Information/Write-up
Released July 26, 2023:
At age 79, songwriter and underground legend Riki Gee is a national treasure with a recording career that spans more than 6 decades and is steeped in Canadian cosmic country and psych folk history.
From his early days as Arthur Gee, playing the bars and coffeehouses of Toronto’s 1960’s Yorkville scene and recording the demos that would lead to his being signed with the Colorado based Tumbleweed Records as their premier artist in the early 1970’s, releasing two groundbreaking full length LP’s on the label.
Surviving a rollercoaster decade of some very high and low times in 1970’s corporate America and Tumbleweed’s untimely evaporation would lead to Arthur’s migrating back to Canada and adopting the name Riki Gee.
This move and name change would equate to disappearing overnight to Arthur Gee’s psychedelic country cult following who would launch the widespread “in search of Arthur” movement.
Swiss fans would eventually track him down 25 years later on Denman Island BC in 2007 and gain permission to reissue his early demo recordings.
Ten years later he would be once again rediscovered on Vancouver Island in 2017, this time by Light in The Attic Records (Rodriguez/Sugarman), who would purchase the rights to his full Tumbleweed catalog for reissue.
In all the times between, Riki has never stopped writing and playing and has had a very long and very independent music career in Canada with several notable collaborations (Celtic Blue, Dark Monkey, Zamboni Jiver) along with his own solo recordings and countless live performances.
Riki’s life has been an amazing journey of artistic vision, integrity, obscurity and perseverance.
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