Traditional Arts in Upstate New York. Traditional Arts of Upstate New York
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Clarence Richards

Lake Luzerne, Warren County
Country Music Pioneer 
(1918-2000)


By the age of 12, Clarence ‟Daddy Dick” Richards was playing fiddle for local dances in the Corinth area of Saratoga County and substituting for the caller when necessary. His father was a woodsman, musician and vaudeville entertainer, so Clarence came by his early interests quite naturally. Known early as a ‟song sponge,” as a boy he met the radio personality Bradley Kincaid who had a summer home near Saratoga and often traded songs with him. Early in his music career, he lost his left hand in a paper mill accident, but within six months he had discovered a remarkable way to continue playing the fiddle. Dick was a regular at area dude ranches and an early entertainer on Radio WGY in Schenectady. He has performed with many prominent country and bluegrass music stars. For years, Dick was Frontier Town’s Davy Crockett and, in recent years, joined the Adirondack Liars Club as a premier story teller of tall tales and true.


Click here to listen to the TAUNY/NCPR "Meet the Masters" story about "Daddy Dick."

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