jalapa, Mexico, he put away his guitar and took a very long sabbatical from both performing and writing. But as the new century approached, he once again picked up his guitar to write and record his first CD, Undercover Overachiever, in 2000. After that EP, which one critic described as " experimental folk " he started to lean toward a more americana, country folk sound incorporating at times the upright bass, banjo, mandolin, fiddle and the pedal steel into his sound . But there was always still that "quirky" element. In addition to Amalgam,  and the EP, One Plus Six, which  he released in 2007 he  released his latest  13 songs CD, "Coming From The End" in 2012.   He is a long time member of ASCAP , and multi recipient of their ASCAP PLUS Awards and a member of the Folk Alliance .