American four-piece rock and alternative country band, based in Portland, Oregon, U.S.
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
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
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]
