Slim Richey
| Slim Richey | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | David Michael Richey |
| Also known as | Slim Richey |
| Born |
February 11, 1938 Atlanta, Texas, USA |
| Died | May 31, 2015 (aged 77) Austin, Texas |
| Genres | Western swing |
| Occupation(s) | musician, bandleader, record label owner |
| Instruments | guitar, fiddle |
| Years active | 1960–2015 |
| Labels | Ridge Runner, Tex-Grass |
| Associated acts |
Kat Edmonson Jazz Pharoahs Jitterbug Vipers |
David Michael Richey (February 11, 1938 – May 31, 2015), better known as Slim Richey, was an American jazz guitarist, fiddle player, bandleader, and publisher who was known for his long white beard and eclectic guitar style that crossed genres from jazz to swing to country. Slim's self-proclaimed moniker, "The most dangerous guitar player in Texas" was displayed on the The Paramount Theatre Marquee in Austin, Texas, on June 1, 2015, in remembrance to his contribution to Texas music.
Richey was born in Atlanta, Texas, and became a jazz enthusiast at an early age, starting a swing band in high school. He went to college at the University of Oklahoma, studying with Benny Garcia and taking up the style of jazz guitar playing epitomized by Hank Garland and Barney Kessel, and Wes Montgomery.
In the 1970s and ’80s, Richey ran Warehouse Music, a mail order company that offered a full range of musical instruments and equipment, acting in many cases as a distributor for factory-licensed dealers in Fender, Gibson, and other brands, and selling them at a generous discount. Eventually pressure from manufacturers resulted in the elimination of a number of these brands. The company also sold a number of folk instruments under Richey's own Ridge Runner brand and marketed instructional materials for students of bluegrass music.
The company also developed one of the very first commercially-produced variable speed tape machines designed to assist in transcribing recorded music. These were quite costly at the time, and lacked the precision that is available now with inexpensive software, but were well received by transcriptionists at the time.
Richey also ran a number of record labels, most memorable being Ridge Runner Records. Specializing primarily in acoustic music from Texas and Oklahoma, the label produced some groundbreaking projects which are still cherished and studied today. Among those were early records from Sam Bush and Alan Munde (solo and as a team), Country Gazette, Roland White, Buck White, Marty Stuart, Joe Carr, Bill Lister, and others.
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