Richie Havens is remembered by many as the spirited folk singer who took the stage early at the Woodstock Music Festival in 1969 and captivated the crowd with his song “Freedom.” His impassioned vocals and explosive guitar may have set the tone for the performances that followed at that historic event, documented in the film, “Woodstock,” directed by Michael Wadleigh.
His career actually started a decade before Woodstock in New York City and he’s been touring and recording ever since. In the sixties there may have been some conflict between the generations, but these days Havens enjoys playing to a multi-generational crowd. "I’m feeling really good, still out on the road, every weekend, year-round" and Havens says, with a touch of bewilderment and gratitude, that lately it’s not uncommon for fans from age 7 to 70, who, for instance, have been waiting to get a CD signed, to ask him, “Can I have a hug?” For Havens, it’s a source of inspiration.
Richie Havens returns to the stage at Anthology (anthologysd.com) in San Diego’s Little Italy, on Friday night, May 15. Havens musical style goes well beyond folk music these days and takes him at often into the improvisational style of jazz, which is why Anthology will welcome him to San Diego this Friday. Havens says, there will be “grandmothers bringing grandkids and fathers bringing mothers,” so he knows he will be playing many of his familiar hits. Like George Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun,” which helped put his his album “Alarm Clock” on Billboard’s “Top 30” Chart.
His musical output has been steady through the years, and he has always been a forward-thinking artist. In the 70’s, Havens attached his name to environmental issues and educational programs in a time when much of main-stream America saw “save the earth” as a radical and dangerous notion.
He appreciates how the business has changed and how the musical efforts of new artists, working without a recording contract, can now find an audience because of technology and the internet. “I marvel at the fact that in the 1970’s Warner Brothers gave me a label. I didn’t even know what to do with a label -- but I learned fast.”
Haven’s most recent release is “Nobody Left To Crown,” (Amazon.com) includes a rousing version of The Who’s, “Won’t Get Fooled Again” as well as new originals. Always thoughtful and thought-provoking, Haven’s says this album includes “songs of believing, and songs of disbelieving ... this is the back end of something and the beginning of something else.” He senses that the folks that come to his shows want to be inspired. It’s not unusual to see people in the crowd who are “crying after a set ...and I look at them and they look at me and we laugh, and there’s been a real contact there.”
There will no doubt be some some of that kind of contact and inspiration in the air when the soulful Havens takes the stage Friday at Anthology (anthologysd.com) in San Diego’s Little Italy. Richie Havens says he is certain the show will be a lively one, because he knows the first and last songs he's going to play, What happens in between is sure to make for a spirited evening of music.
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