From the ‘Coke and Rock’ Festival in Tucumán, Argentina, to shows with San Francisco’s ‘Noches Bohemias’ and ‘La Peña del Sur’, from high school auditoriums to college a capella fests, from intimate cafés throughout the Bay Area to the Great American Music Hall, blind, bilingual singer-songwriter Earl J Rivard has been using his soulful voice to wow appreciative audiences for over fifteen years.
In a recent article in the Alameda Sun newspaper, the manager of an East Bay venue that has hosted him on a number of occasions rhapsodizes, “Every time I hear him sing, it stops me in my tracks. He has a beautiful, strong, clear voice. He’s mesmerizing.” She is not alone. Earl J regularly sells stacks of his self-released Troubadour Blue album at his one-man shows, where he delights his listeners with tantalizing renditions of classic folk, rock and blues tunes in English, Spanish and Italian and with a rich and growing trove of original compositions.
The drunk driver who blinded Earl J in infancy also left him partially paralyzed on his left side. Earl J’s motivation to learn how to play the guitar, however, led him to reclaim sensitivity and strength in his injured limb. He ultimately developed a unique, sophisticated guitar style to accompany his exceptionally gifted vocals.
Earl J continues to develop as a songwriter, penning beautiful love ballads, poignant social commentaries and mournful lover’s plaints with equal ease, grace and power. He is regularly asked to perform at weddings and at funerals, at house concerts and at arts festivals, at worship services and at spiritual retreats, in backyards, in classrooms and at parties. He is currently in the studio working on recordings in English and in Spanish with the hopes of being able to bring his burgeoning talent to an ever-wider audience.
