Richard Koechli

 Richard Koechli (1962) is an independent roots music artist from Switzerland; a guitarist, singer and songwriter who has been moving in the melting pot of Blues, Country, Folk and Rock for 32 years. He has played with well known artists such as Larry Garner («I‘ll never forget your slide-guitar!»), Greg Koch («Koechli plays great and he‘s a very nice guy»), Philipp Fankhauser («he‘s the only one of the roots & blues guys in Switzerland able to lay it sooo far back until it gets that very particular J.J. Cale kinda feel»), Lilly Martin, Jens Kruger and many more. Richard has released 10 albums under his own name, he won the SWISS BLUES AWARD 2013 and the SWISS FILM AWARD 2014 (best soundtrack), and he is known for successful guitar-books released under the german publisher AMA-Verlag (one of them, 'Masters of Blues Guitar', won the BEST GERMAN EDITION 2011) and for music-historical german novels (tredition-Verlag).

His album «Parcours» from 2018 reached the Blues charts in the UK and France - and received excellent reviews worldwide: «One of the strongest and most unique roots-Blues records of the year» (BLUES BLAST Magazine USA), «This album has class, with a capital C written all over it» (BLUES MATTERS Magazine, UK). On Richard Koechli's last record (2020), he respectfully and idiosyncratically interprets 10 of Cale's immortal songs; «The Real Chill, Remembering J.J. Cale», a very personal album that brings the master's splendours to new life without betraying their basic spirit. This release hit the mark; the reviews are very enthusiastic and the album reached the Blues Top-10 in the UK and France. Koechli's new album «Holy Blues» (incl. a book about the history of gospel-blues, translated in English) reached #6 in the French blues charts, made it to the top 10 of the pop charts in Switzerland (#9 best Swiss albums) - and was nominated for the 13th CNM Award 2022 (Swiss Award for Christian Public Relations). The trade reviews in Europe are excellent, and "Holy Blues" was played by several American, British & French blues-radios. Richard Koechli lives in Switzerland and France, where he plays regularly solo and with The Blue Roots Company in clubs and on festival stages.