Village Squire, 1980-05, Page 10MUSIC
Richard Knechtel
BY ALICE GIBB
Richard Knechtel is a man who's returned to his roots. The
28 -year old songwriter, who grew up in Hanover, and tried a
stint as a rock n' roll musician in the city, decided he preferred
both the country and the country sound to urban life. Now
Richard and his wife Janet, a weaver, live in an old stone
farmhouse outside Walkerton. Richard has discovered "there's a
whole pocket of work here" where audiences enjoy the
comfortable style of music he composes and performs.
The singer -songwriter, who learned from experience "you
lose a lot of energy when you're on the road," is becoming a
familiar name, both on the stage of 'Pickin' In The Pines, the
bluegrass festival held in Formosa each summer, at the
Summerfolk Festival in Owen Sound and in area lounges like the
Blyth Inn and Talisman Ski Resort in the Beaver Valley.
Richard's involvement with music stems from his high school
days in Hanover when he played with everything from a
jugband to rock n'roll groups. After graduation, he applied to
different universities, but "kept backing out at the last minute
and just kept playing."
THE HOTEL CIRCUIT
When Richard was travelling the hotel circuit in southwestern
Ontario, he discovered audiences were asking the band to play
more country than rock tunes, and the country requests were
often old-time country music, with a touch of bluegrass. Since
Richard felt comfortable with this music. he bought two acoustic
guitars and let the country influence creep into his own
songwriting.
Now in a day when many city -based musicians are finding it a
struggle to find the next "gig," Richard says smaller lounges in
this area welcome two-piece groups who can provide Friday and
Saturday night entertainment. Richard teams with either
Fiddlin' Ed Reinhart of Harriston or Walt Maynard of London,
and they find they're in demand all around this part of the
country. Not only are Richard and his fellow musicians working
steadily, but they can return to their homes after the show,
escaping the tiring routine of life on the road.
Richard, who said he's "basically a songwriter" who records
his own material, finds country -music fans aren't necessarily the
easiest audiences to face since they can be pretty tough on
original material. For this reason. Richard's two albums have
contained a "mixed bag" of musical styles, including some
bluegrass, some folk and of course, country.
When the musician is performing, he follows this same
philosophy and combines his own songs with hits by performers
like Kenny Rogers with some of the old standards requested by
the audience, like the Green Green Grass of Home.
Richard Knechtel's first album, recorded in 1977, was Reach It
On The Run. The album sold about 800 copies, and quite frankly,
lost money. But it did introduce Richard to J. B. Sound Studios in
Hamilton, where he cuts his records, and led to the formation of
his own recording label, Greentree Music.
Now if the first album wasn't wildly successful, Richard
PG. 8 VILLAGE SQUIRE/ MAY 1980
Hanover musician at large
believes his second album is going to catch the public's ear. As
the musician said himself, "I'm more excited about it and I
think it's a better product."
R.P.M., the magazine considered the bible of the Canadian
music business seems to agree, calling the record "a very well
put together package of country folk from a new artist..."
Musician At Large, which was recorded over a five-month
period, features 11 songs, 10 of them written and sung by
Richard. The other song is a traditional tune, Boil Them Cabbage
Down, which features the quick -fingered fiddling of Ed Reinhart.
FELLOW MUSICIANS
While Richard both sings and plays on the album, he also
recruited a number of fellow musicians to help cut the record.
The musicians came from Toronto, London, Kitchener and
Harriston to collect at the Hamilton recording studio. With
today's modern multi -track recording techniques, the musicians
working on a particular song didn't even have to be all together
at the same time.
Some of the musicians who lent their talents to the album
include London's Willie B. Bennett on harmonica, Dave Burgess
of Hanover on the saxophone and Pee Wee Charles, the pedal
steel guitar player from Kitchener who works with Gordon
Lightfoot and R. Dennis Le Page on the banjo.
RichardKnechtel now hopes to release a single from Musician
At Large, probably the song All The Way To Georgia. This will
mean re -mixing the song in the studio and shortening it slightly.
The advantage of an album, according to Richard, is that "you
don't have to be as brash wit0 an album as a single." With a
single, the medium that promises to grab the listening audience
out in radioland, the vocals have to be "up front."
The next step in his campaign, when the single is cut, is to "go
on a mailing blitz," sending the record out to radio stations
around the country. Fortunately, or unfortunately, country
stations around the country aren't set up like the rock business,
where getting a record on Windsor's CKLW almost ensures the
single will get air time around the country.
Instead, "you have to have a tune that's good enough to make
people want to hear it again." You also have to promote yourself.
That explains why Richard is spending a good deal of time now
marketing his album. Record chains like Sam The Record Man
and Records -On -Wheels will handle albums by homegrown
artists, but many other record distributors hesitate to handle
independent recordings. This means there's "more legwork to
do yourself" according to Richard, and the legwork involves
calling on local record stores and radio stations that feature
country music.
The songwriter is also trying to get other artists to record
Richard KncAte! tunes. Jim Medd of Blyth has already used
one Knechtel . ,gig on his album and Richard is trying to interest
an area bluegrass band in more of his music.
ONE A YEAR
Eventually Richard hopes to produce one album a year, filled
with his own work. As the singer said, songwriting "is my most'