Richard Dobson (Tyler, Texas, March 19, 1942 - December 16, 2017) was an Am… Read Full Bio ↴Richard Dobson (Tyler, Texas, March 19, 1942 - December 16, 2017) was an American singer-songwriter.

He spent time in the 1970s with Townes Van Zandt, Mickey White, Rex "Wrecks" Bell, Guy Clark, Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, and "Skinny" Dennis Sanchez.

Although his name is not prominent, some of his songs were recorded by famous artists such as David Allan Coe ("Piece of Wood and Steel"), Guy Clark ("Forever, for Always, for Certain"; "Old Friends"), Lacy J. Dalton ("Old Friends"), Nanci Griffith ("Ballad of Robin Winter-Smith"), and Kelly Willis ("Hole in My Heart"). His song "Baby Ride Easy" was recorded as a duet by Carlene Carter and Dave Edmunds as well as by Billie Jo Spears and Del Reeves. It has also been recorded by the Carter Family. For the TV show Christmas On The Road in Montreux in 1984 it was performed by Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash.

Richard Dobson appeared in Heartworn Highways, a documentary film by James Szalapski whose vision captured some of the founders of the Outlaw Country movement in Texas and Tennessee in the last weeks of 1975 and the first weeks of 1976. Dobson performs a rendition of “Forever, for Always, for Certain” in Guy Clark’s kitchen.
The documentary covers singer-songwriters whose songs are more traditional to early folk and country music instead of following in the tradition of the previous generation. Some of film's featured performers are Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle, David Allan Coe, Rodney Crowell, Gamble Rogers, Steve Young, and The Charlie Daniels Band.

He wrote an autobiographic book about his years with Townes Van Zandt and the others mentioned before, called The Gulf Coast Boys. A second book, entitled Pleasures of the High Rhine — A Texas Singer in Exile, was published in February 2012. He's also irregularly publishing a newsletter called Don Ricardo's Life & Times which is mostly about personal experiences. It used to be printed but now is published on his homepage. A collection of his newsletters from 1978 to 2012 were released as a book in 2013.

He moved to Switzerland in 1999, and has been living there ever since. In November 2005 he recorded an album in Nashville with Thomm Jutz, a friend and musician he played and recorded with in Europe. The album On Thistledown Wind was released in 2006. The following album Back at the Red Shack was recorded at the same studio in Houston, Texas where his first two albums were recorded. For the recording of his album From a Distant Shore he returned to Thomm Jutz's studio in Nashville again in 2008 and for Here in the Garden in 2013.
Richard Dobson died December 16, 2017 (aged 75) in Diessenhofen, Switzerland.