Multi-talented Willy Vlautin for Festival concert and reading

Date Published: {J}

Mining a rich seam in Americana, Richmond Fontaine play an acoustic show in Róisín Dubh on Tuesday next, July 19 as part of this year’s Galway Arts Festival. Earlier that day, their lead singer and novelist Willy Vlautin will be reading in the Hotel Meyrick alongside Roddy Doyle.

Willy Vlautin’s third novel – the superb Lean On Pete – starts in Portland Meadows, the racetrack where Willy met bassist Dave Harding in 1994, and the seeds for Richmond Fontaine were sown.

“It’s easy to meet people ‘cos no one’s out there!” says Willy.

“Generally speaking, even now I’m one of the youngest guys that goes there. So you can tell if a guy’s in a band usually! We had the same kind of taste in music and we’ve been pals ever since.”

The line-up was completed by guitarist Dan Eccles (who joins Willy for this show), drummer Sean Oldham and steel-guitarist Paul Brainard. The band were gigging within six months of forming, but they needed a name.

“It was just so spur of the moment,” recalls Willy. “We needed a band name and I was obsessed with cars and I kept wanting to name it after a car, and the guys just thought I was nuts. So they came up with that name and it stuck. You never think a band’s going to stay together that long; you’re just trying to come up with a name so you can play a gig!”

The band released three albums in the nineties, but really turned heads with 2002’s Winnemuca. Subsequent albums gained further acclaim, with Vlautin’s narrative approach impressing critics. Richmond Fontaine will release their tenth studio album, The High Country, in September.

“I’m really excited about it,” Willy says. “It’s a very wild record and it features this woman who sang on a song of ours called Post To Wire. Her name’s Deborah Kelly and she sings four songs on the new record. She’s my favourite singer and I really feel fortunate that she sang on the record.”

Willy Vlautin’s flair for storytelling is realised on The High Country, an album that focuses on the same characters throughout.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.