Richie exudes the aura of his time, in technicolor and peace-o-vision. He brings it into the present, snap!, leaving all those who thought it was time to go back to sleep for a few decades wondering whose boat it was they missed thereby.
He is just one big man, playing and singing, but he is doing it all-out, all-in-earnest, all-heart. As such he resonates into the souls of those who listen to him, not so much as a musician but as another soul, a lighthouse character, walking among the sleeping reef-brains by a dangerous shore.