 Richard Moody
Birthday: August 18
When Richard joined the group in Summer of 2005, it was clear right from
the start that his violin playing was a perfect fit for The Bills’musical
tendencies. He blends classical and jazz techncal skills with a soulful
connection to folk and rock music. Audiences everywhere have been mesmerized
by Richard’s fantastic musical flights.
Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to parents who’d recently emigrated
from Australia, Richard spent his early years benefitting from his mother’s
skills as an Orff music-teaching specialist and his father’s focus
on language and literature. The family was extraordinarily musical, with
three of four siblings growing up to be full-time professionals (one sister’s
with the Winnipeg Symphony, another is a member of the successful folk
group, The Wailin’ Jennys). With an early grounding in piano, Richard
gravitated towards violin at age 10 and viola when he was 12.
In his teens, Richard spent two arduous years studying in France at the
Conservatoire Nationale de Caen, before coming home and finding new directions
in music. He formed the explosive roots outfit Acoustically Inclined in
1989, and discovered that labels and boundaries in music were not of any
relevance to him. Later, between 1997 and 2001, he released and toured
on three solo albums, all of which received critical acclaim.
Before finally hooking up with his musical kindred spirits, The Bills,
Richard had developed into one of the top session players and sidemen
in Canada, playing on countless albums and touring in every musical genre
imaginable. He embarked on a career scoring films, one of which (My Mother’s
Village) won an award in 2002 for best score in a documentary film.His
reputation had grown to the point where convincing him to focus his incredible
musical energies on playing with one single group seemed an unlikely possibility.
But The Bills worked their magic, called Richard up in late spring 2005,
and offered him a spot in the lineup. Without any hesitation, and understanding
that The Bills shared his open-minded approach, his free-spiritedness,
and his high technical standards, Richard announced he was ready for a
new adventure, and by summer’s end, he’d become a Bill. The
rest is history unfolding.
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