Dr G is Rich Staats. Rich is the composer and the producer
for all the music created by Dr G & the Range Shadows.
One of the questions that Rich is often asked is “where did
you get your formal musical training and education?” The
answer is the school of hard knocks. Rich has not had any
formal education or training, but he can read, and practice
is the best teacher.
Rich started composing in 2002 and composed, recorded,
and produced around two dozen songs from 2002-05. In
2005, Rich was called away to command a battalion in
combat. One of the things that kept Rich going in combat
was thinking about all the ways that he was going to
modify his music when he got back to his studio in the USA.
Unfortunately, Rich lost a significant amount of his high
end hearing. He stopped his music work for several years
till his oldest son told him, “stop feeling sorry for yourself
and figure out a way around the handicap.” Since then,
Rich has had to rely more on visualization and on music
theory to complete songs.
The Range Shadows are the collective of session musicians
that Rich engages and records. Some are repeat
performers and regular “go to” musicians. Others are
spontaneous recordings during big music events like Mardi
Gras and South by Southwest. Over the past twenty years,
literally hundreds of musicians have contributed to the Dr
G & the Range Shadows albums.