Denver, CO · string band · newgrass

Big Richard

1 upcoming festival

All-women Colorado string quartet with conservatory chops and a bar-band mouth — ripping instrumentals, dark humor and songs that don't flinch.

Big Richard is an all-women string band from Colorado, formed by players drawn from the state's bluegrass and acoustic scene. The lineup pairs fiddle, mandolin, cello and upright bass, a configuration that lets the group move between traditional bluegrass arrangements, original material and covers pulled from well outside the string-band canon.

Their live sets lean on instrumental interplay and close vocal harmony, with the cello often carrying a role that a banjo or guitar would take in a more conventional bluegrass group. Between songs the band trades in blunt, deadpan humour, and the contrast between the technical playing and the loose stage manner has become a defining part of how they are received.

string bandnewgrass