At first glance, the Tucson country band Backroads didn’t look like a country band.
Lead singer Richard “Ricky” Williams had long hair beneath his cowboy hat and a scruffy goatee that went down to his chest.
But when he started singing a Keith Whitley cover or his soulful rendition of Chris Stapleton’s “Tennessee Whiskey,” Williams was all country.
“Rick was just different. He didn’t fit the mold. He didn’t look like a country singer. He didn’t act like a country singer on stage,” said Backroads drummer and co-founder Andy Saenz. “But when he opened his mouth, he sounded better than a country singer. That’s what people wanted to see.”
That voice was silenced on Sept. 24 when Williams was killed in a motorcycle crash near the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. The father of three was 42 years old.
Pima County Sheriff’s officials are still investigating, but according to the initial report, his motorcycle went off the road about 10 a.m. at a curve in the 2000 block of North Kinney Road. He was pronounced dead at the scene. His wife, Jamie, a passenger, was seriously injured.
The couple had just visited their daughter and granddaughter in Picture Rocks, Williams’ former sister-in-law said.
“We don’t know why he went that way because normally you don’t go that way to get from Picture Rocks,” said Lisa Williams-Medina, who had known Williams since he was 5 and was married to his older brother for more than 20 years. “He was like the sweetest person ever. And he had unconditional love for everybody.”
Williams’ death marks the end of the band he and Saenz formed in early 2018.
“Rick is Backroads,” Saenz said. “The name Backroads was the name that Rick had from Day 1. I would never continue doing something without Rick.”
Saenz and Williams formed Backroads with no expectations beyond the initial goal of playing regular gigs in Rocky Point so they could vacation for free. But months into the venture, the band went from “who are these guys” to booking gigs weeks and months ahead throughout Tucson.
“They’ve been a ton of fun,” said Clint Bolin, who owns The Station in Marana and was the first bar owner to give the band a shot. “Rick was obviously a really good voice for the band. He always looked forward to playing and entertaining. ... He always had a smile on his face.”
Jamie and Ricky Williams
The band was Williams’s first, although he had been in a number of groups that never went beyond rehearsals. He had played music since he was a kid growing up in Marana, said Williams-Medina, who remembers driving around with Williams when he was 11 or 12 and listening to him sing along to cassette tapes in his Walkman.
“That was when his voice was cracking and his brother would tease him,” she recalled. “I would tell him, ‘You wait until his voice changes. He’s going to be great.’”
Williams went through a rough patch in his teens; he attended Marana High School for one day before dropping out and got into minor legal trouble, Williams-Medina said.
He got a job in construction and tried to find his place in Tucson’s music scene, forming a metal band with his brother, Williams-Medina said, and joining several other bands that never went anywhere. He had almost given up on music when he and Saenz formed Backroads.
The band, which still played regularly in Tucson and had frequent gigs at The Stillery in Chandler, played its last show Sept. 17 at Whiskey Roads in Marana. Williams-Medina said Williams sang an original song that talked about his struggles in life and finally realizing his dream with the band.
“It was like the best show he ever did,” she recalled. “People were dancing, and it was super cool to see. He loved making people happy. … Backroads was his dream come true.”
“He knew when he got on stage it put him in a different world,” Saenz said. “That was the place where everything went to the side, where he could entertain people and sing and do what he loved to do.”
Saenz said the band will play one final show in honor of Williams. Details are pending.
A Gofundme campaign was launched to raise money for funeral expenses. To donate, visit the site at tinyurl.com/8vk8zb92.
