A little about me...

Much of my life has revolved around music. From early childhood, my favorite toys were those that I could use to play a tune. I had toy pianos, organs, xylophones, hand bells, penny whistles, kazoos, ukuleles... you name it, I probably had one. I got my first guitar at age 8, and guitar has been my main instrument ever since. When I got in trouble as a teenager, my parents never grounded me. They would just forbid me to play my guitar for a while — and I would pull out my childhood toys and keep making music.

Some years ago, a girlfriend told me she had been warned about me. “Watch out for Rick,” she had been told; “he puts himself first, his music second, and everybody else a distant third.” That, I reassured her, was poppycock. I was second; the music came first!

I played solo and in bands around my native Louisville until moving to Richmond in 1985. I set the guitar aside for a while, and sang with several a cappella groups; but I've picked it up again, and had begun playing as a solo until the COVID-19 pandemic shut everything down. Now I'm ready to get in front of live audiences again. I also perform regularly in the virtual world Second Life under my online persona Monty Peccable.

Music will always be a huge part of who I am; it's a lifelong obsession, and I expect I'll keep making music in one way or another as long as I live. I love playing and singing for people, and I hope my audiences enjoy listening as much as I enjoy making music.