Sir Richard Bishop

Sir Richard Bishop

Sir Richard Bishop is an American composer, guitarist and singer from Saginaw, United States, based in Phoenix, Arizona. He is best known as a co-founder of Sun City Girls, formed with his brother Alan Bishop, and he has also been part of several other groups, including Paris 1942 in the 1980s, Rangda from 2010, Sun Supreme, The Sea Donkeys, The New Session People, The Clandestine Quartet and □9.

Solo work

Bishop begins performing as a solo artist in 2005 and tours across Europe, Australia and the United States. His first official solo album, Salvador Kali, is issued by Revenant Records in 1998. It is followed by Elektronika Demonika, a release built entirely from electronics and containing no guitar, and While My Guitar Violently Bleeds, which consists of three extended pieces for acoustic and electric guitar. He then releases a long series of albums.

Style and influences

His playing draws on finger-picking approaches associated with Django Reinhardt, Jimmy Page and Ravi Shankar, as well as sounds linked to India, the Middle East and other regions along the gypsy trails and the Silk Route. He works in avant-garde, experimental and folk music, with a focus on instrumental guitar.

Collaborations and other work

Bishop tours extensively with Will Oldham, Bonnie Prince Billy, Animal Collective, Devendra Banhart, Bill Callahan and others. Away from music, he works as a dealer and antiquarian of rare occult books and fine paper ephemera.