Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

About Richard Bennett

There is more than one artist with this name, including: 1) Richard Bennett (born In Chicago, IL, on 22 July 1951) is an American guitarist and record producer; 2) Richard Bennett is an American bluegrass singer and guitarist. 1) Richard Bennett (born In Chicago, IL, on 22 July 1951) is an American guitarist and record producer. As a touring sideman, he performed with Neil Diamond for seventeen years and Mark Knopfler since 1994. In addition to his solo albums, he has worked as a session musician with Billy Joel, Barbra Streisand, Rodney Crowell, and Vince Gill. He has produced albums for Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Marty Stuart, and Kim Richey. Bennett took an early interest in music, had his own record player at age 2, first record Doggie In The Window by Patti Page and was raised on a diet of pre-rock pop ie., Joni James, Frankie Laine, Les Baxter etc. as well as Randy Blakes Suppertime Frolic, a program that aired nightly on WJJD radio featuring country music of the 1940s and 50s. Moving to Phoenix, Arizona in 1960 he began studying guitar in 1962 with Forrest Skaggs. Through the 1950s, Skaggs was Arizonas ace western band leader having his own morning radio show, Saturday afternoon TV slot and The Arizona Hayride, a live Saturday night barn-dance show that hosted every major national country star who came to the Phoenix area. By way of Skaggs, Bennett met former student and Arizona Hayrider, Al Casey, then a top call studio musician in Hollywood. Bennett did his earliest record dates in Los Angeles during a summer vacation spent there with Casey in 1968. The following year, after graduating high school, he relocated to the west coast permanently and landed studio work quickly. Recording sessions ranging from Peggy Lee to Gene Vincent, The Ventures, Liberace, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Barbra Streisand, Sammy Davis Jr., Billy Joel and The Partridge Family to name but a few, soon followed. The spring of 1971 began a 17 year recording and touring relationship with Neil Diamond that yielded sixteen albums including Hot August Night and several co-written songs, Forever In Blue Jeans among them. By 1975 it also afforded Bennett the luxury of curtailing some of the less than rewarding three-session-a-day work. At the urging of Steve Earle, Tony Brown and Jimmy Bowen, Bennett moved to Nashville in 1985, having already played on many projects there since 1982. Earles landmark Guitar Town album, which Bennett co-produced and played guitar on, launched Richard as a producer and hes since gone on to produce records for Emmylou Harris, Lost and Profound, Bill Miller, Marty Stuart, Jo-El Sonnier, Marty Brown, Becky Hobbs, The Sullivans, and Prairie Oyster. Additional record productions include Steve Earles comeback I Feel Alright, The Nashville Mandolin Ensembles Plectrosonics and All The Rage, Kim Richeys self-titled debut and two highly acclaimed albums by Phil Lee. 1994 began an association as guitarist with Mark Knopfler that continues to this day and includes the albums Golden Heart, Sailing To Philadelphia, Ragpickers Dream and "Shangri-La", three major world tours, and the motion picture soundtracks Wag The Dog and Metroland. The year 2003 marked Bennett's 36th year of continued studio work that now spans five decades, a tour of the United Kingdom with British pop diva Cerys Matthews and a performance in Italy of material from his recently completed solo record, "Themes From A Rainy Decade." www.richard-bennett.com

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