Blues & Jazz influenced acoustic guitar, and soulful lyric, speak of living a passionate, richly textured, extreme, and sometimes dark life.

11 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Acoustic, FOLK: Folk Pop



Details:
One afternoon in 1969 my brother showed me the chords to Ghost Riders In The Sky. I was thirteen then and in the thirty-five years since, I've learned what I know about music on my own.
In 1983 I was twenty-seven, divorced, confused, and depressed. My life up to that point had been very dark and I felt the need for a change. I purchased my first guitar since high school and began playing as a sideman for Dallas singer-songwriters like Don Stecker and Bob Ackerman. I stepped onstage and into a whole new life as part of the Lower Greenville Ave- East Dallas nightclub scene.
The first Rick Yost Group was an electric, rock and blues three-piece which formed in 1986. (Gary Via / drums, Michael Lampton / bass) The band survived a little over a year. From then to 2000, when I played, I played solo.
I recorded my first CD, Wichita Falls, in 1999.
My second CD, A Marvelous Turn In The Road, a mostly instrumental collection, was released during Christmas of 2003.
My third CD, Life With A Crooked Eye was released in June of 2005.
I won the 2001 Wildflower Festival National Songwriting Competition.
I've opened for B.W. Stevenson, Geoff Bartley, Jack Williams, Kinky Friedman, Robert Earl Keene, Ray Wylie Hubbard, 'Bugs' Henderson, and more.
I've performed on television, radio, and worked freelance for recording studios. I've emceed open mics and songwriter showcases. I've played State Fairs, Music Festivals, house concerts, nightclubs, and bars in Texas, New York, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Hawaii and Europe. It's been a hoot. -Rick Yost

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Rick Yost and his 5pc Acoustic band were invited to play the North Texas, Beanstock Music Festival. Here's what they are saying about the show:

Beanstock draws bigger crowd for 2005 Spring Acoustic Music Festival
By Allen Rich
North Texas e-News
Apr 4, 2005

Coyote Ridge -- If you weren't at Beanstock Saturday night to watch Rick Yost and then The Comealongs light up the night, you can blame your wife, blame your husband, or blame that knucklehead boss...but you can't blame North Texas e-News.

The Comealongs were supposed to take the stage at 8:00 p.m., but it was closer to 9:00 p.m. before they got the crowd going with their Cajun doused progressive country style. They weren't worried about the late start. Everybody was just happy there was still a stage left when Rick Yost and company finished up a scorching set that earned the Dallas band several converts.

Rick Yost paid tribute to the legendary J.J. Cale with one of his first songs, but the only thing better than hearing Yost and his group take you on a fascinating little trip with New Orleans in the Rain was listening to the boys grind out Wichita Falls, two original tunes any songwriter would be proud to claim.
Yost has a riveting voice, he has the licks on guitar, he's got a great supporting cast and he ain't afraid to use any of 'em. His sax man can turn around and carry you away on flute. The rythm guitarist doubles on the fiddle and sings harmony in his spare time. Add a top-notch percussionist and a veteran on keyboards to tie it all together and you have a band with enough variety to make you wonder where they will take you next.
If you can't wait till these guys come back to Beanstock, take a drive to East Dallas and stop in at the Balcony Club on Friday night between 6:00-9:00 p.m. Check out Rick's website at www.rickyost.com

By Allen Rich
North Texas e-News

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MP3.com Artist Review:

Rick won the prestigious Wildflower Song Competition in 2001; he has an incredible blues guitar style.
I actually happened across this guy's CD at a local Borders Records and Tapes store, but I had heard it on mp3.com. The name was familiar, so I bought it on impulse. MAN! I have NOT regretted it! Listening to this man's words is like walking a mile in his shoes. He's been there-done that, lived to tell the tale. The best of Texas blues, country, rock and jazz are pumping through this man's veins. The guitar is sincere, the words are in your face and the delivery is such a contorted confusion of emotion, the best parts of his work sneak up on you with repeated listening, like rediscovering an old friend. Foot tapping. You'll catch your feet tapping when you're not thinking about it.

MP3.com SONG REVIEWS:
Wichita Falls;
Holy Smoke! Rick plays a smokin' acoustic guitar. An entertaining riff and with lively vocals that have warmth that I haven't heard in some time. The instrumentation is straight forward and just what the doctor ordered. A definitely cool song.
Rating:*****
A dark, riveting song that says a little more with each listen. Rick Yost has one of those powerful, bellowing voices that commands your attention, and his guitar playing ain't too shabby either! Don't forget to listen to the intro ... great acoustic work.

New Orleans In The Rain; Great sax, great guitar, and what a songwriter. Lists his influences as Nietzsche and Hemingway.. man!

Snap & Twist; One of the best fingerpicking songs on mp3.com. Tuned in open D!

-www.MP3.com

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CD Review; "Wichita Falls",
BUDDY MAGAZINE, Aug,'99

Rick Yost makes his living these days covering classic rock and blues songs at places like the West End Pub and onboard the Texas Queen on Lake Ray Hubbard. He plays occasionally at Poor David's Pub and the Winedale Tavern, where listeners more often get to hear his original stuff. His album, Wichita Falls, showcases his originals. As with much good music, labels are inadequate.
It's a simply produced album with Yost's excellent, versatile guitar work and just the right touches in the right places of Jay Wilson's sax, Mark Rainbolt's guitar and bass, Paul Alaniz's guitar and keyboard and occasional back-up vocals. It's also a literate album, with references to Zarathustra, ( an alternative spelling for Zoroaster, the founder of the ancient Persian religion of Zoroastrianism, which teaches that good will eventually triumph over evil, the Brothers Grimm, Nietzsche and others.
Yost's Alvarez guitar always soars, and his writing occasionally shines through the album's darkness.
In "Magic Theater", inspired by Herman Hesse's novel Steppenwolf, he comments that "the reward to an angel is the height from which it sees,..." It's a nice, upbeat phrase that could go on any happy soul's refrigerator magnet, until you hear him sing the rest of the sentence: "...all the wingless wonders that crawl upon their knees." If Yost doesn't put that phrase on the front and back of a T-shirt, he's missing a real opportunity.

Tom Geddie, Buddy Magazine