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Richard Cousins

E

Essexbass

Nov 8, 2003
135
6
62
Reading, U.K.
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#1
Hi,
Does anyone know what happened to Richard Cousins, who was in the Robert Cray Band?

I thought he was a really good bassist with a great feel & some really good bass parts (real old school 60's Southern Soul player like Donald "Duck" Dunn & Tommy Cogbill).

The last I heard of him was playing on Van Morrison's "Too Long in Exile" album.... Anyone know what Mr. Cousins is doing now?

Cheers,
Essexbass.
P.S - I like Karl Sevareid too, but RC was my favourite....
 
#3
I remember when Robert Cray first came on the scene and really digging what Cousins brought to the table. Like Johnny B Gayden he played blues, but also funked it up a little too. It took a little while for me to get over Cray letting him go. Now I really dig what Karl Sevareid adds too, and really can see what kind of feel Cray was going for when he made the change.
 
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#6
lefty007 said:
Awesome band. Didn't realize Ivan Neville had such a good voice, and didin't even know he had his own band going. Amazing. That would be dream gig for me as far as music style.
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Check out Dumpstaphunk!

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Nicky Daniels AND Tony Hall on basses :bassist: :bassist:



Essexbass: I know he had a band called "Hendrix Cousins" with the Hendrix and Pete Haas from those videos. Their site was updated just last month... http://www.hendrixcousins.com/
 
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#7
Richard moved to Europe, Switzerland I believe, in the late 90's. He was doing a TV show there for a while as he attained instant celebrity status from his bass work here in the US. He quickly started a group called Hendrix Cousins and recorded two albums and had a couple hits in Germany. Both were good albums, the last one was my fav. You can find both on iTunes. Their site is www.hendrixcousins.com. He also, as mentioned above did some work with Ivan Neville. I just found out he is now playing with a European blues guy Invalid Link Removed. I played bass for several years with Richard's brother Butch Cousins, one of my favorite drummers. Talk about big shoes to fill, the guy grew up with his borhter playing bass with him! He kept me updated on what was happening with Richard.
 
#8
MLJ is absolutley right. Richard is living in Zürich, Switzerland. I had the fortunate experience to hire him to fill in for our bass player in my blues band for a private show a few months back. He also does some studio work in California sometimes with Alan Mitarikani ( BB Chung King & The Buddaheads ), as well as doing some shows with the likes of Jimmie Vaughn Steve Miller and others. He also plays in a really cool funk outfit over here ( I also live in Switz since 2001) called 'Funky Brotherhood'

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below is a couple photos of him and I taken May 5, 2007.


lyons_cousins.jpg


lyons_cousins2.jpg
 
#10
Richard played last night (4/22/2009) here in Tucson with the Robert Cray band. Robert said he's known Richard since 1969 and that he had recently rejoined the band. Robert kept Richard on his toes as to which song was next in the playlist which had Richard scrambling for the right bass to play. Jim Pugh on keyboards and Tony Braunagel on drums round out the band at present.
 
#11
Richard played last night with Robert Cray here. A little too much on the songs and the a particular bass thing. Almost seemed like a power play between the two, because the band did not wait for him. Richard came in late on a couple of songs cause he wasn't ready. Two things come up for me. I usually have a standard set list (#1). (#2) I kinda like to get my sound right for the evening and stick with it. I have both a four and a five string. But totally understand different setups for different sounds. But hey, this is not a cover band. Its straight blues. Plus with a classic straight SVT set up... exactly where is the range of sound coming out of that thing? He was tweaking that every time he changed guitars. Although I didn't hear much difference between the guitars, he had a good sound.
 
#13
stingraysvt said:
He's actually the one playing with Robert Cray at the Crossroads 2010, also played at the end on BB King's "The Thrill is Gone."
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Was he there. I am so old I can't remember, seems I should have. Obviously I was drunk again. I do rembember Pino and Robert Cray. Old.
 
#14
I have always loved RC. Imagine my delight in seeing him onstage for Robert Cray recently in Wilmington. The moves and the lines are the same only the dreads are different. I was sure when Robert Cray said "That Richard Cousins is som'fin else, ain't he?"
 
#15
tedantle said:
Was he there. I am so old I can't remember, seems I should have. Obviously I was drunk again. I do rembember Pino and Robert Cray. Old.
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Yeah, I was at Crossroads 2010 as well. Richard Cousins played with Robert Cray during his band set. And it was Robert Cray's band (including Cousins) that played during the finale set which featured Clapton, BB King, Buddy Guy, Hubert Sumlin, Jimmy Vaughn and Robert Cray.
 
#19
tedantle said:
Richard played last night with Robert Cray here. A little too much on the songs and the a particular bass thing. Almost seemed like a power play between the two, because the band did not wait for him. Richard came in late on a couple of songs cause he wasn't ready. Two things come up for me. I usually have a standard set list (#1). (#2) I kinda like to get my sound right for the evening and stick with it. I have both a four and a five string. But totally understand different setups for different sounds. But hey, this is not a cover band. Its straight blues. Plus with a classic straight SVT set up... exactly where is the range of sound coming out of that thing? He was tweaking that every time he changed guitars. Although I didn't hear much difference between the guitars, he had a good sound.
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Saw him with RC last night in Paris. Same thing, changing basses all the time - a P bass, a J bass, a 5 string J and an acoustic bass of some sort (same as in photos above). I don't know if he was changing for differnt strings etc, but there was no real difference in sound between any of them. He was tweaking the amp a lot too, although that could have been for his onstage sound. Great player and a great show.
 
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