In 1970 Tewes, by whim and with no previous experience, began playing bass with his old friend, bluesman Earl Randolph, a remarkable blues pianist and singer, who could convincingly turn any song into a 12-bar blues in any key and who taught Tewes how to keep a beat and count to four.
Tewes played in Silver Ghost, a rock & roll band in the San Diego area in the mid-70's. Other than occasional journeys to visit and jam with Randolph, until his death in 1990, the bass mainly stayed in the case until the day Scanlan invited him to a Jukolin rehearsal. Richard, for the sheer joy of it, continues to show up at rehearsal. A hack without discernable musical aptitude, Tewes suffers from the delusion of someday being a potential late bloomer.