RickDrost Longer bio

Cambridge Singer/Songwriter Rick Drost

Rick’s Dad gave all the kids in the family piano lessons, and practiced Beethoven, Chopin, and Debussy pieces for relaxation after the kids were tucked in. Rick continued playing piano through high school. In the late 60s he took up banjo and joined his brother and other high school friends in a Kingston Trio style group, “The Rovers” aka “The Explorer Troubadours”, playing church suppers and scout events until he went to college. There he discovered choral singing, with the Yale Glee Club and a smaller singing group, The Augmented Seven, that bucked the pure a capella trend and played some songs with guitars (and banjo!). He also heard Joni Mitchell three nights running at a little coffeehouse in New Haven; this changed forever how he thought about songwriting and playing guitar. After college, Rick played coffeehouses from DC to Maine in the ‘70s, and played bass with gospel and blues singer Bill Brown in Providence RI. Moving to Cambridge, he joined up with former Augmented Seven Bob Colford and friend Steve Brown as the folk/rock band Parts and Labor, playing around Boston and Cambridge. In the late 90’s Rick took up choral singing again, first with the Spectrum Singers (40-50 voices) and then with the larger Yale Alumni Chorus with which he’s traveled to Russia, the UK and South America. In 2001 he picked up the guitar again started playing his own songs, old and new, and covers (Dylan, Dave Carter, Traditional) on the vibrant open mike and folk circuit in New England. Encouraged by the supportive environment in New England, Rick started writing again. Meanwhile, Parts and Labor got back together for song, food, and fun, doing occasional shows in Cambridge in 2003-2005. Rick released a full length CD “Twelve Dared Dreams”, with Bob and Steve, featuring their original songs, old and new, plus some favorite P&L cover tunes, and artwork by Boston artist Karyl Klopp in December 2005, on cdbaby.com. www.cdbaby.com/cd/rdrostpal . Rick has appeared at clubs, coffeehouses and festivals in Chicago, New England, and Atlanta, and recent stints at SAMW in New Hampshire and a Song School in Colorado, and visits to guerrilla showcases at Folk Alliance in Memphis and New York have encouraged him to write and sing out more. He is now working on a second solo CD containing his more recent songs.

Info, visit www.rickdrost.com