Richard Elloyan is one happy guy!  He’s just released his fourth CD “Back In Heaven.”  Joining once again with his talented producer, Steven Swinford, they have created yet another compilation of lyrical and visually graphic stories of the modern West.  Richard’s love for Nevada, songs of the land, and unrequited love are beautifully arranged and sung in the rich voice we have all come to love.

 Richard began singing his western music and telling his stories at a home town open mic event in Dayton, Nevada back in 1997.  Surprised by the reception of the crowd to the song “Carolina” (now on his “Big Nevada Sky” CD) Richard began performing and reciting the songs and stories he had been writing for the past thirty years.  He hasn’t slowed down since.  He’s a far cry from the teenager whose mother made him practice his guitar in the bathroom!

 Raised in Virginia City, Nevada (yes, of Bonanza fame) Richard had the unique opportunity to grow up surrounded by the history of the developing west.  Stories of cowboys coming to town, Mark Twain’s Enterprise, and mining claims fueled the creative fires growing in the young boy who roamed the rural streets of Virginia City.  Glorious canyons and spectacular sunsets framed the activities of the day.  Starry skies and snowy nights were the stuff of dreams.  These are what drew Richard to the land and the solitary existence of the cowboys and cowgirls of the west.

 After an enlistment in the Navy, Richard pursued his passion for the land by attending the University of Nevada at Reno and receiving a degree in Range Management.  Working for the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forestry Service Richard was able to work some of the most beautiful land in the country.  As an Environmental Health Specialist Richard travels the rural roads of Nevada and gathers inspiration. 

 When a friend of Richard’s became the Cow Boss at the Flying M Ranch in Yerington, Nevada many hours were spent working cows, mending fences and even irrigating fields.  It was by the fire one fall gather in the light of a full moon that Richard was given the idea for one of his signature songs “Buckaroo Moon.”  The songs keep coming.

 From local fundraisers to the Arvada Center in Colorado Richard paints the pictures of the great expanse of rural America and the people who live there.  Come along, listen to his songs, read his poetry and you’ll see why Dave Stamey says Richard “is a songwriter with so much talent it should be illegal!”