Music
Press
"...this isn't just hardcore country music, but exceptionally well done hardcore country music...You have to wonder what's the hell's going on when an outfit out of London, Ontario, is infinitely better than the group voted Best Country Band by Austin Chronicle Readers." - 3rd Coast Music, San Antonio, Texas
"The Rizdales may be tough to pigeonhole, but they're easy to enjoy. Moving at times from Buck Owens-influenced 50's country to roots rock and back with ease, The Rizdales prove once again that Americana doesn't have to come from America." - Freight Train Boogie, Santa Rosa, California
"...chock full of catchy songs and a wonderful vocal combination from husband and wife Tom and Tara Dunphy...Right from the off with the twangy country of 'Sing Right Out Loud' and its hooky chorus, The Rizdales grab your attention and don't let go." - Country Music People, London, England
"...original songs, tight harmonies and excellent musicianship...Some might call it alt.country, or even label it Americana, but this is such a fun listen, I'm really just groovin', and you know what, labels and classifications just don't mean a thing...A little different from the norm, and the quality of the writing and the overall enthusiasm lifts it into another league." - Maverick, Kent, England
"When Tom Dunphy sings, it's like Buddy Holly, Bob Dylan and Greg Keelor all rolled into one guy who plays straight-up country like it was 1955 and he and his band, the Rizdales, are on the red-eye to Bakersfield to open for Buck. When Tara Dunphy harmonizes and gets the fiddle singing, it's clear the Rizdales are a honky-tonk force to be reckoned with. They play with a fast two-step beat that never lets up, and when they break into the Cash classic Folsom Prison Blues, guitarist Shawn Bragg does Luther Perkins almost as well as Perkins himself. There are no "down in the dumps" numbers here, just a collection of country stompers designed to get you up on the dance floor, where for a short while you can forget that your rent is due and you're flat broke." Rating: NNNN - NOW Magazine, Toronto
Hot off a dream gig backing Wanda Jackson, The Rizdales are surely ready for the big time -- in case you didn't get the memo, they're the best country act in North America. (And they're from London, Ontario!) Pay What You Can captures them at their raw, spontaneous best: recorded live at suitably scary London institution The Richmond Tavern, the original songs sound so stunningly great they make the Tommy Collins and Merle Haggard covers seem tame by comparison. Spilling the beans about wretched hearts and bad behaviour as only long-time marrieds can, Tara and Tom Dunphy spit out lyrical gems with such conviction and style you'll swear they blew straight in from 1952. Both have such distinctive voices -- his is all Greg Keelor nasality, hers all gorgeously smoky indifference -- full of character and longing and more harrowing heartache than you'll ever want. Buy this record for your friends who think they hate country music." Rating: 4 stars - Eye Magazine, Toronto
"The Rizdales are what the Grand Ole Opry should be playing, and indeed once did...Another Payday Night sounds kind of like a jam session between Blue Rodeo and Hank Williams with Sam Phillips at the board...the Rizdales have written 11 golden country hits that you've never heard." - Exclaim!, Toronto
Discography
- New CD of originals to be released in August, 2007
- Pay What You Can - full length live CD of originals and covers released in 2005
- Bar & Lounge - full length CD of original songs released in 2004
- Another Payday Night - full length CD of original songs released in 2003
Photos
Bio
Rizdales' singer/guitarist Tom Dunphy has been fond of such artists as Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Ray Price and Loretta Lynn since he was too young to know it was too old for him. Time has passed and he's grown into it now, his life seeming to follow the plot of so many of the songs sung by his honky tonk heroes. Tom had been writing and performing his own country flavoured numbers for many years before he and his wife Tara, both from London, Ontario, formed the Rizdales in early 2002. The band has proven to be his most rewarding musical endeavor to date.
Singer/fiddler Tara Dunphy is the harmony in Tom's life both on and off stage. Before he introduced her to the country side of life, Tara was making a name for herself playing traditional Irish music. From the age of 3, when she first began performing, Tara knew music was her calling. One night she walked into a London barroom and found Tom, singing a melancholy song full of liquor and loneliness. She fell for the man and the music. Since then they haven't looked back, joining forces to create the sweet, jubilant and sometimes sorrowful sound of the Rizdales.
Rounding out the lineup are guitarist Brad Keogan, drummer Mark Duff, and bassist Rob Clarke, all three veterans of the Toronto 'tonk' circuit. The trio came together back in the nineties as members of the Rank Strangers, which later became The Frizzells. When not playing with the Rizdales, Brad, Mark and Rob fill their spare time making music together in a number of acts in the ‘Big Smoke’, most notably Atomic 7 and Ancient Chinese Secret, both featuring Brian Connelly on guitar. Keogan, Duff and Clarke are also all members of the Bros. Countrypolitans, along with well-respected singer/songwriter Dan Kershaw. Working together for nearly a decade now the Toronto team has managed to fine tune a sound that has become an asset to the Rizdales well established country songbook.
The Rizdales released their well received debut CD, Another Payday Night, in 2003. The band followed it up with two more discs, the highly regarded Bar and Lounge, released in June 2004, and their recent 2005 recording, Pay What You Can, which was recorded live at London's own Richmond Tavern during one of the Rizdales popular Saturday matinees.
The Rizdales were recently awarded the 2007 Jack Richardson Music Award as favourite country/bluegrass act, an award they won in 2005 along with the London Music Award in the same category. In May of 2005 the group became, and continue to be, the Canadian backing band of the Legendary Wanda Jackson, who said of the Rizdales "They sound better than the Party timers!" One thing is for certain: No matter which album you listen to or which show you see you can count on hearing great songs penned by Tom and Tara Dunphy and performed by those wonderful barrel house troubadours, the Rizdales.
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