Richmond Fontaine is a four-piece alternative country band based in Portland, Oregon. Like Franz Ferdinand or Jethro Tull, the band is named after a real person but like Leonard Skinnerd their namesake was not famous prior to being adopted by the band.

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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. They have mostly kept the same core musicians and worked with producer JD Foster on several albums. Their name was taken from an American expat, "a burned out hippy" that had helped bassist Dave Harding when his car was stuck in the desert in Baja Mexico ^[1].

Richmond Fontaine first gained exposure outside the USA through a song that was included on a Vinyl Junkie Records 'Loose' compilation ^[2] released in the UK. This was supported 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". ^{[3] [4]} U.S. critics have been generally complimentary but have also cited the band's musical similarity to Uncle Tupelo. ^{[5] [6]} Like many bands in their genre past and present such as Willard Grant Conspiracy, The Gun Club, and Green on Red, Richmond Fontaine are more popular abroad than in their own country. ^[7]

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. ^{[8] [9] [10]} Musically the group has cited influences such as Gram Parsons, X, Green on Red ^[11] and Dave Alvin. ^[12]

Vlautin is also a published writer. His first novel, The Motel Life was published in 2006, which was followed up by a second novel, Northline , in 2008. Northline included a soundtrack CD by Williy Vlautin and Paul Brainard. The novel was well-reviewed by George Pelecanos. Vlautin has also had stories published in literary journals such as Zembla , Cold Drill , Southeast Review , and Chiron Review .

The band's last album, Thirteen Cities , received positive reviews across Europe.

On August 17th, 2009 the band will release their eight studio album 'We Used To Think The Freeway Sounded Like A River'.

Current band line-up

• Willy Vlautin: vocals, Acoustic & Electric Guitars
• Dave Harding: Bass guitar, Electric Guitars, Vocals
• Sean Oldham: drums, percussion, Vibes, vocals
• Dan Eccles: Guitar
• Paul Brainard: Pedal Steel, Piano, Vibes, Acoustic Guitar, vocals

Discography

• Safety (1996)
• Miles From (1997)
• Lost Son (1999)
• Winnemucca (2002)
• Post to Wire (2004)
• The Fitzgerald (2005)
• Obliteration by Time (2006)
• Thirteen Cities (2007)
• We Used To Think The Freeway Sounded Like A River (2009)

References

1. Northline
2. Interview: Richmond Fontaine (Willy Vlautin) by Stav Sherez
3. Richmond Fontaine - Uncut.co.uk
4. Richmond Fontaine - Thirteen Cities - Review - Uncut.co.uk
5. St. Louis - Music - Richmond Fontaine
6. Richmond Fontaine: Lost Son: Pitchfork Record Review
7. Richmond Fontaine
8. http://www.richmondfontaine.com/discography/lyrics/index.php?cd_id=1
9. http://www.richmondfontaine.com/discography/lyrics/index.php?cd_id=5
10. allmusic ((( Miles From > Overview )))
11. Richmond Fontaine: Lost Son -Ink Blot Magazine
12. Willy Vlautin interview on the official website of writer, Laura Hird