Always By My Side

Ric Blair's first solo recording, "Always by My Side", is a collection of heart-moving ballads, worship songs, and instrumentals. It features Ric's radio single "The Red Sea" and the concert staple "Ready for the Storm," as well as Ric's Appalachian version of the classic hymn "Near the Cross." The Ric Blair Band is a Christian, Celtic, folk rock group on Celtic Isle Records, which is distributed by Martingale and Bayside in the United States. On tour in the UK and across the United States, the Ric Blair Band has been impacting audiences with the message of freedom in Christ with brilliant, fiery music from the highlands of Scotland to the shores of Ireland. The Ric Blair Band's unique musical style has been described as "the acoustic Beatles meets Braveheart meets Jesus". With Ric Blair on lead vocals, guitar, keyboards, and bodhran, Patrick D'Arcy from Dublin on uilleann pipes, Yun Blair on Irish pennywhistle, Kim Haller on Celtic fiddle, and Jeff Durham on percussion, the Ric Blair Band is a truly international group that dares to be unique and different. Ric also writes and produces most of the Band's songs and recordings. Ric's interest in Celtic music originates from his Irish/Scottish ancestory. His mother comes from an Irish family which settled in Kentucky in the early 1900s. "Blair" means "battlefield" in Gaelic. Ric's father's family has been traced back to Blair's Castle in the highlands of Scotland. Many of these Blairs fought alongside William Wallace of "Braveheart" fame. Most notable of these Blairs was John Blair who served as the personal chaplain to this Scottish hero. Thus, Ric's passion for the Lord and for music comes from a long line of Spirit-filled freedom fighters. Ric Blair has been extensively involved in Christian and secular music since 1985 when Ric was roomates with the late Rich Mullins. Ric played guitar on Rich's first CD which they recorded in Amy Grant's basement studio. During Ric's first year in Nashville he wrote a song entitled "Never for Nothing" which became a number one hit for grammy nominee Margaret Becker. This song is one of the most played songs in Christian music history and is featured in the EMI Music, Time/Life "Songs of Life" series. In 1986 Ric moved to Los Angeles to compose TV and film scores. There he worked with people including Morgan Freeman and Danny Glover and composed scores which aired on HBO and Cinemax. An interesting side note is that Ric also served as a personal guitar instructor to rock singer Sheryl Crow. Since starting the Ric Blair Band in 1995, they have shared the stage with Steven Curtis Chapman, Point of Grace, Randy Stonehill and many other contemporary Christian artists. Lisa Oswald, former program manager for KWVE radio in Los Angeles says, "Ric Blair's Always By My Side is providing the fresh and unique sound that contemporary Christian radio has been longing for! This is the best Christian album that I have heard in years!" As he fights today's spiritual battles, Ric says, "Christ died for freedom's sake (Gal. 5:1,13)-- to free us from sin, death, circumstances, legalism, and anything that binds us. Such is the love of the King we serve." For more information on Ric Blair and the Ric Blair Band, please visit the Band's official website at www.RicBlair.com or visit us on MySpace.com/TheBlairBand.