The WNEW Interview: Woodstock Legend Richie Havens (Part 1)

What can be said about Richie Havens that hasn’t already been said? A legend of the New York City music scene that participated in or was present at just about every major event that happened in music in the 60’s including opening up the single greatest festival in the history of music – Woodstock! Richie’s life stories are the foundation of a generation that led the way to free musical expression and the notion that you could fight against injustice with a song. I was truly honored to spend time with him and get to know this living legend and experience his greatness first-hand.
Richie put out a new album in July called Nobody Left to Crown – a title that may be interpreted as a cry of hopelessness. . . but Richie says that’s not so. Listen closely:

Here’s Richie performing the title track from the new album Nobody Left To Crown live in our WNEW.com studio.

It may be hard to believe that this is Richie’s 30th album, but for him it’s not the number of albums that is important, rather the ongoing conversation that he has with his audience. There’s a theme that shines through in all of Richie’s work as he explains. Listen up:

Richie is famous for doing covers and was one of the first people to cover Bob Dylan before it became popular to do so. On this album, one of the big covers he does is The Who classic Won’t Get Fooled Again. Richie chose to make his own version of this song because of the message that it resonates – a message that is as poignant today as it was when he heard it long ago. Listen Up:

Here’s Richie doing another song from Nobody Left To Crown live in our WNEW.com studio – The Key

To check out the master at work, you can visit http://www.richiehavens.com/ for his tour dates and see his photography and artwork. He has tour dates scheduled through December of next year, so make sure you take in a show and witness the legend yourself.

Check back tomorrow for Part 2 of our session with Richie Havens.