Rootbeer Richie

Rootbeer Richie and the Reveille is a soul and swamp pop band based in Denver, Colorado, fronted by Louisiana native Rootbeer Richie, who legally adopted the name. He grew up in a Cajun family across Lafayette, Lake Charles, Shreveport and Bossier City, attended Louisiana State University briefly, and first moved to Denver in 2014, playing in local groups including Colfax Speed Queen before returning to New Orleans and then settling in Colorado permanently in 2020. He assembled the Reveille in 2021 from musicians already working in the Denver scene; a 2025 Westword profile named guitarist Paul Simmons, bassist Phil Hutchinson, keyboardist Mark Whitrock, drummer Nick Berlin, tenor saxophonist Nate Larkin and baritone saxophonist Alex Snyder. The band name comes from LSU's student paper and is glossed by the group as waking up with horns. The sound pairs a New Orleans rhythm and blues backbeat with rock and roll guitar, thumping piano and a horn section, drawing on Ray Charles, Fats Domino and Sam Cooke alongside contemporary singers such as Leon Bridges and Teddy Swims; the band defines swamp pop as the middle point between old-school New Orleans rhythm and blues and rock and roll. The debut album Never Needed Me was recorded at Nathaniel Rateliff's home in 2024. The group has opened for Jack White at Denver's Mission Ballroom, played a Bernie Sanders rally in Denver in March 2025, and headlined the fifth annual Mile High Mardi Gras Mambo at the Ogden Theatre in February 2026. It works steadily across Denver and northern Colorado, with appearances at the Underground Music Showcase, FoCoMX, Red Rocks and Colorado State University's Lagoon Concert Series.

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