Sentinel photo by LIV SUYDAM
Paul ‘Butch’ Richard at work in his garage studio.

McVEYTOWN — Paul “Butch” Richard is a born-and-raised Lewistown local. With a garage, some equipment and a burning passion for music, Butch has produced over 30 videos of musical covers of classics such as the Beach Boys’ “Don’t Worry Baby,” and Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin.” On top of covers, he also produced a recap video of the Mifflin County Drama Club production, Anastasia.

Richard was born and raised in Lewistown and came from a very musical family.

“My father was a near professional musician and it’s just kind of been in the blood, so that’s where it all started,” he explained. A 1974 graduate of Chief Logan High School, he dabbled in junior high band, and he began playing guitar his senior year of high school.

In 1986, he dove deeper, opening the “Eastern Sound Productions” studio, which ran from his home. While running this studio he was simultaneously working at Standard Steel, where he worked for 37 years, just recently retiring.

In 1999, the studio was bought out by his friend Skip. Skip went on to open his own studio in Beaver Springs, called “Song Crafters,” a highly successful studio, where he worked with tons of different musicians, including Davy Jones of the Monkees.

After he was bought out by Skip, Richard took a step back, working full time at the Standard Steel, and took some time to work on other projects, such as building some different things, which landed him on the QVC channel twice.

After taking a break from music, Richard decided to transform his garage into his own mini studio.

“Six years ago I retired and I called the guys. I called Skip, I called my drummer, I called guys that I worked with in the recording studio 35 years ago, and said, guys we gotta get together and make some music before we die,” Richard explained. So it began, making covers and videos.

The only issue that seemed to arise was the fact that since everyone had their own busy schedules, it was difficult for them to find time to all get together. That’s when Richard used his knowledge of multi track recording to his advantage.

When making the music itself, the guys come to the ‘Garage Mahal,’ a name Richard’s friends came up with for the unique studio, to record their parts of the song. Once each part is recorded, whether hours apart or completely different days, Richard has the ability to piece it all together whenever all the parts have been collected. For example, he recently posted a cover containing tracks of his late father playing trumpet from 21 years ago, and added the drums a week before posting.

As impressive as the recording process can be, the video process is arguably even more impressive. Following the same concept as the recording process, each person tends to film their sections separately. However, the videos are so seamlessly edited that without knowledge proving otherwise, you would assume they were all filming together at the same time.

The most impressive part? Richard has never taken a class on recording music or videos, he is completely self taught.

Although the core “group” consists of four to five musicians, Richard often brings in local artists to participate as well. “I’ve been going around and watching some different bands at wineries and things and where they play, and I’ll get some of those guys to come in as guests,” Richard explained, “I just like to highlight local talent.” One of the guests, Chris Ruble, even gained airtime on the local WCHX radio station for over a month, with his cover of Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin.”

Discovering the talent he possessed, Richard continued to pursue making music, producing over 30 videos and thousands of views, all for fun, making no profit from any of it. Now, he works with his friends and band mates, making music as often as they can, and making videos to go along with each song if possible, using the advanced editing skills and making sure to include everyone that he can.

Richard and all his work can be found on Facebook under “Paul Richard” or on YouTube under “Butchyboy4,” where viewers can see the final videos.