Fritz Richmond
| Fritz Richmond | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | John B. Richmond |
| Born |
July 10, 1939 Newton, Massachusetts, United States |
| Died | November 20, 2005 (aged 66) Portland, Oregon, United States |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, recording engineer |
| Instruments | Washtub bass, jug |
John B. "Fritz" Richmond (July 10, 1939 – November 20, 2005) was an American musician and recording engineer. Richmond was considered the foremost washtub bassist in the world, and was also the most successful professional jug player.
Richmond, born in Newton, Massachusetts on July 10, 1939, was a founding member of The Hoppers, a school-chum jug band that played the coffeehouse circuit in the Boston area. Jug band music featured homemade or folk-style instruments such as the washboard (used for percussion), a large earthenware jug used as a wind instrument, and a single-string upright bass fashioned from a broomstick or similar handle, using a steel washtub as a resonator, with the player moving the handle in order to vary the tension on the string and thus vary the pitch of the note created by plucking. This type of music, in England, became known as skiffle music and was played by groups who could not afford electric instruments, such as The Quarrymen, a Liverpool skiffle group that evolved into The Beatles.
After a stint in the Army and then a gig with The Charles River Valley Boys, Richmond was a founding member and a longtime jug and washtub player in the extremely influential Jim Kweskin Jug Band in the 1960s.
Following the breakup of the Kweskin band, Richmond moved to the West coast and became an in-demand accompanist as American rock began to embrace folk and country roots. During his life, Richmond was routinely given accolades such as "[t]he world's best living jug player","[t]he undisputed king and reigning world champion of the jug and washtub bass", and "the world’s greatest living jug and washtub bass player". Richmond’s washtub and jug stylings provided old-time music flavor on recordings for a large network of artists that included Jackson Browne ("Walking Slow"), Loudon Wainwright III, Maria Muldaur, Geoff Muldaur, Tom Rush, Ry Cooder, Norman Greenbaum, and The Grateful Dead.
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