Rick Deitrick - The Saga Of Lylah Faire (2024)

Rick Deitrick is a California-based guitarist, composer, and improviser. His music, though composed in standard tuning, stands deliberately outside conventional genres. He seeks inspiration in nature and in particular the various rivers scattered around the Western United States; he often composes alongside them. Gentle Wilderness, his 1978 debut album, was privately pressed and sold at gigs and music shops. Deitrick continued recording only at home for four more decades. In 2016, his "Messy Christa" appeared on Tompkins Square's Imaginational Anthem Vol. 8: The Private Press. The label re-released Gentle Wilderness the following year, alongside the unissued River Sun River Moon from the same period. 2018 saw Home Grown: Recordings 1969​-​1979, followed by 2021's Coyote Canyon, which compiled tracks from 1972 to 1975 (and one from 1999). In 2023, the label released The Unguitarist: Complete Works, 1969​-​2022. The five-disc box set contained all four previous releases and a fifth of unissued material.

Deitrick was born and raised in Ohio. He first picked up a guitar at 16 and made a monumental creative decision straightaway: he would approach his playing technique as if he were the only guy on an island where the instrument had washed ashore. He divorced his playing from any formal music knowledge, save for original standard tuning; he wanted to be able to create whole tones without de-tuning and while retaining his access to the complex sounds that stock tuning provided.

After moving to California in 1968, he recorded privately at home for many years, though he did play local coffeehouses and guitar pulls as well as the occasional club. His privately pressed his 1978 debut album, Gentle Wilderness, in an edition of 500 copies. He sold them at gigs and directly to music shops. He also gave copies to various libraries, and a few others he left in the middle of the wilderness next to trails for people to find.

Deitrick worked privately in California for decades, often composing outdoors and recording at home. In 2016, compilers Michael Klausman and Brooks Rice included his "Messy Christa" on Tompkins Square's 2016 compilation Imaginational Anthem Vol. 8: The Private Press. Label boss Josh Rosenthal was impressed. He re-released Gentle Wilderness in 2017 alongside the unissued River Sun River Moon, which was composed and recorded during the same period. 2018 saw the issue of Home Grown: Recordings 1969​-​1979, while 2021's Coyote Canyon offered eight tunes recorded (mostly) between 1972 and 1975. In 2023, Tompkins Square released The Unguitarist: Complete Works, 1969​-​2022. The five-disc box included compact-disc versions of the four earlier releases as well as a fifth disc, titled Sage & Sand, consisting completely of unissued material from between 1969 and 2022. The box also included rare photos and copious liner essays. ~ Thom Jurek