BIO
Rick Reynolds has entertained “millions of ears” over the course of career in the music business as a guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer. From his first single released in 1983 which garnered heavy airplay on college radio to his most current release “Sneeze” Rick has developed several outlets for his musical output.
Coming from a musical family is more than a catch phrase for Rick, it’s been a way of life. In the 1890’s his great grandfather started a piano and organ building business in a small carriage factory in Indiana which grew to become the Butler Music Company.
From an early age Rick began “sounding-out” songs and playing by ear on the family piano. When he saw the Beatles for the first time he was hooked. This was the era of manufactured pop bands like the Monkeys and The Partridge Family, an era when you could cut out a “single” from a box of Post cereal.
As a 15 year old his brother Rusty (an accomplished guitarist) taught Rick how to play rhythm guitar so he could play behind his solos. Within a few weeks, Rick started his own band as a guitarist and began performing in Tampa area bars and quickly gained a reputation for being a guitar guru with a wacky and original solo style (kind of like Thelonious Monk meets Jimmy Hendrix).
At 16 while staying at a hotel in Lakeland, Florida, Rick happened to meet Patrick Simmons of the Doobie Brothers who was also staying there. Patrick invited Rick into his room to play some of his original songs for the Doobie Brother. This chance meeting and openness inspired him to pursue a career in music.
In 1983 he moved to Pittsburgh, formed a band called Portable People with his musical partner Phil Platten and released his first single “Passion Beat” which gained heavy rotation on college radio stations throughout the eastern United States.
In 1984 Rick and Portable People released two more singles which received regional airplay as well.
In 1985 Rick relocated to Philadelphia to incorporate the now famous Philly-Sound. While there, he released two more records which also received regional airplay and formed the band Rick Reynolds’ Mistaken Identity. During his recording process, sessions were held at Studio 4 alongside artists such as the Hooters and Schooly D.
In 1990 Rick moved back to Pittsburgh and formed the power trio The Doghouse Swing with brothers Rick and Bill Reiger. With this band Rick recorded and produced over 60 songs.
It was at this time that Rick developed a concept for a television show called the Doghouse Swing, which was a weekly sitcom based on the band. The real key behind the show was that it gave him a chance to feature three or four new songs on each episode (i.e. The Monkeys).
Rick co-wrote, filmed, edited and acted in each show as well as using local actors.
In 1995 Rick relocated to the Fort Walton Beach, Florida area where he started two bands, Long Neck Jimmy (named after his guitar a 1976 Stratocaster) and Lucky Henry. As power-trios, both bands quickly earned the reputation for being the band to see, as they would play anything from a hard-driving rock song with a 16 bar break of the Flintstones theme in the middle to a knockout blues – funk version of Chim Chim Cherie from Mary Poppins.
In addition to his loyal fans who could always be found at the shows, many local musicians would also attend after their own performances just to hear and see what crazy thing Rick and his guys were playing.
At one such show George Clinton of Parliament Funkadelic fame wandered in and asked if he could sit in. George stayed for the entire set and a friendship was born.
The following week Rick received a call from George’s road manager asking if the band would like to become the P-Funk All-stars and do a series of shows in that capacity. These performances were exciting, standing-room-only shows.
In late 2003, Rick began a dialog with Kasim Sulton (renowned bassist for Todd Rundgren’s Utopia, Hall & Oates, Meat Loaf, Joan Jett, Patty Smith, Celine Dion, etc.) to see if he would be interested in producing and playing on his new record called “Unstoppable”.
In August of 2004 production began on the 14- song release with Kasim commuting from New York to Rick’s studio in Florida. After delays caused by damage to the studio by Hurricane Ivan and tour commitments, the record was finally mixed in May of 2005.
2006 was a busy year as Rick followed up Unstoppable with a two CD set titled “Evidence” that featured rare songs and demos from the 90’s.
Meanwhile, “Unstoppable” received airplay worldwide and was very well received in Japan. In 2006 Rick took the band (Donnie Morgan (drums) and Jim Laberge (bass) on a tour of Japan and recorded the album “Sounding Rick – Live in Japan” over a period of two weeks in venues throughout the country.
In 2007 Rick released an acoustic album entitled “Living in the Acoustic Projects” which featured background vocals by top ten soul artist (and Queen of the rare groove), Gwen McRae and her daughters on several songs.
2008 saw the release of “Color Theory” by the Rick Reynolds Group…an 11-song album of instrumental jazz/rock fusion.
With eager audiences awaiting, Rick went back on tour in Japan for 10 days of shows with Michael Cusimano on drums and Tommy Two Tone member Jimmy James on bass.
In 2009 Rick released the funky pop album “Blabbermouth” which featured the addition of horn arrangements by Michael Glen and more of Gwen McRae. In addition, Kasim Sulton was back to share the bass.
“Dinosaur Bones” was the next project Rick released in 2010 which again featured the dynamic horn section of Michael Glen, Rodney Brown and friends. During this time the 11-piece band performed on a PBS special Studio Amped.
In 2012 Rick released another album with Lucky Henry, “Release the Hounds”. Within seven months Rick released the 15-song album Sounding Rick “Never Be Famous”.
“Verb” the Rick Reynolds Group follow up to Color Theory was released in 2013.
“Poppy Wisdom” a 17 track tour de force of songwriting was released in 2015. It featured Greg Roth and Kasim Sulton on bass, Bomani Holcomb on drums, Burt Kimberl on keys and Michael Glen on horns.
During the pandemic Rick retreated to the studio and began work on a new album. Unlike in the past, when scores of musicians were available to come in for recording sessions, this was different. Some tracks had to be recorded virtually and all instruments except the drums and bass were played by Rick.
In late 2021 Rick release Sounding Rick “Sneeze”.