Richard Harrington
Between 1980 and my retirement from the Washington Post in 2008, I wrote thousands of news stories, reviews and profiled artists in a wide range of genres, from rock (U2, Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, The Who, Metallica), rap (Jay-Z, Ice-T) and soul greats (James Brown, Luther Vandross, Patti LaBelle, Isaac Hayes, Barry White. Al Green) as well as country (Johnny Cash, George Jones, Vince Gill, Dolly Parton) and jazz (Miles Davis, Max Roach, Wynton Marsalis, Sun Ra).
Music sought me out early on. In the late '50s, at the age of 12, I fell under the spell of the great folk scare/revival and played earnest folk with fellow student Loudon Wainwright in boarding school in New York! He stayed with it, to great and deserved acclaim and influence. I was also falling into rock, R&B and jazz at home in Washington over vacations; my older sister was a dancer on The Milt Grant Show in the late '50s and she'd take me to the studio and to weekend dances where Link Wray was often the house band in the wake of 'Rumble'. Don't forget how dangerous that instrumental was in 1958 — banned on many radio stations despite having no lyrics!
In the mid to late '60s I was a folk singer; I read poetry (not my own) and offered cover songs on the hootenanny circuit and in small coffee houses to no particular acclaim or even notice. I sometimes played at the Unicorn, owned by Elliot Ryan; it closed in 1964. In 1973 Elliot started Unicorn Times, a monthly covering music, where I became editor from mid-1976 to mid-1980.
I somehow ended up at Quicksilver Times, a new underground paper radical enough to warrant an undercover agent (CIA) as a long-term embed in its staff. It's where I did my first writing, but I eventually realized I favored the wrong Marx — Groucho, not Karl. I left in 1970 to start Woodwind, and started freelancing at the Washington Star in 1971 and wrote columns and reviews there until 1975. In 1976 I became editor of Unicorn Times, hugely popular because of its great writers and photographers and vibrant coverage of local and national artists. That same year, I started freelancing at the Post and in 1982 officially became its pop critic.
After leaving the Post, I began work on Shock & Roll, a richly illustrated compendium of controversial album art — the stories behind the covers. It features hundreds of interviews with musicians as well as artists, art directors, photographers and models, prosecutors and defense attorneys in cases that led to trials here and in England and Canada. It is a work in progress.
73 articles
List of articles in the library
Interview by Richard Harrington, Unicorn Times, September 1974
SOMEWHERE ALONG the line, guitarist Danny Gatton played in a group called Fat Chance. That name may have been appropriate for the gentle portliness of ...
Interview by Richard Harrington, Unicorn Times, June 1975
"I'VE BEEN doing what I'm doing for five years on records and for longer in my life," says Gil Scott-Heron, who seems to be approaching ...
Victoria Spivey: Queen of the Blues
Profile and Interview by Richard Harrington, Unicorn Times, December 1975
HALFWAY INTO her 70th year, Victoria Spivey is a queen with a diminishing court. She is perhaps the last of the great women blues singers, ...
Ry Cooder, Flaco Jimenez: Ry Cooder: Ry Talks
Profile and Interview by Richard Harrington, Unicorn Times, November 1976
IF YOU know Ry Cooder's music for its own brilliance, then you can be considered lucky. If you don't know it specifically, then chances are ...
Jean Carne: Jean Carn: Cellar Door, Washington DC
Live Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 26 August 1977
Carn's Stunning Vocals ...
The Ramones: The Bayou, Washington DC
Live Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 12 October 1977
Ramones: Empty Punk ...
Nils Lofgren: A Study in Patience and Power
Profile and Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 22 October 1977
NILS LOFGREN, the diminutive Washington-bred rock figure, is intrigued by the idea of success by elimination. "It's encouraging that a rock 'n' roll artist with ...
Donny Hathaway: The Last Hurrah, Washington DC
Live Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 24 November 1977
Pop-Soul Vocalist Donny Hathaway At The Last Hurrah ...
Billy Paul, the Philadelphia Story: Cellar Door, Washington DC
Live Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 27 December 1977
Better Never Than Late ...
Professor Longhair: Childe Harold, Washington DC
Live Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 25 February 1978
LISTENING TO Roy Byrd, also known as Professor Longhair and playing at the Childe Harold through Sunday, it is almost necessary to hear between the ...
Live Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 17 June 1978
Superb Ballads Of Patti Labelle ...
Lowell George: Lisner Auditorium, George Washington University, Washington DC
Live Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 29 June 1979
FOR THE last night's standing-room-only concert at Lisner Auditorium, Lowell George chose an antithetical way of celebrating his divorce from Little Feat, a rock band ...
The Fabulous Thunderbirds: The Bayou, Washington DC
Live Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 1 October 1979
THE FABULOUS Thunderbirds, who appeared at the Bayou last night, recall an era when the emphasis of rhythm and blues was definitely on the blues, ...
Fleetwood Mac: Capital Centre, Landover MD
Live Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 26 November 1979
Fleetwood Mac's Primal Rock Energy ...
Live Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 24 April 1980
IN THE world of Waylon Jennings, the law is something to be outside of, barrooms are smoky, bottles empty; women are difficult, or at least ...
Grace Jones: Starplex Armory, Washington DC
Live Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 26 May 1980
HOW GRACE Jones spent Saturday night at the Starplex Armory building: one entrance, many exits for costume changes and not much show in between. ...
Club 9:30 — A New Wave of Night Life
Report by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 1 June 1980
FIRST CAME the artists, then the galleries. Now the rejuvenated area around the 900 block of F Street NW is about to welcome its first ...
Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons: Emmylou Harris: Return of the Electric Cowgirl
Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 6 July 1980
SEVEN YEARS ago, the threads in Emmylou Harris' cowgirl suit were beginning to fray around the edges. ...
James "Blood" Ulmer: James Blood Ulmer: 9:30 Club, Washington DC
Live Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 28 July 1980
WHEN JAMES "Blood" Ulmer and his three fellow musicians climbed onto the 9:30 club's stage Saturday night, the electricity plugged itself into the musicians. Guitarist ...
Charlie Daniels: Fiddlin' Dixie
Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, August 1980
Charlie Daniels, Up From Tobacco Road ...
The Commodores: Six Part Harmony: The Commodores' Sweet Sound of Success
Profile and Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 1 August 1980
AT 10 A.M. IN Clyde's Omelette Room, William King, Thomas McClary and Milan Williams — half of the Commodores — were splitting their attention between ...
AC/DC, Humble Pie: Capital Centre, Landover MD
Live Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 4 August 1980
AC/DC, WHO played to 16,000 at the Capital Centre last night, are rock's current shock troops. One doesn't enjoy an AC/DC performance as much as ...
Black Rose: Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia MD
Live Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 16 August 1980
LAST NIGHT at the Merriweather Post Pavilion all eyes — and, for once, all ears — were on Cher. That is, Black Rose, Cher's brave ...
Randy VanWarmer, Dave Allen: Cellar Door, Washington DC
Live Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 25 August 1980
RANDY VANWARMER, who performed at the Cellar Door Saturday night, has an image problem. He is best known for last year's terminally mellow hit ballad ...
Chet Atkins: Custom Of the Country
Profile and Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 20 September 1980
Chet Atkins' Guitar Enters the Smithsonian ...
Live Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 20 September 1980
IF THE Pretenders proved nothing else at their sold-out concert at Lisner Auditorium last night, they did establish that vocalist/rhythm guitarist/songwriter Chrissie Hynde deserves her ...
Pat Benatar: A Piece Of the Rock: The Pat Benatar Band Has Finally Got It
Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 8 October 1980
"FOR THE past five days I can't go to a restaurant without somebody coming up to me and saying 'Aren't you Pat Benatar?' That's the ...
Jeff Beck: Constitution Hall, Washington DC
Live Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 15 October 1980
LIKE A BULL in the arena, the critic occasionally surrenders his ears to a higher cause. At Constitution Hall last night, guitar legend Jeff Beck ...
The Roches: Revenge Of the Roches
Profile and Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 11 November 1980
Lacerating Lyrics of The New Wave Heroines ...
The Plasmatics: Rock's Smashing Success: The Plasmatics & Their New Wave of Destruction
Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 22 November 1980
WHEN THE Plasmatics say "Dynamite," they're not talking about their music. ...
Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 21 January 1981
Funk/Punk Times Two ...
REO Speedwagon: On Top at Last and Rolling in the Fast Lane
Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 22 March 1981
REO Speedwagon's Powerful Drive... ...
Adam & the Ants: Who Invited the Ants to America's Rock Picnic?
Profile and Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 12 April 1981
WHEN THE Ants come marching two by two on their way to their show at the Bayou, they create a decidedly loud clash — a ...
Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 20 May 1981
Rock-Bottom Rock ...
George Jones: Back From the Road to Ruin
Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 25 May 1981
George Jones' Singing Rebound From Lost Love and Liquor ...
George Jones, Johnny Paycheck: George Jones: Fairfax High School, Fairfax VA
Live Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 25 May 1981
WHEN GEORGE Jones stepped out on the makeshift stage of Fairfax High School's gym Saturday night, he defined not only his performance, but his career: ...
Bill Monroe, The Original Bluegrass Boy: "I Keep The Music Going Near Right as I Can..."
Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 7 June 1981
BILL MONROE is the champagne of the bluegrass world — opening a club or kicking off a new festival without him would almost be unthinkable. ...
Emmylou Harris, Ricky Skaggs: Ricky Skaggs: Young Country Singer With Old-Time Roots
Profile and Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 5 July 1981
LAST MONDAY afternoon, Ricky Skaggs had to leave a Nashville recording studio in the middle of a song to take delivery of furniture bought during ...
Live Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 17 July 1981
The Sounds and the Slamdance ...
Black Flag, Minor Threat, Henry Rollins, State of Alert: Slamdancing in the Big City
Report and Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 19 July 1981
THE PIT is ferocious and frightening: Young men's bodies slam into each other, arms and elbows out, fist flailing, like razor-edged Mexican jumping beans popping ...
Kraftwerk: Rock's Mad Scientists
Profile and Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 2 August 1981
Kraftwerk Moves Electronic Music Out of the Lab and Onto the Dance Floor ...
Slim Whitman: Whitman's Sampler Of Country Classics
Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 15 August 1981
The Forgotten Master of Tenor Comes Home ...
Oingo Boingo: The Bayou, Washington DC
Live Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 1 September 1981
Oingo Boingo at Top Speed ...
Live Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 7 September 1981
X-Humed ...
Rev. James Cleveland: James Cleveland: The Preacher Teacher of Gospel
Report and Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 24 September 1981
James Cleveland: Bridging the Gap Between the Sacred And the Secular ...
Don Cherry: Jazz's Exotic Strains
Report and Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 3 October 1981
Don Cherry and His Magic Musical Memory ...
Rick James: Punk's Flashy Funkster
Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 5 October 1981
Rick James: Braided and Brassy Superstar Finds All That Glitters Turns to Platinum ...
Gladys Knight and the Pips: Gladys Knight, Gladly
Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 19 October 1981
After 30 Years, Things Are Still Pip ...
Laurie Anderson: Dizzying, Dazzling Action
Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 7 November 1981
Laurie Anderson: All This and Humor, Too ...
In the Punk of the Night: Penelope Spheeris and the Underground of Shock
Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 10 November 1981
WALKING ALONG Hollywood Boulevard one night in 1979, Los Angeles filmmaker Penelope Spheeris was drawn underground into a tawdry punk club called the Masque. What ...
Joan Jett, the Runaway Success
Report and Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 9 January 1982
Rockville's Blackheart Comes Home to the Bayou ...
James "Blood" Ulmer: Blood Sounds
Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 10 January 1982
Funk Guitarist James "Blood" Ulmer: Harmolodic Karma ...
Gil Scott-Heron: Wax Museum, Washington DC
Live Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 3 April 1982
GIL SCOTT-Heron opened for himself at the Wax Museum Thursday night. He walked out on stage alone and spent close to 30 minutes in a ...
Carly Simon, James Taylor: James Taylor: Trial by Fire & Rain
Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 15 July 1982
34, Divorced & Growing Up: James Taylor Loves His Work ...
Profile and Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 21 November 1982
LUTHER VANDROSS is singin' on top of the world nowadays, master of a string of professions: singer, songwriter, arranger, producer. ...
Irene Cara: What a Feeling! Irene Cara as Her Famous Self
Profile and Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 12 January 1984
FOR IRENE Cara, the price of Fame is to play… in film and on television… Irene Cara! ...
Michael Jackson: The Big Thrill
Report by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 15 May 1984
"WELL, ISN'T this a thriller," said President Reagan. "We haven't seen this many people since we left China." ...
Charley Pride: Pride In His Country
Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 6 July 1984
The Black Singer Who Crossed Over ...
Special Feature by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 19 May 1985
GO-GO MUSIC, the hard-hitting street funk born and bred in Washington's inner city 15 years ago and the heart of a vibrant black subculture for ...
Fela Kuti & the Chords of Africa
Profile and Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 7 November 1986
TWO YEARS ago, as Fela Anikulapo Kuti headed for America for what would have been his first tour here in 15 years, Nigerian authorities arrested ...
The Fat Boys: Getting just desserts
Profile and Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 15 August 1987
THE MAITRE D' at Samplings on M Street hovers over a table that looks like it's just had a serious accident. ...
Report and Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 18 May 1989
DE LA SOUL'S 3 Feet High and Rising is art-rap, a wild and woolly concept album that takes its title from a Johnny Cash song, ...
Jimmy Buffett: Oh, The Stories He Can Tell
Profile and Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 17 December 1989
"IF THE NUNS at school saw me signing like this, they'd hit me on the knuckles with a ruler," says Jimmy Buffett, scribbling his name ...
Danny Gatton: The Fastest Guitar in the East
Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 11 August 1991
The fastest guitar in the East. Or the West, or the South — or anywhere on the planet, really. A lot of people think Danny ...
Madonna: The Madonna Pornucopia
Preview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 21 October 1992
PSSSST! WANNA see some new Madonna product? ...
Report and Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 30 July 1995
IN THE LATE '70s, Washington's Bad Brains pioneered a style of speedy hard-core punk that is now a commercial juggernaut for young bands such as ...
Eva Cassidy: Echoes of a Voice Stilled Too Early
Comment by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 17 November 1996
BRUCE LUNDVALL still shakes his head over Eva Cassidy. Lundvall heads Blue Note Records, a label with a string of distinctive jazz singers. None made ...
Femi Kuti, Fela Kuti: Femi Kuti's Family Tradition
Report and Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 17 March 2000
A FEW YEARS ago, Femi Kuti's 'Beng Beng Beng' was banned from Nigeria's airwaves by that nation's military regime. When a civilian government took over ...
De La Soul: Spotlight: De La Soul
Report and Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 21 July 2000
"WE REALLY don't have a fear of that 'out of sight, out of mind' thing," insists De La Soul's Dave (David Joliceur). ...
Roni Stoneman: One Plucky Lady
Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 13 September 2001
SO, HOW LONG has it been since Roni Stoneman, the First Lady of Banjo, played in the Washington area? ...
Lisa Marie Presley: To Whom It May Concern (Capitol)
Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 9 April 2003
SUSPICIOUS MINDS want to know: How much Presley is there in Lisa Marie? ...
Lisa Marie Presley: The Princess of Rock Makes a Name for Herself
Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 6 May 2005
LET'S FORGET last names for just a moment. ...
Paul Simon: The Sound Of America
Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 18 May 2007
PAUL SIMON'S first encounter with the Library of Congress came in 1956, when, as a 14-year-old, he sent his first song to the Library's Copyright ...
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