The importance of music in Dick's life. Listen (Real 1:08) Dick sings the old favorite, Pictures from Life's Other Side. Listen (Real 1:15) A practical joke he once played on a fellow musician.Listen (Real 2:54) The popular western song Laredo, from Dick's live radio show. Listen (Real 2:00)

Clarence "Daddy Dick" Richards was the subject of this February 21, 2000 profile jointly produced for radio by Traditional Arts in Upstate New York and North Country Public Radio. Listen (Real 6:22)

By the age of twelve, Clarence Richards was playing fiddle for local dances in the Corinth area of Saratoga County and substituting for the caller when necessary. His father was a woodsman, musician and vaudeville entertainer, so Clarence came by his early interests quite naturally. Known early as a "song sponge," as a boy he met the radio personality Bradley Kincaid who had a summer home near Saratoga and often traded songs with him. Early in his music career, he lost his left hand in a paper mill accident, but within six months he had discovered a way to continue playing the fiddle. "Daddy Dick" was a regular at area dude ranches and an early entertainer on Radio WGY in Schenectady. He has performed with many prominent country and bluegrass music stars. For years, Dick was Frontier Town's Davy Crockett and, in recent years, joined the Adirondack Liars Club as a premier storyteller of tall tales and true.

Return to Masters Homepage