Richard Carr was born Richard Rene Joseph Jeam-Marie Carpentier on February 19, 1963, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. During most of his childhood, Carr spent hardly any time with his parents so family and close friends raised him. This was very tough on Carr he never really had a place to call home. At the age of four Carr was singing in an Italian choir, at the convent that his Godmother placed him. Though his home environment kept constantly changing, he was able to find some sort of peace, by turning to the radio to hear his favorite music. The beautiful sound coming from it was the only thing that he could familiarize himself with and therefore became his best friend. At the age of seven, he received his first instrument a classical guitar, a gift from his godfather. Some lessons at the local Baptist church followed, where Carr attempted to learn to play. However, his real passion lay in listening to the Baptist choir that sung behind the preacher. His teacher realized this, and agreed to let him watch the choir instead of taking his lessons. Carr's fascination with gospel music originated from the nannies who cared for him in Gulf-Shores Alabama as a young child in the early sixties.




He recalls the first time he saw Elvis Presley on the Ed Sullivan show; the nannies in the house were all very excited. I remember how thrilled they were to see a white man on TV, singing black music. When Sundays rolled around the nannies would turn the radio .. church and tune-in to the gospel station and let it play all day long. This is where Carr got his first taste of gospel music. By the late sixties Carr stayed with family who were into the hippy scene. Through their record collection, he was exposed him to artist like; Tom Waits, Vanilla Fudge, Mothers of Invention, Miles Davis, Bird (Charlie-Parker), Harry James, Steve Miller, Janis Joplin, Loving Spoonful. This eclectic mix influenced Carrs musical taste at a very young age. He began liking artist like Ella Fitzgerald, Sara Vaughn, and Dinah Washington. These singers gave him his vocal reference. Carr began to identify with their tone, and he was able to sing along in the low keys that the artist used. Later he would turn toward artists like Tony Bennett, Mel Torme, Dean Martin and Anita ODay to round out his voice. However, as a child, Carr never envisioned himself, as a blues artist. He dreamed of becoming a jazz singer, a crooner like one of the members of the Rat Pack. He also did not want a guitar at first. He wanted a set of drums so that he could play swing like Buddy Rich and Louis Bellson. The drums were a little bit too loud, so his godfather opted for the guitar instead. Carr loved jazz so much he became a fountain of knowledge when it came to the genre. By this time, he also developed a taste for artists like Led Zeppelin, Beatles, Kiss, but much preferred songs with a swing feel in them from artists like Louis Jordan or BB King. When Carr reached 13, he picked up the guitar again, so he could meet girls. The way he saw it, girls liked boys that that played guitar, so he started to learn how to play for real.




His neighbor at the time was Mike Phoenix and his brother Paul had a band called The Phoenix Brothers Band. Consisting of two drummers and four guitarists Carr would play for the band, polishing his rhythm skills. When one of the guitar players did not show (and this happen quite often), Carr would fill in. The band played southern rock blues covers, from artist like Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, 38-Special. This is how he found himself learning the basic blues form. Carr found it easy to catch the rhythm and the beat. He got his sense of rhythm possibly from his mother, who was a great dancer. Being able to play rhythm on the guitar began his love for blues. When Carr was fifteen, he had practiced enough to play in front of his peers and impress them, which was one of his personal goals. If the people he looked up too thought he was good, he had gained their respect that made him proud. Now his main obstacle was performing in public. Since he was very shy at first, he had hard a time playing in front of people. So to get over this fear, he went to St-Catherine and Stanley street in down-town Montreal and stood on the corner-playing guitar. He was too scared to think of singing along. People took pity and threw loose change in the open case. Eventually he got over his fear and started performing in bands at local bars across town he was sixteen. Even though he was underage, in the 80s it was common to have young players in your band, as long as you acted responsible, they let you in the bar. When Carr was attending Westmont High School, he began a folk period with his collaboration with singer Jackie Stone. Their act was folksy, and they played songs by John Lennon and Crosby Stills Nash & Young. They would play mostly local coffee houses and outdoor events. He remembers his early stage-freight, his legs shaking violently on stage, his voice cracking and never making eye contact with the crowd, he was horrified. But as in all else, with practice Carr was able to overcome these difficulties.




By his early twenties, Carr pursued his keen interest in photography. He wanted to go around Montral and its surrounding areas, to find famous jazz clubs he use to hear about as a kid. His vision was to capture these artists in their elements at these clubs. Unfortunately, during the 60s there was a major cleanup of all the major clubs. This eliminated allot of the venues that musicians played, especially jazz artists. Since strip clubs and Blind Pigs were most likely to hire musicians to play live, they fueled much of the underground music scene in Montral during the early 30s to the end of the 50s. These after-hours or blind pigs opened around 4-am. The local live music scene slowed to a crippled for a very long time. Carr now found his pursuit to find live jazz musicians to be in vain because of the fact that there were few to find. In 1988, Carr got married and had a son soon after. He lived 8 years with his wife and son. After some consideration, he decided that he missed playing music too much and left with just some clothes, not actually owning a guitar at that time. This was a dark time for Carr but nonetheless he persisted with his dream to pursue his musical calling. Once he finally found a guitar to his liking, he began to practice eight to nine hours a day, to regain his old form. He wanted to have his old hands back, the ones that just picked up any guitar, and started jamming with it. With persistence and determination, Carr regained his professional credibility. However, while being alone and just coming off a divorce, he found himself unable to play anything but the Blues. Carr was in dire straights in Montreal, work was drying up and add to this frequent break ups of his band began to take its toll on Carr.




At this time 1998 Carr decided to moved to Boston. The US was always exciting for Carr, "There's a musical buzz that can't be found anywhere else". While living there, he attended a couple of jam nights where the local blues community began to notice Carr and his style of playing. "Willie would say to me Your killing me man!, meaning I would play at a low volume off the singer real old school. Most players were playing loud heavy rock riffs". Soon afterwards, Carr was approach by Weepy Willy, and Little Joe Cook, who were blues legends in Boston and the north easter US. Because of his good reputation and his credible style of playing the blues, they ask him to go on an 18-date tour with them as guitarist was unable to make the gigs. This was an excellent opportunity for him, and was to become the turning point in Carr's career. He knew then that by holding his own on stage with these legends and playing well, he was definitely moving in the right direction. Upon his return to Montreal in late 2000, he founded The-Gemtones and continued to earn the respect of everyone who saw him perform. Now as a solo artist, Richard Carr continues on the path to his true calling as singer, guitarist and gifted entertainer.
Clifton Glaves©2006

Carr was born in February 19 1963 in Ville-Émard, a small town in the western part of Montreal. Early in his childhood, he moved to Gulf Shores Alabama for a brief period. It was there where he would get his first exposure to roots music and culture. "The nannies that tended to me would listen to a lot of gospel and early rhythm 'n' blues," says Carr. "I would be around mostly black people but this was very natural to me." Though his time spent in Alabama was relatively short, this experience would prove to be marking in more than one way.
Upon returning to Montreal, Carr spent time in an Italian convent called Marie-Clarac. Around him, all he heard was choir music. He later joined and sang in that same choir. While this experience introduced him more concretely into the realms of music and performance, it would not prove to be a major influence on his musical identity. When he was just 7 years old, he received a guitar as a gift from his godfather. He then tried taking lessons at a Baptist Church in St-Henri. Having no particular interest in musical notation and theory, he would only go on to take a few lessons. What marked him most when attending the Baptist Church was the gospel choir that would be rehearsing. Even though he couldn't vividly recall having encountered this music before in Alabama (being that he was still very young when living there), it still sounded familiar to him. Carr became acquainted with some people in the choir and they would tell him about blues and gospel musicians and the venues where this music would be found. He associated himself a lot more with these types of music and it is within these roots-oriented genres where he would find his niche.
After quitting guitar lessons, Carr worked hard to teach himself how to play. After a few years, he gradually started to develop a style and his own taste for music. It took him about until he was 14 years old to become a solid guitar player and realize that he had a talent. His orientation was mainly towards blues, rock 'n' roll and swing. He also had access to some really interesting record collections owned by some of his family members. Some of his favorites were the records of Buddy Rich, Louis Jordan, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn. "A lot of jazz standards became a mainstay for me," explains Carr. "Classics that people grew up on in the '40's and '50's were what I had as reference material".




Although he was living in Montreal, where the culture was diversified and wide open, the American influence stuck with him all the time. Being that Canada had access to many different forms of U.S culture, Carr found many ways to stimulate his inspiration. Growing up, he would look up to celebrities like Dean Martin and would always tune in for The Ed Sullivan Show. Carr always had a flair for entertaining people. This talent went hand-in-hand with his musical gift and he soon started to become conscious of his potential as a musical entertainer.
As he grew older, he developed a strong interest into the history of the music he played. Being raised as an Anglophone, he did not actively participate in the francophone culture of Montreal. When it came to music and culture, Carr always associated himself with the traditions of the United States, especially the South. The folklore of the South had been imprinted on him at a very early age. In fact, Carr's experience as a child is a good example of cultural imprinting. When a person is young, the music they will hear will affect how they play and listen to music. The music one chooses to play and listen to is caused by what one heard in his childhood. Historically, blues music arose from the oppressive social and economic environment African-Americans living in the South. There was definitely still a significant degree of oppression when Carr was living in Alabama. However, Carr had never really seen himself as being part of a more privileged race. Having developed positive interactions with people of the black community at such an early age, he soon became 'colorblind', so to speak. Issues of race never really affected how he saw people.




Back in Montreal, Carr grew up in a dysfunctional family living in a poor working class neighborhood. Early exposure to the culture of the South and a working-class background were two of the main elements that contributed to his natural inclination towards the blues and roots music. Add to that his musical connection to the gospel choir of the Baptist church and, slowly by slowly, Carr was discovering the foundations of his musical personality. Later in his teenage years, Carr started making himself available to different bands. In 1978, he joined a southern rock band called The Phoenix Brothers Band. Carr credits Mike Phoenix, lead guitarist of the band, as being a big musical influence on him.
By the age of sixteen, he had already begun working in clubs for a couple of local blues bands. Being in a band and playing shows gave Carr an integral role in the musical community of Montreal. Becoming more involved in the music scene, he met many musicians, some of whom have left a lasting impression. Jazz artists based in Montreal who were important influences include Nelson Symons and Sonny Greenwich. For an avid advocate of traditional blues, Carr has quite a passion for jazz, more specifically swing. He attributes this to the brilliant records he had the opportunity to discover when he was growing up. Listening to these records helped refine his taste in music and help shape his playing style. While he does not claim to be a jazz guitarist, he incorporates a lot of a swing and big band influences into his live show. He also performs material from the likes of Louis Jordan, Ray Charles, Duke Ellington and Mose Allison.




After watching Bob Harrison play at the very first Montreal International Jazz Festival, he set himself a goal to one day take part in the festival as a performer. The Montreal International Jazz Festival is the largest jazz festival in the world and also includes many different genres other than jazz.
In the mid-80's, different circumstances in Carr's life led him to take a break from music for a long period. Several years later, while at a club, Carr was had a chance to join his friend Richard Petit's band on stage. After this experience, he regained the exhilarating feeling of playing live music. Soon thereafter, he decided to fully dedicate himself to music and once again made himself available to play in a band. In 1995, after a ten-year absence from the music scene, he founded The Blue Ketchup Band. This was a five-piece traditional blues outfit consisting of Carr on lead guitar, drummer Christian Lajoie, Gabriel Lajoie on bass, Lévi "Bourbon" Bourbonnais on harmonica and Didas Grondin on rhythm guitar. Having fully regained the confidence playing live, Carr later moved to Boston to try to explore the blues scene in the United States. Playing venues on the East Coast, Carr was enthused to see that the crowds really appreciated a live blues band. In the late '90's, he would go on tour with Weeping Willy, Blues Boy Henry and Little Joe Cook, who were all famous blues icons from the 1970's. With them he would get to experience playing renowned blues venues in the United States. The tour turned out to be a very enriching experience for Carr: "It was kind of like going to blues school, if you will." The privilege to tour with A-List blues musicians was the turning point in his career. He was now on a mission to fulfill his calling to the blues. In September of 2006, he won a Lys Blues award for the "Cabaret" category. The Cabaret category was for year-round players like Carr who do not have a published recording but have been around long enough to get worthy recognition for years of playing clubs and venues.





In 2004, Carr was featured in a European blues magazine from France called Blues & Co. He's been invited to attend the Blues Music Awards in Memphis on May 10, 2007. In the past five years, Carr has been receiving more and more recognition. "If the people appreciate what you do, then to me it's all worthwhile," explains Carr. "Whether I'm playing small or big shows, you're always going to get a very good show out of me." As the last of the early blues artists fade from the scene, they leave the younger generations the music that continues to be renewed and adapted into new sounds. The expressive power of the blues stretches across generations, races, cultures and musical trends. Carr continues to authentically reproduce the music of a different era, music that influenced the vast array of contemporary music we hear today. "Nowadays, music is so open, so varied that eventually younger generations are going to want to taste everything that's has come before them," explains Carr. "They will realize that all modern music originated from blues, jazz, country, the roots music. This will humble them and make them realize that all popular music was initiated in that era."

Richard Carr has shared the stage with : Fiona Boyes, Mookie Brill, Jimmy Botts, Sean Carney, Harrison Kennedy, Jason Fowler, Rick Hayworth, Jordan Officer, Stephen Barry, Andrew Cowan, Gordie Adamson, Cristian Malette, Bob Walsh, Bob Harrison, Carl Tremblay, Dawn Tyler Watson, Kim Richardson, Adam Karsh, Paul Deslaurier, Jimmy James, John Granatta, John McGale, Rick Weston, Kevin Mark, Pat Loiselle, Kenny Dupree, Steve Rowe, Decon George, Vincent Druda, Joe Hell, Emmanuelle Julien, Carlos Veiga, Adam Karsh. Just to name a few.
Richard Carr is an award-winning blues guitarist and bandleader based in Montreal, Quebec. His vast experience and talent have kept him at the forefront of the blues scene in Montreal. Carr sees himself as an interpreter of the music that has inspired him and shaped him into the musician he is today. His material comprises a wide variety of songs by renowned Blues & Roots musicians. Whereas most musicians these days tend to play a more modern style, Carr proudly sticks to the basics and performs his own kind of Blues music. "I try to play closer to the original version rather than doing more modern versions of tunes," explains Carr. "I make sure they sound really rootsy and rock 'n' roll." He performs both acoustic and electric sets, alone or with his full band. His full band performance include sets at the 2007 Centreville en Blues (Riviere du Luop) 2006 SIMMM (Place des Arts) Maximum Blues Festival (2005), Weekend En Blues, Octobre en Blues, Festival Blues De St-Fortunat and Cancer en Blues (2005). Also, you can catch him on weeknights playing gigs in venues across Montreal. With a great deal of experience under his belt, he continues to succeed in capturing his audiences with his sophistication and flair. He is a captivating entertainer with a powerful tenor voice. His specialties remain old-school blues, west coast swing and Chicago-blues. "I try the best I can to do justice to the material," he explains of the responsibility he has in upholding the quality of these timeless classics. "I try to emulate the famous people I appreciate but through this still develop my own personal style." Without holding any judgment toward other styles of music, he seeks to promote and preserve the old-school musical styles by performing them with the highest level of musicianship and respect.

2006 LysBlues award winner Richard Carr is a class act, a captivating performer with a powerful tenor voice. Superb vocals, solid guitar work and a tight rhythm-section, is what you can expect from this award winning artist. Richard Carr and his musicians can bring the unique energy of a live performance to your next special function. In addition to enjoying these musicians, booking the band also means you will also have the confidence and peace of mind that you trusted your event to an experienced professional. Available as a Trio, or full-Band.





Article by Eric Prilla 2007.