The late Richie Havens was one of the most gifted, yet underrated, artists to emerge from the vibrant Greenwich Village Folk Scene of the early sixties. A milieu from which talents such as Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Fred Neil, Judy Collins and many others sprang from.
As a musician, Havens differed from his folkie contemporaries, in that, although he played acoustic guitar, he tuned it to an open chord, and adopted a very percussive, highly effective playing technique as opposed to a more delicate finger style, driven along by a fearsome stomping foot. His was a minimalist approach that proved incredibly durable, flexible, even, as his career developed. In his latter days, Havens – a very tall, and powerfully built guy – had an endorsement with the Guild guitar manufacturer, and used to go through a guitar a year with his forceful playing style.
It was Havens’ rich voice melding elements of Folk, Rhythm and Blues, Gospel and Rock which was his calling card. Although Havens would be synonymous with the concept of the counter-cultural ‘Protest Singer’, embracing a range of political, environmental and societal issues in the course of his career, that catch-all does Havens’ talent a considerable disservice. His passionate vocal style could go from a intimate, warm and engaging growl to a full-throated, incredibly powerful roar – his was a voice that could not be ignored.
Havens' reputation as a solo performer soon spread beyond the Village folk circles. After joining forces with legendary Bob Dylan manager Albert Grossman he landed his first major label record deal with the Verve/ Forecast imprint, on which he released the album Mixed Bag in 1966. His second album, Something Else Again, further enhanced his standing, and as the sixties wore on, and the seeds of the counter-culture took hold, Havens began to outgrow the mantle of ‘Folk Singer’. His Richard P Havens, 1983 album of 1968 featured his own composition, ‘Indian Rope Man’ which was the subject of a sensational cover version by Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity, becoming a dance floor filler in clubs in the UK and Europe. Havens reputation was becoming International.
His status in the Counter Culture was forever assured through his epochal set at the Woodstock Festival 1969 and was a major turning point in his career. Many of the artists scheduled to perform after him were delayed in traffic and so he just carried on playing, holding the crowd for nearly three hours. He was called back for several encores and, having run out of tunes, he improvised a song based on the old spiritual ‘Motherless Child’ that became one of his best known songs ‘Freedom’.
Forming his own label, Stormy Forest, Havens released a bunch of albums in the late 60s and early 70s, and his appetite for touring took his music out to an eager public worldwide. The ‘singer-songwriter’ boom of the late 60s gave way to a succession of different styles and sounds. Havens was never a prolific songwriter himself, but such was his interpretive skills that he would often inhabit any given song and reshape to suit his personal vocal approach.
He released two albums for A&M Records in the mid 70s. The first, entitled The End of the Beginning, was released in 1976, and featured ten tracks, of which only ‘I Was Educated By Myself’, was written by Havens. The album is an interesting blend of covers, including his take on the 10CC smash, ‘I’m Not In Love’ and recasts the song as more Gospel-tinged, and excises entirely the “big boys don’t cry” section from the song.
The album was not a commercial success however, and for 1977’s Mirage, Havens contributed three of his own songs to the finished album. It was produced by Christopher Bond, who had worked with Hall & Oates and others, and the album has a more of a stylistic diversity than its predecessor, with songs by the likes of Allen Toussaint, Tim Moore, the Alessi Brothers, and a couple of songs by Jack Hammer, best known as the co-author of the Jerry Lee Lewis classic, ‘Great Balls of Fire’.
Sadly, Mirage suffered the same commercial fate as its predecessor. Havens would then move on to Elektra Records for his 1980 album, Connections, which included his tremendous interpretation of the Lamont Dozier authored ‘Going Back To My Roots’. He released a steady stream of albums during the 80s and 90s, and in 2000 joined the electronic music duo Groove Armada for the retro 1970s-style song "Hands of Time".
Richie Havens was definitely one of the Good Guys, and the absence of his beatific smile and optimistic character is still palpable over a decade after his death.
With thanks to Alan Robinson