Richmond Fontaine

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The beautifully named Richmond Fontaine has recently produced some of the most striking music to emerge from the oft-maligned alt country genre. The band was formed in 1994 by singer-songwriter Willy Vlautin (b. Reno, Nevada, USA; vocals/guitar), shortly after he relocated from his native Reno to Portland, Oregon. He teamed up with Dave Harding (bass) and Stuart Gaston (drums) and began playing local bars and clubs, with the trio’s music drawing inspiration from their love of US punk and roots rock. Richmond Fontaine made their recording debut in 1996, releasing Safety on the local Cravedog label (the album was subsequently re-released by the larger Cavity Search imprint). While the music did not stray too far from standard alt country territory (Vlautin’s vocals were also a dead ringer for Jay Farrar of the genre’s standard bearers Uncle Tupelo), the quality of Vlautin’s lyrics served immediate notice of a new songwriting talent. His powerful and evocative narratives of small-town losers and loners paid testament to Vlautin’s literary pedigree (he is the author of several published short stories and novels), and in subsequent interviews the songwriter would also allude to a past spent on the margins of society.

Richmond Fontaine’s follow-up, Miles From, was issued in 1997. The quality of Vlautin’s songwriting was again evident and was allied to a much-improved musical performance, with guest pedal steel player Paul Brainard adding a new layer to the band’s sound. Brainard was made a full-time member shortly afterwards, and further personnel changes ensued when Sean Oldham replaced Gaston for the recording of 1999’s Lost Son. The troubled narratives of tracks such as “Cascade”, “Pinkerton” and “A Girl In A House In Felony Flats’ did little to elevate the music’s sombre tone. The live EP Whiskey, Painkillers & Speed preceded 2002″s Winnemucca, which introduced a more experimental edge into several tracks and lightened the tone of the previous album. Vlautin’s songwriting hit a new peak on Richmond Fontaine’s fifth album, Post To Wire. Released in 2004, the lyrics of tracks such as “Through” and “Montgomery Park” read like Raymond Carver stories brought to life in the studio. The album finally gained Richmond Fontaine the extensive press coverage their work richly deserved.