Guitarist and singer-songwriter born in Clearwater, Florida who was a well-traveled youngster, residing in Colorado, South Carolina, and Washington, D.C. He played the club circuit wherever he went and when he was nineteen years old, he hitchhiked to Los Angeles, California.
It was there he was discovered by The Flying Burrito Brothers’ manager, Ed Tickman. Gram Parsons had quit the band and they were looking for a replacement. Rick had an immediate impact. He penned and sang vocals on seven songs on their eponymous album in 1971. Michael Clarke, Chris Hillman, and Al Perkins quit the band in October and Rick was left alone to fill the holes left by them. He assembled a new group and they went on tour in Europe and released a live album, Last of the Red Hot Burritos, in 1972. It was, at least at the time, aptly named.
Rick pursued a solo career, and released his first album in 1972. Windmills was an all-star affair that featured the talents of Jackson Browne, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, Randy Meisner, and Al Perkins. Neither it nor its follow-up, She is a Song, generated much interest, and in 1974, Rick co-founded Firefall, a Colorado-based country-rock outfit rounded out by Mark Andes, Jock Bartley, and Michael Clarke. They enjoyed moderate success in the 1970s and early ‘80s, releasing a half-dozen LPs and peppering the charts with hits such as “Just Remember I Love You”, “Strange Way”, and “You Are the Woman”. They broke up in 1982. Rick went on tour with Chris Hillman and then re-joined Michael Clarke in a re-hashed version of The Byrds.
Thom DeRosa, the director of entertainment at Homosassa, Florida’s Sea Wolf club threw a fortieth birthday bash for him in 1989, with Rick providing the entertainment, performing a solo concert for family, friends, and the local TV audience.
It was one of his last performances, as he fell ill in the 1990s and it curtailed his career. A British record company, Gottdiscs, issued both of his solo albums on a double-CD in 2005.
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