Photo by Hans van der Linden
One guitar, six strings, no overdubs, 7/8ths improvised, 1/8 composed: that’s the terms for guitar o’erlord Sir Richard Bishop’s new LP, Hillbilly Erotica! His next volume of inspired modal post-grass recitals, inherited recollections and new national anthems is out July 31; today, Sir Rick releases a new single/music video, “Back Forty Lashes.”
“Back Forty Lashes” is a ferocious, trance-inducing piece; ‘splenetic’ is a good word for this kind of playing, but ‘music’ is a better one. Lovely lines of melody emerge like patterns amid all the frantic-strumming dust blowing around from Bishop. That’s a direction in music implied by the song title: kicking up shit, choking necks, fanning the flames past rage and raga alike. Sir Richard’s music video chases us into the darkness of the woods, psychedelic splashes spilling through the timbers with every strum.
Migration from last year’s Hillbilly Ragas to this newfound Erotica is another chapter in Bishop’s progress, drifting via songs into the further frontiers of his pappy’s hometown sounds found across rural Tennessee. Rushing through gutters & picking pickled brains in the saucy headwaters of the down-low & literal American primitive, Sir Rick’s hillbilly music is a mash of brined cultural inheritance, mini-ragas and moonshine-drunk savagery breaking out on the frets. Load up on Hillbilly Erotica on July 31, 2026, and catch Sir Richard Bishop on the West Coast for the next few weeks, luggin’ a bundle of sturdy tunes to every show!
Sir Richard Bishop 2026 Tour Dates:
June 11 – Arcata, CA @ The Miniplex
June 12 – Point Reyes Station, CA @ Dance Palace
June 13 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill (w/ Neil Hamburger)
June 14 – Orangevale, CA @ Faulkner House
June 15 – Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon
June 17 – San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar
June 19 – Tucson, AZ @ Solar Culture
June 20 – Corrales, NM @ Historic Old San Ysidro Church
June 22 – Denver, CO @ Hi Dive
June 23 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
June 24 – Boise, ID @ Shrine Social Club Basement
June 25 – Bellingham, WA @ The Shakedown
June 26 – Seattle, WA @ Black Lodge
July 9 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios (w/ Liam Grant & William DeLee)
August 20–23 – Wales, UK @ Green Man Festival (Brecon Beacons National Park)
September 6 – Chicago, IL @ Judson & Moore (Sound & Gravity Festival)
