A tribute to the words and music of Rich Mullins

I have always loved biographies - especially when they're about someone creative, such as an author or 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

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