In His Own Words:
Q&A with A Jewish Rock Star

Rick Recht, a top touring international Jewish rock star, is distributing  free copies of his brand new album of inspirational Shabbat melodies, Simply Shabbat, to all St. Louis religious school families, a gift from jewishinstlouis and the Gladys K. Crown Foundation .

Question jewishinstlouis: You have a very distinctive voice and audience? How did you get your start in the music industry?
 
Rick Recht:  When I was a kid, I idolized Elvis Presley and always wanted to be a rock star.  I started playing guitar and writing music when I was 8 and just kept going all the way through college.  I never really played or even knew any Jewish music at the time.  I toured a bunch in college (USC in LA), graduated, went to guitar school for a year (Music Institute in Hollywood, CA)  then hit the road for several years touring around the country in a bus playing  rock music at clubs, colleges, and ampitheaters.  It was a total blast!   It was during this time that a guitar student of mine ,  who was a director of a Jewish day camp ,  convinced me to try songleading at the camp (Ramot Amoona, B'nai Amoona, St. Louis) in St. Louis.  It totally changed my life... I really found my calling and an incredible mentor.  The director of that camp - my guitar student - is now my wife, Elisa.  She got me into ALL of this!

 
Q:  Your music is such an inspiration to many folks. How would you describe the sound and tone of your new CD?
 
RR:  My goal with Simply Shabbat was to write melodies that would be melodic and very easy to learn so that congregants could sing along while the song was actually being sung to them for the first time.  These are also particularly short songs since I wanted to give congregations the ability to include more of the Shabbat liturgy in their Friday evening services.  The Simply Shabbat melodies weave between pop and traditional interpretations of common Shabbat liturgy.


Q:  Did you write all the songs on the current CD? What is your inspiration when writing?

RR:  I wrote all of the songs on the new CD except  " Holy Holy Holy "  which was a magical song I discovered through a Rabbi friend of mine in Memphis.  We did some rearranging and some translation into Hebrew, but it's essentially melody from a band called Mercy Me.


Q:  How long does it take you to produce an album like this from start to finish?

RR:  Albums usually take a couple months of writing and then about 3-4 months of actual production.  This album took about  2 years to write and 6 months to produce.... a long labor of love!
 

Q:  How did you come up with the style/concept for your CD cover?

RR:  Whenever I visualize Shabbat, I think about the sun setting ... it's just my personal image of serenity, peace, and spirituality.  When I saw this image, I was like "This is IT!" 
 

Q:  How many CDs did you produce?

RR:  I have produced probably 10 of my own CDs and probably another 10-15 of other artists and special projects over time
 

Q:  What is the concept behind your Simply Shabbat CD? How is it different from others you've produced?
 
RR:  I'm particularly excited about Simply Shabbat because this is the first album we have ever 'road-tested.'  We have been playing most of the songs on Simply Shabbat for the last year in communities across the country.  Usually I write and record the songs, then play them for people later and see how they react.  We have learned a lot about these melodies and tweaked them quite a bit through sharing these songs with congregations.  This process has also helped to create a really nice build up of anticipation for its release.
 

Q:  How does it feel to be partnering with jewishinstlouis.org and the Gladys K. Crown Foundation to give this CD away as a free gift?

RR:  Both  jewishinstlouis.org and Gladys K. Crown Foundation have done SO much to unite our Jewish community.  It's really an honor and thrill to partner with such incredible advocates for making positive connections with Jewish youth in St. Louis.  I think that collaboration and partnership is the key to creating the paths to Jewish identity that we as a Jewish community need to establish now more than ever.

Q:  How will it be distributed? What about those who don't belong to a congregation? How do they get the CD? Are the tracks available online? How does someone access them?

RR:  The Simply Shabbat CD will be distributed through the religious schools in St. Louis over the next couple weeks to every religious school family - nearly 1 , 500 CDs.  The Simply Shabbat CD also provides a Celebrate Shabbat web link (http://www.rickrecht.com/celebrateshabbat) for individuals to access free exclusive bonus Simply Shabbat acoustic tracks, videos, and sheet music.  The Celebrate Shabbat link also includes a list of fun and innovative ideas for families to celebrate Shabbat at home.  Jewish youth in St. Louis who do not attend a local religious school can also access the Celebrate Shabbat web link to download all of the exclusive bonus materials.   The Simply Shabbat CD ($15) and songbook ($18) can be purchased at www.rickrecht.com as well as area Jewish gift stores. 
 

Q:  What is your ultimate goal with this album? How many families do you hope to reach?

RR:  Ultimately, I hope we are able to distribute Simply Shabbat CD and songbook to as many youth and families as possible throughout the United States encouraging them to celebrate the excitement and beauty of Shabbat.  We are working on making the distribution of Simply Shabbat the largest free distribution in history.  


Q:  What's your next project?

RR:  I don't know yet...