Big Richard

• Americana
• Bluegrass

The world-class musicians in Big Richard initially convened in 2021 for a festival date. The quartet showed up to the one-off like it had been together for years, bursting with jaw-dropping virtuosity; playfully irreverent stage banter; stunning four-part harmony vocal interlace; imaginative arrangements; a refreshingly eclectic repertoire; and a healthy dose of lady rage.

Quickly things for the Colorado-based, neo-acoustic supergroup morphed into something way bigger than a one-and-done appearance. The sellout club shows, and the confirmed festival dates across America drastically changed its members’ lives. Now, Big Richard is poised to penetrate the Americana music world and beyond. To date, the quartet has issued 3 singles, the Live from Telluride album, and it has new music on the way.

Big Richard siphons from traditional bluegrass, oldtime, classical, modern bluegrass, country, and pop. The four-piece band masterfully mash up genres, often using traditional fiddle tune pieces as instrumental flights of fancy between its storyteller original songs. The group also refreshingly reinvents beloved traditional tunes.

The four musicians have previously played together in various configurations, but united to rage fiddle tunes and smash the patriarchy in Big Richard. The band is platinum recording artist Bonnie Sims on mandolin (Bonnie & Taylor Sims, Everybody Loves an Outlaw, Bonnie and the Clydes), multi-genre musician Dr. Joy Adams on cello (Nathaniel Rateliff, Darol Anger, Half Pelican, Bruce Hornsby, Bobby McFerrin, Chick Corea, Ben Folds), Hazel Royer on bass and guitar, and Eve Panning on fiddle (Lonesome Days, TEDx, Barrage, Hollywood Film Score Orchestra).