Howard Rickard is a north of England singer songwriter, a full cousin of jazz fusion pioneer John maclaughlin, howards influences started with Irish folk music “i cut my teeth on the Dubliners when I was 15, I knew all the words , and still do” 

Influenced by older brother stew he went into a country/bluegrass phase, and here is where he began to write, with family band brother stew Rickard, his son nick rickard, and the wonderfully talented Hannah Rickard who has since worked with Kathryn tickell, and more recently 2019 Francis rossi of status quo, who howard provided 2 songs for there album “we talk too much” of which was spawned the single ‘heartbreaker’  https://youtu.be/to19PRl0jMo which was nominated for an academy award, it didn’t make it, but,  he’s knocking on the door.... 

Howard moved to Ukraine after the family band the outfit split up after 1 album... 

He took some time out, went to Ukraine and met a bunch of great musicians and promptly went in to the studio and cut ‘songs of love and murder ‘ a collection of dark songs, and some dark artwork by blause Rosen ... 

That was 2020, this is now, and a second album out on august the 7th 2021, available on all major streaming sites. ‘Beyond the pale ‘ is a a collection of 9 songs, pretty dark at times and dealing with some personal stuff, a few of the songs written through the covid pandemic, ‘30 days being one of these songs, going in to a pure bluegrass breakdown, my thoughts on being in lockdown, 30 days in.... and then, along comes ‘seasons’ my thoughts on how the 4 seasons effect me, and my mood, and mentality, culminating in winter coming, and dark nights, and despair......