I’m very excited indeed to announce that, with the kind support of The PRS for Music Foundation, I will be performing a number of shows in the UK this autumn with a string quartet!
I’m currently working with Vulcan Strings on arrangements for 12 songs spanning all my releases to date…and a few new ones.
Requests are most welcome!

Dates will be announced in early June

“PRS for Music Foundation is the UK’s leading funder of new music across all genres.
Since 2000 PRS for Music Foundation has given more than £14 million to over 4,000 new music initiatives by awarding grants and leading partnership programmes that support music sector development. Widely respected as an adventurous and proactive funding body, PRS for Music Foundation supports an exceptional range of new music
activity– from composer residencies and commissions to festivals and showcases in the UK and overseas.”

www.prsformusicfoundation.com

www.richardwaltersmusic.com

Dear prospective record buyer,

My name is Richard Walters. I am an independent singer and songwriter from Oxford, in the UK. I am 30 years old. I have not yet reached the point in my life where I feel the need to lie about my age…but give it a couple more years and I’ll be 32 forever.
Monday October 15th 2012 sees the release of my new album ‘Regret Less’. This is the first time I have put an album into the big bad world without label assistance. That is to say, without the financial support and marketing clout of a record company.
And yes, this is indeed a daunting prospect, but a necessary diversion; monetary support and backing is of course no bad thing, but with it comes compromise and miscommunication, and on occasion total loss of direction. Making records, even small independent ones, is expensive – the musicians, the recording, mixing and mastering, not to mention the potentially huge cost of marketing in the hope of reaching a wider audience – it all stacks up and begins to sway precariously.

So, I’d like to address a few points in this here letter.

Firstly – this is about art, not commerce. I do not want you to buy this album to fill up my pockets (in fact I’ll sew them up), I want you to hear it because I can stand beside it very proudly and say it’s the finest thing I’ve done yet. It was made with the support of dear friends and committed fans, and as a result honestly comes from a pure place (hippy sentiment alert). Your buying it will allow me to continue making music. I do not have my eye on a yacht or giant trampoline for the garden, but I would like to keep making and releasing albums.
Secondly – I am a devout believer in ‘word of mouth’. Of all the records in my collection that I can say I truly love and cannot live without, I can also confirm that each came from a personal recommendation; a friend sharing a found treasure, something they could not keep to themselves.
Word of mouth is limitless and loud and, with the assistance of the giant Internet megaphone, far reaching. As an artist, seeing my own album get a review in a magazine or newspaper is naturally flattering and ultimately fulfilling. But as a music fan and music consumer why would I listen to the appraisal of someone I don’t know. Why wouldn’t I borrow, buy and then fall in love with a piece of music brought to my attention by someone I know and respect? What I’m saying is please share this album with people you care about. If this music speaks to you and finds some place in your day to day/night to night life, then bring people you know into it.

Criticising the mediocrity of modern, mainstream music is like shooting Biebers in a barrel (please note: I have no intention of shooting Justin Bieber). We all know it’s false and force-fed, the smoke has cleared and the mirrors are in pieces on the studio floor of ‘The X-Factor’ or ‘The Voice’. Although I believe some artists (including many of my greatest influences) are criminally neglected and shockingly disregarded by the ‘industry’, I also understand that success and notoriety in this music-world is more to do with luck and timing than talent and hard work. There is no conspiracy at work here, some people simply don’t get the credit they’re due. But take heart in the fact that the ‘music industry’ is changing – it is no longer some glamorous beast to be feared and bowed down to by young musicians, but near extinct, a limping thing trying its hardest to convince us all it’s anything but, changing its mind constantly and making lazy decisions…maybe it’s always been like that. Maybe it’s not dying but evolving? Either way, DIY work ethics have empowered a generation of creatives to find their audience without industry help, which can only be a good thing. I can now say with complete certainty that I’d rather not be told what to listen to and buy – discovery and sharing is the key to keeping music as an art form alive.
So I’d ask two things of you: Share this letter. Share’ Regret Less’. If you agree with the sentiments of what is written here, and if you like the music on this record, pass it on.

One last thing…
An A&R man at a major US record company, who shall remain nameless, once said the following to me (imagine him chomping a cigar and oozing slime if you like, drawling the following out to a 21 year old me): “You’re a great artist, but you’re the kind of great artist that needs to die before they sell any serious units – it’s a Nick Drake situation.”
As I have no immediate plans to die could we do our very best to prove him wrong?

Sincere thanks and love to you, dear prospective record buyer,

Richard Walters

(Reply to me: info@richardwaltersmusic.com)

Rx

Young Trees

Oh I’m leaving town, from the arms of a child

Who has never ever been the one I’ll love

And it’s just not good enough

It’s never good enough for both of us

 I talk in platitudes to make you think that much less of me

Oh we’re more than friends, we are restless enemies

Who never ever had the guts to swing

And it’s just not good enough

It’s never good enough for you is it?

I talk in platitudes to make you think that much less of me

I talk in platitudes to make you think that much less

Oh I’m leaving town, from the arms of a child

Who has never ever been the one I love

And it’s just not good enough

You’ve never enough to earn my trust

 I talk in platitudes to make you think that much less of me

I talk, I’ll never talk, I will never be your one

Regretless

It never quite goes or leaves me alone

A pantomime in silhouettes goes on and on

A sleepless unknown oh let me go

Catastrophes and candlelight all tonight

 You should have been a father to your mother

You should have been a better brother

But oh let it go

You will leave these things behind

You will

You will leave these things behind

You will

Tears on my pillowcase, oh let them go

I never said another word to let you know

It never quite leaves or lets me sleep

A pantomime in silhouettes goes on and on

You should have been a father to your mother

You should have been a better brother

But oh let it go

You will leave these things behind

You will

You will leave these things behind

You will

And my heart does beat at a thousand miles an hour

And the sweat rolls down my back like thunder in the night

These electric lines on the sky

You will leave these things behind

You will

You will leave these things behind

You will

And my heart does beat at a thousand miles an hour

And the sweat rolls down my back like thunder in the night

These electric lines on the sky

I gave my soul to my own regrets ghost for a good nights sleep

I gave my soul to my own regrets ghost for a good nights sleep

Regretless I’ll go

Regretless

Dandelion

Dandelion you’re the only thing growing on this beach tonight

And stars came down through a colander and offered you their light

I fell in love and it doesn’t hurt, no my back is stiff and strong

Hearts may break and egos strain but my eyes will never roam

Oh meet me at the estuary

Tell a lie, I hear cracking fires light the fuel behind your lips

Do you know that I never grow accustomed to it?

We fell in love and it doesn’t hurt, my back stays stiff and strong

Our hearts may break and our egos strain but our eyes will never roam

Oh meet me at the estuary

Float with me out to sea

Infinity Street

I’ve collected up blue stars, I have ripped them from his belt

Up in the clear sky, Out in the black night

I have wrapped them all in leaves, That I’ve gathered from our street

Here on a half hill, In light of a windmill

 I’ll always burn a light for you

Of the constant kind, of the constant kind

I’ll always burn a light for you

I have asked the sun to sink, All the birds to cease their singing

And close up this long day, Draw blinds on its mistakes

I have ordered all the words, To surround you and speak in turn

The best that they dare state, The things that I can’t say

I’ll always burn a light for you

Of the constant kind, of the constant kind

I’ll always burn a light for you

Of the constant kind, of the constant kind

I’ll always burn a light for you

Oh the city homes are all alight

And the sky does fill it’s self with night

I will steal these things away for us both

‘Young Trees’ features 5 new tracks recorded over the last few months in various hotels, dressing rooms and a tiny, instrument-filled chapel in Oxfordshire, UK.

I am particularly proud of this one – it’s been an odd few months, with many changes in terms of my music and the way that it reaches you. This is, essentially, my way of making a fresh start, and I guess (and not wishing to sound too RIGHT ON here) embracing Independence.

The EP is available right now from all download sites internationally. I will also be making a limited run of handmade CD’s in the New Year, that will be available from this website and all upcoming shows.

Click the artwork below to buy right now.

A new website made by my good friend Bat Halliday. New photos taken by my new friend John Pugsley.

I’m also happy to say that preparations for the recording of my third record have begun – I’m excited, relieved and incredibly hopeful about it. More details on recording schedules, song titles, studio eating habits and release date will follow, but the important thing for now is that you can expect a new Richard Walters album next spring, or thereabouts.

In other news I have a few collaborative releases coming up…

I am ridiculously proud to announce that a song I co-wrote with one of my musical heroes, the Grammy award winning genius singer/producer Joe Henry, will feature on his new album ‘Reverie’ released through Anti Records on October 11th 2011. The song is entitled ‘Eyes Out For You’ and is a wonderful thing. Visit the Anti website for more information on the record.

I have also co-written and sung on two tracks for the Grammy nominated, LA based DJ/producer Morgan Page. Both tracks – ‘The Actor’ & ‘Light Years’ – will feature on his upcoming Nettwerk Records album ‘In The Air’. I absolutely love the tracks we’ve recorded together and can’t wait for people to hear them. For more details on the album release and to hear current single, also entitled ‘In The Air’, visit www.morgan-page.com