Richard Leschen was born in Newport, Arkansas, home of rockabilly legend Sonny Burgess. Actress Mary Steenburgen, too, was born there. Leschen's musical interests began at age 10, so his parents gave him a $9 Sears & Roebuck guitar to keep him quiet. Years later he moved to New Zealand, only to become a burden on an unfamiliar and unsuspecting society of generally nice people. He hasn't learned to be quiet and his picture is shown above. One of Des Helmore's pictures is shown below (he lives in Auckland).
Leschen writes songs to escape an ordinary life. Japanese call it country music, as do some critics. No one writes songs like Leschen and no one plays acoustic guitar like him.
His first album Heavy Waters features an ensemble of great New Zealand musicians and the second album, Black Horses, is solo acoustic guitar + mouth. Both releases are a mix of what some folks call alt-country, rock, folk, Tex-Mex, and bluegrass.
Mary Steenburgen has a house at Martha's Vinyard and is married to Ted Danson and Sonny Burgess still rocks.
Looking Back, Des Helmore, 2004
Leschen is from a working class family with relations who are
writers and artists. Grandfather Alfred Bierhoff was a German immigrant
who lived much of his life in Newport Arkansas, and was a poet who
wrote for local newspapers. Grandfather Julius Leschen (shown left) was
an accomplished pianist and violin player of Russian ancestry who
performed in playhouses in New York City. (Photo circa 1920, Family Archive)
