Love Tractor Co-Founder Mike Richmond Announces Debut Solo Album ‘Without An Audience’

Love Tractor Co-Founder Mike Richmond Announces Debut Solo Album ‘Without An Audience’
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After decades of making music, Mike Richmond is stepping into the spotlight with his debut solo album, Without An Audience, arriving June 12 via Strolling Bones Records, a subsidiary of New West Records. The album’s title track serves as a deeply personal reflection on creativity, purpose, and the enduring drive to create regardless of recognition.

Richmond first gained recognition as a co-founder of Athens, Georgia's influential alternative rock band Love Tractor, emerging from the legendary music scene that also produced R.E.M., The B-52s, and Pylon. With “Without An Audience,” he explores a universal question that artists have grappled with throughout history: What motivates us to keep creating when no one may be listening?

​The song’s inspiration arrived unexpectedly while Richmond was learning Bob Dylan’s “Blind Willie McTell.” One particular lyric—“And his only audience was the moon and stars”—sparked a deeper meditation on artists whose work transcended their own lifetimes.

​“One of the lyrics is, ‘And his only audience was the moon and stars,’” Richmond explains. “Then I thought of Vincent Van Gogh and Emily Dickinson and how they did what they did without any applause.”

That idea became the foundation of “Without An Audience,” a song populated by solitary creators, dreamers, and believers who continue to sing, write, pray, and express themselves regardless of whether anyone is there to witness it. The track ultimately became a reflection of Richmond’s own creative journey.

“I was asking myself, why am I writing these songs? Is anyone going to care?” Richmond says. “I’m an old guy who played in a pretty obscure band back in the ’80s—does anyone want to hear my new stuff? But I’m fascinated by people like William Blake, Van Gogh, Nick Drake and others who did what they did and never got a lot of applause for it. So I kept writing and recording, and I started to grow more confident in my mission.”

For the album, Richmond assembled an accomplished group of collaborators, including bassist David Barbe, drummer Joe Rowe, pedal steel player John Neff, fiddler Adam Poulin, Ben Hackett, Jason NeSmith, and Neil Rosenbaum. Together, they help bring Richmond’s songs to life with a sound that blends the melodic spirit of Athens rock with elements of folk, country, and Americana.

​Rooted in thoughtful songwriting and timeless musical craftsmanship, Without An Audience marks a new chapter for Richmond—one that celebrates artistic perseverance, creative authenticity, and the simple act of making music for its own sake.
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