Hamilton Leithauser at Café Carlyle
photo by David Andrako

Hamilton Leithauser eulogizes Richard Swift, opening for The Decemberists

Hamilton Leithauser at Café Carlyle
Hamilton Leithauser at Café Carlyle in January (more by David Andrako)

In a new piece for Talkhouse, former Walkmen frontman Hamilton Leithauser brought together many friends and collaborators to reflect on the life of Richard Swift, who tragically passed away two weeks ago. In the article, Hamilton reminisces about meeting Swift for the first time when he opened for The Walkmen, and their time working on Hamilton’s 2014 debut solo album Black Hours. Here’s some of Hamilton’s words taken from the article:

It was just too easy to make friends with Richard “Dickie” Swift. You couldn’t not, and you did it fast. He was an encyclopedia of records, guitars, drums, mics… Anything a musician could throw at him. He was masterful with new weird slang and he was so interested in what you were doing. He could join in any song on any instrument with the kind of feel you just can’t teach. Dickie was a wonderfully talented and gregarious character who will be missed by many, including me.

The article also features eulogies from several of Richard Swift’s close collaborators, including Foxygen’s Jonathan Rado, Nathaniel Rateliff, Delta Spirit’s Matt Vasquez, fellow Walkmen member Paul Maroon, and others. You can read the full piece here, and hear two tracks from Black Hours, on which Swift contributed drums and backing vocals, below.

In other news, Hamilton Leithauser will be opening for The Decemberists at their BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival show in Prospect Park on August 14, which was rescheduled from June. Tickets are currently still available.

Hamilton has some other upcoming shows too, including dates opening for Arcade Fire. He also has a stop at Newport Folk Festival with Rostam Batmanglij later this month, and an upstate NY show at Ithaca’s The Haunt on July 21 (tickets). All upcoming dates are listed below.

Hamilton Leithauser – 2018 Tour Dates
JUL 17 Cape Cinema Dennis, MA
JUL 18 Blue Hills Bank Pavilion Boston, MA*
JUL 19 Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing Philadelphia, PA*
JUL 20 Jiffy Lube Live Bristow, VA*
JUL 21 The Haunt Ithaca, NY
JUL 22 Budweiser Stage Toronto, Canada*
JUL 28 Newport Folk Festival Newport, RI (Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam set)
AUG 14 Celebrate Brooklyn Brooklyn, NY#

* – w/ Arcade Fire
# – w/ The Decemberists