Richter proudly takes up the music mantle

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When it comes to the love of playing and writing country music, Dennis Jay Richter Jr. (DJ), is a case of where the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree.

Over the past 10 to 15 years, the 22-year old son of Dennis Jay Richter Sr. has been earning a name for himself as a singer and a songwriter. He is developing a regional following after the release of his CD Long Time Coming, but he is also remembered as a child prodigy who played with his father and his bands as a boy.

Richter Jr. started out playing drums, just like his father did, but learned to play by sound and feel. He later joined his father’s band Texxas as a drummer, but eventually made his way out front as a guitarist and singer. He has done all of this while never having learned how to read music.

Now he is moving out on his own and trying to make a name for himself writing and singing country music. But he gives all the credit to his father.

“My dad did it—he was the one who taught me to love country music and to perform,” D.J. said last week. “I have always wanted to be like my dad. He was the greatest influence on my life.”

Richter says his early memories of playing music started when he got a drum set as an elementary or junior high school student. He taught himself how to play with some instruction from his father and others, but eventually he learned how to play other instruments as well. And he did it all by learning while watching others play and listening to the music they played. That is how he learned.

“My dad used to play the drums for a long time, going all the way back to when he played for the Velvets back in the 80s,” D.J. said. “Then one night when I was a teenager he just looked at me and asked: ‘Do you think you are ready to perform? Can you handle it?’”

“I told him I was, and that’s how I got my start playing with my dad,” he laughed. “I was the drummer and my dad was out front singing the songs. But playing with him and his band I learned how to play the guitar and other instruments. As I got older I started playing out front and my daddy went back to playing the drums.

“I’ll never forget my dad saying to me, ‘I’ve waited most of my life to come out from behind the drums and be the lead up front, and then you come along and take over out front and I have to go back and play drums again.’ But I knew he was really proud of that and I am proud of that as well.”

D.J. says he was blessed to hang around his father.

“I grew up around the bars and great dance halls of Texas,” he said. “My dad’s band slogan was Texxas—two steppin’ and I was blessed to have been a part of it as it was some of the best times of my life.”

Richter Sr. stepped back and let D.J. start moving up front, then was suddenly stricken with cancer. The former law enforcement officer passed away in February of 2014. D.J. still misses him to this day.

“All of my influences for playing and writing music centered around what my dad taught me and played,” D.J. said. “I grew up liking Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard and George Strait. Those were the songs I liked.

“Now, I try and write songs that are sad songs like those were, but I don’t want to write about trash and pickup trucks. You have to write about matters to you and what moves you.”

D.J. is still trying to find his way in the Texas music scene. He says he has played with about 150 different guys in recent years, and the band and level of play keeps moving depending on who is available on what night.

“I would like to get some bigger venues, and really try to reach a bigger audience,” he said. “It’s frustrating at times and sometimes you feel like giving up but then it comes back.

“I can’t imagine not doing this.”

D.J. is a full-time cowboy, and he and his wife Connor are expecting another child. They have a four-year old named Rhett, and D.J. thinks Rhett is going to follow the family tree.

“I can see it in him now—he’s going to play music as he gets older,” DJ says proudly. “It’s in his blood.”

Like father like son.

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