Richard Cushing spends his days in the lab at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, helping to unravel the mysteries of Alzheimer’s disease. But by night and on weekends, he leads the popular Memphis band FreeWorld, playing on Beale Street and at other venues at least five times a week.
“Studying biology during the day and playing music at night is something I’ve done almost as long as I can remember,” Cushing says.
The contrast between science and music may seem stark, but to Cushing, they are two sides of the same coin—both driven by curiosity, discipline, and the pursuit of something bigger than oneself. With his deep passion for the two fields, Cushing has played a part in advancing the understanding of diseases while developing a locally renowned band that recently released its eighth album to critical acclaim.
Cushing first started working as a research assistant at UT Health Science Center in 1989, studying diseases including Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and autism under Daniel Goldowitz, PhD, former professor of anatomy and neurobiology. After Dr. Goldowitz left the university, Cushing worked in different labs for a few years before transitioning to a corporate lab job. He spent nine years there but says he never felt comfortable in that setting after working at a university for more than two decades.
“Here at UT Health Science Center, I’m not the smartest guy in the building, which means I get to learn a lot,” he says. “In the corporate job, I was the most experienced guy there. I was a trainer and a teacher, so I got to impart a lot of my knowledge to people, but you don’t always learn something when you’re teaching.”
With the help of Robert Williams, PhD, chair of the Department of Genetics, Genomics, and Informatics, Cushing returned to UT Health Science Center in 2023 and joined the lab of Assistant Professor David Ashbrook, PhD. The lab’s primary focus is Alzheimer’s disease, and Cushing performs a variety of laboratory and research procedures using molecular biology techniques. The work is not just a professional pursuit, but a way to understand and potentially confront a disease Cushing has seen affect loved ones on both sides of his family.
“All my dad’s brothers and sisters had Alzheimer’s, and my mother is currently at a memory care facility with Alzheimer’s,” he says. “So, the research is for the general public and all the people who have this insidious disease, but it’s also for me at this point, because I know there’s a genetic component to it.”
While Cushing has had a successful career in the lab, music has always been a constant presence. He has played in bands since he was in college at the University of Tennessee at Martin. He founded FreeWorld in 1987, and with legendary saxophonist Herman Green, PhD, he made the band into a staple of the Memphis music scene.
“Herman got our band onto Beale Street. He took us under his wing and taught us not just about making the music, but about connecting the music to an audience, about dealing with clubs and getting paid,” Cushing says. “He was my mentor, and when my father passed, he became my surrogate dad.”
For more than 37 years, FreeWorld has entertained Memphians and tourists with their genre-defying music. During a FreeWorld set, the audience can hear multiple musical styles—rock, soul, blues, funk, jazz, gospel, reggae, and more—with a broad range of influences such as Booker T. & the M.G.’s, Steely Dan, Chicago, John Coltrane and Miles Davis, Frank Zappa, Grateful Dead, and Bob Marley.
“We’ve been described as the best of Memphis, New Orleans, San Francisco, and Jamaica, all rolled up together,” Cushing says. “We’ve never particularly cared about trying to shoehorn ourselves into a particular genre of music. We play FreeWorld music.”
The nine-piece band is made up of a diverse group of musicians and includes a horn section and a rhythm section with Cushing on the bass guitar. More than 100 musicians have cycled through the band, leaving Cushing as the only remaining original member. Still, he says the band has retained its identity throughout the decades. “Even after all these years, it still pretty much feels and sounds the same as it did when the band first started,” he says.
FreeWorld released its eighth album “More Love” in November. Like in the band’s other records, the lyrics share positive, uplifting messages in hopes of giving the listener a sense of happiness and the desire to create love and respect for others. The album has received positive reviews both nationally and internationally, and it reached No. 1 on the Roots Music Report R&B album chart.
The band’s status as a Beale Street staple was formally recognized in 2012 when FreeWorld received a coveted brass note on the Beale Street Brass Notes Walk of Fame. Beyond its local success, Cushing says highlights from the band’s 37 years include playing in festivals across the United States and touring Europe twice. Additionally, the band’s music video for the song “D-Up (Here’s to Diversity)” was honored at film festivals around the world, receiving top prizes at festivals in Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Germany, India, and the U.S.
Despite the demands of both his research and music careers, Cushing remains deeply committed to each. He enjoys that the differences between the two disciplines allow him to use both sides of his brain—the left side for the logical and analytical, and the right side for the creative and emotional. He notes that many scientists often have a creative outlet—from Albert Einstein, who played the violin, to Brian May, who earned a PhD in astrophysics while playing guitar for Queen. Further, Cushing says the skills learned in one of his passions often helps him improve in some aspect of the other.
“I have highly developed fine motor skills in my hands and very strong forearms,” he says. “Plus, I’m required to pay very close attention to minute details from playing music in general and bass guitar specifically, and those attributes help me immensely in the lab as I utilize pipetters, set up experiments, and assist with other laboratory tasks on a daily basis.”
Juggling his research career with an active music life—on top of maintaining a happy marriage and raising two now-grown sons—has kept Cushing busy, but he has found a rhythm that works. As for his future, he hopes not much will change over the next several years. “I’m not looking at retiring anytime soon, and I don’t want the gigs to go away anytime soon,” he says. “I’ve managed to work myself into a situation that’s comfortable, that’s nice, and that works. Let’s keep it rolling.”
With no plans to slow down, Cushing will continue to shift between the worlds of science and music, where he can rely on his curiosity and creativity to keep him going. “I still feel, especially when I’m on stage, like I’m 24 years old,” he says. “There’s still the magic, the wonder, the joy of it. And when I came back here two years ago, it was the same thing—magic, joy, the exuberance, the ebullience of being back home at UT Health Science Center, where I started my career in 1989.”