Frequently Asked Questions

Who are you? Why did you create this site?

I have always loved biographies - especially when they're about someone creative, such as an author or a songwriter. You get to see the successes and failures; the carefully made plans as well as the accidents; the long, quirky story of what made someone who they are. Often, the flaws and failures play as much of a part of their "greatness" as anything else. More often still are the events that the person had little control over that ended up playing a major part in their story. If one little event had been slightly different, a persons entire life might have turned out differently. As Buechner put it, "you enter the extraordinary by way of the ordinary." In order for Rich to become Rich, he had to discover the hammered dulcimer at that dulcimer festival in Ohio. He had to be bad at farm work, while also knowing something about planting fruit trees. I wanted to tell the story of Rich's imperfect life, which God used to make the perfect "Rich."

"heritage doesn't puff you up with pride. It really humbles you. If you look at the lives of the people you come from you kind of go, 'if they had married anyone else, if they had moved anywhere else, if their lives had been one iota different, I wouldn't be here." - Rich Mullins

Work on this Website - which is a "Fan site," for lack of a better term, began back in 1996. At that time, the Timeline was part of a larger site called the Audiori Archives which included similar information about many favorite artists including Daniel Amos, Lost Dogs, Mark Heard, Phil Keaggy and others. As time went on, and after Rich died, I wanted to expand Rich's segment of the site to pay tribute to the artist and the music that meant so much to me, and those around me, for so many years. I felt that while there is a lot of information about Rich on the internet, it is all fragmented and in some cases even misleading or inaccurate. I am attempting to get as close as I can to the actual story (as best as anyone can remember it!), without digging into information that is too personal or just gossip. At the same time, I am in no way sanitizing events or trying to paint Rich as flawless. I believe it would be contradictory to his career and ministry to do so.

It has been my goal to tell the story mostly through the words of the people that lived it. A chronological oral history of interviews, the occasional photo, eye witness accounts and personal experiences. The stories behind songs and the events that shaped the artist. Hopefully, I can also capture a bit of Rich's brilliance as well, through his own words. I hope you enjoy the journey.

- Eric Townsend

Can I reprint information from this site?

I do not own the copyright for the articles, album covers, photos or lyrics. Whenever possible, I have gotten permission from the owners and included source information and the name of the copyright owner. Whenever reprinting any of that information (especially in a publication), you will need to contact the owners and ask permission. If you want information about using Rich's music, contact someone at KidBroters.org

That being said, the website itself - including the HTML code, many of the scans and especially the information in the TimeLine, has taken an enormous amount of research and hard work over 28+ years to compile. This work has also included conducting interviews with those that were there, searching through magazine and newspaper archives, not to mention the contributions from so many different people. Please do not reprint or publish this work without asking permission and giving a citation. You can contact me at THIS ADDRESS

I noticed an error or a missing concert date.

So much of this site is created from personal memories, newspapers, magazine articles and a wide variety of sources. Mistakes can happen and memories can be inaccurate. If you have corrections that need to be made to the site or timeline, please contact me at THIS ADDRESS.

I have some information such as an article or interview, a photo or concert poster that you don't have. Would you like me to send it to you?

I would love that! I am 100% positive that there are a lot of interviews, articles and concert dates that are missing - as well as other information that would be of interest to the site's readers. If you have additional information that I could add to the site or timeline, please contact me at THIS ADDRESS. I would love to hear from you.

Is the Ragamuffin movie accurate?

As with any biopic, the answer is - yes and no. It is accurate in that it represents certain aspects of Rich Mullins' life, as best as the film-makers and actors could represent it on film. But, at the same time, it is only a part of the whole picture. Every single method of story telling is flawed or limited in one way or another. When making a biopic movie, film makers are limited by time, budget and scope. You simply cannot include every story, every character or every aspect of someone's life. Time periods and events that may have taken 10 years, have to be shortened, some events have to be dramatized, and some characters have to be left out or changed in order to tell a cohesive story that is also entertaining to the viewer.

In the movie Ragamuffin - who is the "real life" Jess?

The character of Jess does not represent a literal person but is instead representative of multiple romantic relationships that happened over a long period of time. Rich was engaged more than once and dated numerous women throughout his life. Some of them are referenced in this timeline, although names are withheld to protect their privacy.

Why don't you include more information about Rich's girlfriends or his fiance?

I do include the information as it is relevant to Rich's career or music - such as songs that were inspired by girlfriends. I have no desire to drag real people into the spotlight if they do not wish to be there. As I understand it, the majority of Rich's past girlfriends are now married to other people and leading their own lives that have nothing to do with us and this part of their life is frankly none of our business. They don't owe us anything. If any of them want to come forward and offer a story or clarification, they have an open invitation.

I read an article that made strange claims about Rich that I have never heard before. What do you make of these stories?

When there is a perceived "hero" figure - especially a "hero" to religious or Christian groups, there are invariably people that want to smear or destroy that "hero." In other cases, there are people that want to insert themselves into the story, or claim the "hero" as their own. This is in spite of the fact that, as any long-term Rich Mullins fan knows, Rich was very transparent about his own flaws and struggles and that's actually a big part of what pulled us to his music in the first place. This is not someone that set himself up to be idolized. Quite the opposite.

One thing to pay attention to with these articles is that many of them are dismissive of people that were actually there and, when convenient, dismissive of Rich's own words. If it doesn't fit the narrative they are pushing, there must be something to hide! Another very common thread with these articles is that they will make claims, or "raise questions," and then use the very "lack of evidence" to support those claims as proof that they must be true. If I can’t answer this question, someone must be hiding something!

Another common characteristic of these sites is to leave out any relevance to Rich's own Christian beliefs or the influence of God in his life. Things that make sense to a believer are mentioned as "proof," only because the author doesn't understand them. For example, the desire to be a missionary or to live on a Navajo reservation and teach children is personally convicting and is something to be admired. To the authors of these sites, this is more "proof," because who could possibly want to do these things for legitimate reasons? To me, there is an inherent conflict between an industry that is pushing you to be a "star," and the desire to lead a Godly life. To the authors of these articles, it is more "proof" because why would anyone want to turn their back on money or fame? Anyone fairly looking at Rich’s life will be hit over the head with the fact that Rich struggled with that dichotomy from the very beginning. Simiarly, it is impressive that Rich would write a "praise song" following the break up of a serious relationship. How many of us would be able to praise God in such a difficult situation? To the authors of these articles, it is more "proof" of some kind of shell game because the lyrics don't seem to be about a girl. (Ya' think?!)

A life of dedication to God almost demands that we go in the opposite direction of what makes sense to the world.

Another thing to pay attention to is other articles written by the writer. Sometimes there is a pretty obvious agenda! Look at the spirit behind their interactions with commentors. Are they open to discussion and disagreement? Do they welcome information from people who were actually there or knew the person? Are they really just "raising questions" or looking for meaningful discussion on a topic?

Don't believe everything you read. :)

Do you know what kind of Hammered Dulcimer Rich played?

From what I understand, Rich played a Dusty Strings D25 15/14 Hammer Dulcimer.