Biography
Fan Interview withRichard Lee Wilson
Interviewer: When did you first start playing Guitar?
Richard Lee Wilson: I started when I was 6 or so, I was young and my uncle Richard gave Randy a guitar. I would get it and hide in a closet cause he would hit me if he found out I had his guitar until he didn't like it any more.
Interviewer: When did you start playing guitar publicly?
Richard Lee Wilson: When I was like 15 or 16. I was playing shows before I could get into clubs. I worked at Rock Hurst college doing grounds work and would go to Harling’s Upstairs and listen to cats rehearse and then started jamming with them some.
Interviewer: Who were some of the musicians you jammed with at Harling’s Upstairs?
Richard Lee Wilson: Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Speedy Huggins, Cotton Candy Washington, Mama Ray and a few more that I had no idea who they were. They all sort of dismissed me as the young white kid.
Interviewer: When did you move to Houston, Texas?
Richard Lee Wilson: I moved to Houston, Texas in 1978, I had a job offer to be assistant manager of a food service place. I lived in Houston and a few other cities through the 10 years I was there. Then Moved back to Missouri, then back to Austin, Texas and finally back to Missouri around 2003.
Interviewer: When did you Graduate High School?
Richard Lee Wilson: Graduated in 1979. I was 16 years old. Went to College but it didn’t work out very well.
Interviewer: What kind of work have you done not in the music industry?
Richard Lee Wilson: I have dug ditches, a plumber assistant, carpentry, assembly lines; I was a printer which is where I threw 3 discs out of my back and had surgery. Was retrained in CADD engineering and started temping at RF Engineering and then became a head designer for them. Designed the main frame computers at NASA and worked on NASA’s first two flights of the shuttle.
Interviewer: What experience have you had with the music industry?
Richard Lee Wilson: When I first moved to Texas, I met Johnny Winter at a place called Hole in the Wall. I believe he was the one that told me “For a kid you got something, just keep doing what you do”. I went to a lot of jams and played in a lot of bars, however it wasn't until I moved Back to Missouri that really began playing full time.
Interviewer: Who in the music has influenced you the most?
Richard Lee Wilson: That is a really difficult question, Stevie Ray Vaughan simply because we grew up listening to the same people so our sound was already the same. Robin Trower, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Winter, Alice Cooper those are probably my biggest influences.
