Richard Buckner (musician)

Richard Buckner
Buckner in Austin, 2006
Background information
Born	California, United States
Genres	Alt-Country
Labels	Rykodisc Records Slow River Records Merge Records
Website	www.richardbuckner.com

Richard Buckner is an American singer-songwriter born in California, United States. After living in Edmonton, Alberta for a number of years, he currently resides in Brooklyn, New York. A critically acclaimed artist hailed by Justin Vernon of Bon Iver as a big influence and most often associated with the alternative country movement, Buckner had in recent albums eschewed his initial acoustic approach and displayed an increasing interest in more abstract music styles until reintegrating his acoustic approach on 2011's "Our Blood".

Buckner's career began with Bloomed (1994), a lyrically-dense suite of songs recorded in Lubbock, Texas (produced by Lloyd Maines) and heavily influenced by that state's tradition of whiskey-soaked poet/troubadors. In January 1996, while living in San Francisco, he recorded an album's worth of acoustic songs, all of which reappeared in more fully realized forms on his second and third albums. This CD was self-produced and self-released, and was sold exclusively at his early shows.

Later that year, he signed with MCA Records, for whom he recorded two albums, both produced by J.D. Foster. Devotion + Doubt was released in 1997, displaying a more adventurous, almost avant-garde approach to songwriting and arranging, and featuring backing from members of the band Giant Sand, as well as Maines and Marc Ribot, among others. Its follow-up, 1998's Since, continues in this style, with an even greater emphasis on detailed production, this time featuring contributions from John McEntire, Dave Schramm, David Grubbs, Syd Straw, and others. Although these albums garnered considerable critical approval for Buckner, they did not perform well enough for his label, and he was released from his contract with MCA (whom he then nicknamed 'Musical Career Assassins') shortly thereafter.