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AVERAGE JOE

AVERAGE JOEAVERAGE JOEAVERAGE JOE

My first CD is here!

Events

AVERAGE JOE

AVERAGE JOEAVERAGE JOEAVERAGE JOE

My first CD is here!

Events

Richard Daigle, Singer/Songwriter in Chattanooga, TN

A LITTLE ABOUT ME

My first  CD has just come out--65 years in the making! That’s when I started post womb life in New Orleans. Better late than never, huh? 

Here's a nice review  came out recently, check it out!

When I was around 12 years old, I found a little guitar we had around the house and started strumming like I knew what I was doing, which I didn’t. I remember one day Mom yelled from another room, “Rick, turn that radio off!” I thought, “WOW! She thought that was real music!” A year or so later, I bought a real guitar, a Yamaha classical for $60, got a Mel Bay chord book, started teaching myself and also had some nice times with Dad who showed me some things. He played guitar and mandolin in a band in the heart of Cajun country back in the day.  

Now I’m a retired writer/editor and communications specialist turned singer/songwriter the last several years. Things happen in life and we all find ways of processing. Songwriting is often that for me. I was so blessed and fortunate to be married for 34 years to Jan White Daigle, a fine woman, beautiful inside and out. She loved God and loved people, always cheerful and faithful. In 2014, cancer took away what should’ve been a fuller life but she made the most of the years she had and she touched so many people with me at the front of that list. Since then, I’ve met some wonderful women and had relationship and life experiences that have inspired songs. 

When it comes to songwriting influence, John Prine is at the top of the list.  Someone turned me on to his first album when I was in college in the mid to late 70s and I was hooked. I first saw him in 1977 at a bar at the foot of Sunshine Bridge near Donaldsonville, La. Glad they didn’t call the fire marshal because we were sardines in there, packed to the gills. Then, around 1979 or so, he played a show in Jekyll Island. I was a reporter for The Brunswick News daily paper and I interviewed him. As my song "John Prine, A Friend of Mine" details, he invited me for dinner, broke several guitar strings that night, and then I saw him decades later at a New Years Eve 2016 show in Nashville with Jason Isbell and Kacey Musgraves. The woman I was dating at the time won the tickets when she heard it on the radio. I always wish I could have met him again because I’m sure he would’ve gotten a kick out of remembering the Jekyll Island show and my interview with him (which I doubt he ever got to read). John Prine songs say so much in so few words. Beyond his songwriting genius, he was a regular and a really good guy. 

I hope you enjoy my songs. If you do, let me know! :) 

BOOKING

I'M AVAILABLE FOR HOME CONCERTS AND OTHER VENUES. I AM VACCINATED NOW SO TRYING TO BE MORE ACTIVE WITH MY MUSIC.

For Press

BIOGRAPHY

Born in New Orleans, Richard Daigle learned how to peel crawfish and dismantle a blue crab before he lost his baby teeth. After moving away for elementary school in Memphis then middle school in Dallas, Richard ‘s family moved back to Louisiana, in Gretna on the West Bank (the Best bank) where he played guitar in his room and played in high school garage bands with practice sessions outnumbering actual gigs by a substantial margin, although one of his bands indeed rocked the house at the West Jefferson High School talent show. At 11, Richard saw The Beatles as his first live concert in 1966 at Mid South coliseum in Memphis, thanks to the generosity of his late older brother, Lennet, who let his kid brother tag along. From 1970 to 1977, he saw every classic rock band known to man, from the Allman Brothers to ZZ Top, at the legendary Warehouse on Tchoupitoulas Street. His high school rock band and Warehouse concert experiences gave him a music foundation and tinnitus that have both remained with him until this day.

As a retired writer/editor, it made sense he’d become a songwriter, although it took several decades for that sense to actually seep into his cranium. He began writing songs in earnest in his late 50s, drawing inspiration from his favorite artist and one-time dinner companion, John Prine. He worked on his stage skills at The Velvet Note in Alpharetta, GA, a noted jazz club that held a weekly open mic night for any genre of music, even a singer/songwriter with quirky Americana/folk/country songs that were far removed from jazz standards. After moving to Chattanooga in 2019, he continued playing open mics and eventually paid gigs. He began and hosted a concert series, Chattanooga Song Circle and has just started Red Couch Sessions, both promoting local singer/songwriters. 

Richard lost his wife, Jan, to cancer in 2014 after 34 years of marriage to a wonderful woman who was far better than he deserved. He has three grown kids, Richie, Bethany and Caroline, who all reside in Chattanooga and seem to have survived their youths and turned out okay. He also has a grandson, Emmett Charles Daigle, who, unbeknownst to him at this time, will one day play guitar and write songs. Of course, he might have a choice in the matter...might. 

When he’s not playing guitar or writing a song, Richard can be found on a tennis court or sitting on his back deck watching hummingbirds and getting lost in thought ranging from deep to shallow to completely irrelevant. 

"Average Joe" CD Credits

  • Big thanks go out to Ronnie Winstead and Virtual Adrenaline Productions for doing a bang-up job on the CD. 
  • All songs written by Richard Daigle
  • Vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, charango-Richard Daigle
  • Vocals, “Carnivore,” “The Best Part,” “I Saw It In Your Eyes,” “Open Mic Night” -Pam Hamilton, my “plant based baby” forever. :-)
  • Lead guitar, bass, vocals-Ronnie Winstead, the guy who makes me sound better than I am
  • Fiddle, mandolin-the incomparably cool Emerald Butler!
  • Keyboards, sax-Eric Baker, music is his middle name.
  • Lead Vocals, “I Saw It In Your Eyes.”-Amanda Richards 
  • Mountain dulcimer-Butch Ross, my right and left hand music man
  • Drums—Alex Stephens
  • “John Prine” chorus voices- The Briars (Jerris Schmidt and Robert Lovett), Trish Ross, Butch Ross, Shawnessey Cargile, Ronnie Winstead, Eric Baker 
  • Photography-Flint Chaney
  • ADDITIONAL CREDITS
  • Thank you to Allen Williams, builder of my beautiful Jubilee Baruke guitar!
  • “For Lennet” is dedicated to Lennet, my older brother, who we lost at Thanksgiving, 2019.  The album is dedicated to Jan Daigle, my wonderful wife of so many years, who passed away in 2014 and continues to be a source of inspiration.


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LYRICS of songs on "AVERAGE JOE" CD

Cooking for One

Cooking for one ain’t no fun. Walk to the fridge, eat on the run

Just my observation that my dinner conversation Is with no one, I’m cooking for one

Had me a girl once upon a time.  She was the rhythm I was the rhyme

Coffee talk in the morning and sweet dessert at night. Then it came undone, now I’m cooking for one

Our recipe was from above. Seasoned with thyme and baked in love

Somehow it all got burned.  We lived and loved and learned

Well we gave it a run, now I’m cooking for one

I feed your spirit you feed my soul. Wish I was there in Tennessee

So many things we can’t control. Over the hill who can see?

Cooking for one, ain’t no fun.    Wa[k  to the fridge and eat on the run 

Even my dog can see I’m as lonely as can be. He’s eating the crumbs and I’m cooking for one 

Maybe one day I’ll set a table for two. hope we both can change our point of view

That sizzle in the pan between a woman and a man. Ain’t found often, I’m cooking for one

Cooking for one ain’t no fun. Walk to the fridge, eat on the run

Just my observation that my dinner conversation.  Is with no one, I’m cooking for one

This ain’t no fun, it’s kind of dumb, I’m cooking for one 

Average Joe

I’m younger than John Mellencamp, I’m older than John McEnroe

A guitar in one hand, a racquet in the other but really I’m just an Average Joe

I’m half as smart as half of all the genuises walking down the road

I don’t double park, I keep up my credit score, because I’m just an average Joe 

Averages Joes don’t rock the boat they’re just along for the ride

They don’t count their chickens or the tears they’ve cried

They know when the party’s over it’s high time to go

And there’s a special person living inside every Average Joe. 

My vocal range is limited so that’s why I use this capo.

I ain’t no rock star except to my dog, I’m just an Average Joe

So lend me an ear or maybe two, here’s the truth if you really want to know 

Everyone you see is special and at the same time just an Average Joe

Average Joes are human beings being whatever they are

Good people sometimes caught with their hand in the cookie jar 

They ain’t Elvis but they ain’t no John Doe

There’s a special person living inside every average Joe

If you’re an average Joe then welcome to the club 

There’s no one you should bow to, no one you should snub

God has a camera so let’s all pose

Goofy smiles on our faces, a whole world full of average Joes 

Carnivore

My plant based baby, drives me crazy

Bean sprouts and chia seeds, that’s all she ever needs

Her idea of a feast is cauliflower and nutritional yeast

Somebody help me please I need a double cheeseburger with extra bacon

Hear me roar, hear me roar...I’m a Carnivore 

For her the holy grail is quinoa and kale 

Help yourself, help me Lord, it tastes like cardboard

This bowl of lentil stew, got no meat just tofu

She threw away my steak, put broccoli on my plate,

And called it protein

Hear me roar, hear me roar, I’m a Carnivore 

One crazy day I found her at the kitchen counter 

Eating ice cream, jelly beans,  chili cheese dogs when she finally paused

I gave her some pizza and bacon and she finally stopped shaking and felt fine

Now our clothes don’t fit but we’re happy and fat and we don’t give a...darn

Hear us roar, hear us roar, we’re carnivores

Hear us roar, hear us roar, we’re carnivores

John Prine, A Friend of Mine


I was a cub reporter, played guitar and knew Sam Stone

We sat outside your bus on the day of your show

I wanted to know the man who wrote all those songs 

You wanted fried shrimp and asked me to come along 

That night you busted jokes and Martin strings too 

No time to be a legend, too busy being you 

35 years later, tickets on the radio 

My baby’s the ninth caller, we’re going to your show

John Prine John Prine you were a friend of mine

You’re shining in the morning dew

Nobody will forget ya even if they never met ya

Cause you were a friend to them too, you were a friend to them too 

You and Jason Isbell, Nashville New Year’s Eve

Singing ‘bout a topless lady with something up her sleeve 

You’re still the singing mailman with a bag of joy and truth

It’s a big ole goofy world, we’re all just passing through

John Prine John Prine you were a friend of mine

You’re shining in the morning dew

Nobody will forget ya even if they never met ya

Cause you a friend to them too, you were a friend to them too 

I cried in my coffee when I read it online

How can the world go on without John Prine?

A yellow news clipping is with my souvenirs

Dear Abbey can you tell me where are those missing years?

John Prine John Prine you were a friend of mine

You’re shining in the morning dew

Nobody will forget ya even if they never met ya

Cause you a friend to them too, you were a friend to them too

Open Mic Night

It’s open mic night, people at tables pouring beer, she’s on stage pouring out her heart,

They’re loud and laughing, she’s only 19, with her dream, deep inside a Martin guitar.

What’s the next line to that cover song, she bites her lip, doesn’t want to get it wrong 

Does it matter, if no one takes the time, to listen and see her shine, see her shine

She finds herself when she’s lost in the music 

There’s a reason to her rhyme

The stage is set, its time to use it

This is her time, at open mic night 

It’s open mic night, people settle down as they hear her original song 

First time she’s sung it, smiling faces look at her, this is where she belongs 

She’s wide open, sweating out her fear, singing secrets no one’s earned the right to hear

She’s stepping out, ready to arrive, in the spotlight is where she’s alive, she’s alive

She finds herself when she’s lost in the music 

There’s a reason to her rhyme

The stage is set, its time to use it

This is her time, at open mic night 

I Saw It In Your Eyes

I saw it in your eyes, down by the shore

I saw it in your eyes, you loved me no more

Feet in the sand, stars in the night, I saw it in your eye[Am]s 

I saw it in your smile, it gave me a clue  

I saw it in your smile, in that moment I knew 

We were apart ten thousand miles, I saw it in your smile

I’ll keep my heart and you keep the ring, love is nothing or everything 

And every new [sunrise,  I’ll remember I saw it in your eyes

I saw it in your eyes, there in the dark 

It was a surprise, was it a spark?

Behind the clouds, are there blue skies? I saw it in your eyes 

I saw it in your eyes, something was new

Was it a disguise or the real you?

Over the waves a sea gull flies, I saw it in your eyes

I’ll keep my heart and you keep the ring, love is nothing or everything 

This is not goodbye, since that day I saw it in your eyes

I saw it in your eyes, down by the shore

I saw it in your eyes, ooh ooh ooh 

The Best Part

We were 10 years old at the birthday party

You were pretty and so smart

Two pieces of cake remained on the plate

And I saved for you, I saved for you, the best part

I took you to the high school prom

Bought your flowers at the grocery mart

A magical night and that kiss goodnight 

Was for me, it was for me, the best part

Take my hand let’s walk together on this road 

Might be adventure round the bend

Life is so much better when you share the load                                            

Share your love, and find a friend                                                             

Come with me I’ll give you a head start to the best part 

Years went by and I married Sally

You loved painting, married your art

Oh the tears that I cried when Sally died

In my life I could not find, the best part

60 and single ain’t no fun

Took some courage to call an old sweetheart

No use in playing games with our time that remains

I’ve saved for you, I’ve saved for you, the best part

Take my hand let’s walk together on this road 

Might be adventure round the bend

Life is so much better when you share the load                                            

Share your love, and find a friend                                                             

Come with me just follow your heart to the best part

We were 10 years old at the birthday party

You were pretty and so smart

Two pieces of cake remained on the plate

And I saved for you, I saved for you, the best part

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