Kim Richey is one of those unsung heroes of americana who have been around for ages, releasing an album every few years without huge fanfare, but whose work within the industry, working with higher-profile musicians, has earned huge respect amongst her peers.
Richey came late to the party; she was 37 when she signed her first record deal with Mercury Records. “I think when you’re older, I had more of a sense of myself, and what I was and wasn’t willing to do to get a record deal“, she says. It may or may not be coincidental that Richey’s late entry into the music business just about mirrors her great friend and musical collaborator, Gretchen Peters. Born a few months apart and with debut albums released at about the same time, Richey would go on to accompany Peters on many a tour, both as support act and then alongside Peters herself.
Richey’s eponymously titled 1995 debut still sounds as fresh today as it ever did and stands comparison with everything that has come subsequently. Whilst contemporaries such as Peters, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Shawn Colvin achieved at least a degree of chart recognition for their work, Richey has remained firmly in the background in that respect. There have been some notable critical high points; Time magazine placed Glimmer in their Top 10 albums of 1999, for example, but her albums fly under the commercial radar in the main.
If the maturity of her songwriting skills is renowned throughout the Nashville community, then Richey is equally respected as a collaborator and contributor to many. Her 2018 release, Edgeland, saw Chuck Prophet feature prominently. Her 2013 album Thorn In My Heart reads like a who’s who, Neilson Hubbard, Trisha Yearwood, Jason Isbell feature on harmonies; Hubbard and Ben Glover contribute a co-write. Richey’s songs have been lapped up by the likes of Yearwood, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Patty Loveless and Jim Lauderdale, and she has returned the guest vocalist favour to Isbell, Shawn Colvin, Ryan Adams and Rodney Crowell, amongst many.
With nine studio albums under her belt, it feels only right and proper to take a track from each for this selection. With the exception of number 1, they are laid out here chronologically for ease of narrative. This process will inevitably mean omissions of some great tracks and lead to mutterings. Ah well.
Number 10: Just My Luck from Kim Richey (1995)
With one exception, Richey’s eponymously titled thirteen-track debut album was a series of co-writes, something that has been a feature throughout her long career. Both single releases from the album were collaborations with Angelo (Petraglia), a songwriter/producer who has worked with a number of stellar artists, including the likes of Kings of Leon, Patty Griffin, and Trisha Yearwood. Just My Luck flirted with the Top 50 US country charts, which is where, like a number of her contemporaries, her record company were clearly aiming her at the start. The drift away from country to americana was to come, but this debut is as up-tempo and commercial as Richey gets and features here a rare Richey video. It is a medium that Richey has never been big on.
Number 9: The Lonesome Side Of Town from Bitter Sweet (1997)
That collaboration with Angelo was taken a big step further on Richey’s follow-up album. He is credited with co-writes on the majority of tracks and is also producer for all but two John Levanthal productions. Bitter Sweet remains Richey’s most commercially successful album and is certainly right up there with her best. The Lonesome Side Of Town actually has a third credited writer in Larry Gottlieb. It was a trio that provided three tracks on the album. Angelo immerses himself even further here with backing vocals and acoustic/rhythm guitar. It is another upbeat and beautifully produced track that belies its cautious tale of getting out of a relationship before getting close enough to get hurt. “You won’t find any peace not here, not on these streets, misery loves company, and there’s enough to go round. No time to wonder why, no time for long goodbyes, last chance for getting out is fading with the light, ’cause I don’t want to be around when the night comes down, on the lonesome side of town”.
Number 8: Come Around from Glimmer (1999)
Twenty years on from its 1999 release, Kim Richey revamped the Glimmer album as A Long Way Back: The Songs of Glimmer. The same songs, in Richey’s own words, reinterpreted. The fact that this is an album that she and her record label saw fit to celebrate says much about the album’s merits. Chock full of outstanding songs, it is certainly up there as one of Richey’s most memorable and could easily be argued away as her finest. Although critically acclaimed at the time, some more country-leaning critics lamented the move towards a more pop/rock influence. With production from Hugh Padgham (The Police, Phil Collins), different artists appeared on the co-write roster, including, on this track, which, incidentally, also appeared in the Kevin Costner film For Love Of The Game, Tim Krekel gets the credit. Before his passing from cancer in 2009, Krekel had written for many Nashville legends such as Patty Loveless, Crystal Gayle and Martina McBride.
Number 7: A Place Called Home from Rise (2002)
Is it a blessing or a curse that artists we embrace as americana don’t fit neatly into any particular genre as far as the mainstream is concerned? On the one hand, they can get overlooked and assumed not to be of interest to a particular audience, failing to get the airtime that they warrant. On the other hand, when an unexpected source picks up on a release, that may allow the artist to slip into the consciousness of a whole new set of listeners. In the case of Rise, the album was picked up by the website jazz-jazz.com, who were effusive in their praise. “The really cool thing is that these tunes are a total grab-bag of styles, rhythms, and attitudes, like a game of musical Tetris being played from track to track. Producer Bill Bottrell guides the pieces with a careful and creative hand, making each song excitingly unpredictable, both individually and as part of the collective soundscape”. Here, unaccompanied, Richey performs this gorgeous ballad with the clarity and emotion it deserves.
Number 6: Turn Me from Chinese Boxes (2007)
Richey decamped to London to record Chinese Boxes, working with producer Giles Martin, son of George. Turn Me may not be the most obvious pick from Richey’s first album without the backing of a major label, but this Neilson Hubbard co-write has a beauty and flow that had one reviewer of the time enthusing not only about the song, but about Richey herself. “The chorus of Turn Me has a melody that resembles one by Tori Amos, but the red-headed faerie would never write lyrics like “Words don’t matter, you only need to understand/I’m not going anywhere without you.” Richey’s songs are simply about human relationships. Her artistry is in distilling thoughts and feelings and conflicts that, in real life, are endlessly confounding, into precisely and beautifully wrapped packages of words and music. No fancy bows and ribbons are needed.”
Number 5: Word To The Wise from Wreck Your Wheels (2010)
Rather in the manner of that earlier collaboration with Angelo on her first two albums, for Richey‘s next album, it was Hubbard who turned producer for 2010’s Wreck Your Wheels. Richey wrote with, amongst others, Beth Rowley, Will Kimbrough and Boo Hewerdine on the album, and it is Hewerdine who is credited alongside Richey on the hauntingly beautiful Word To The Wise. It is a pared-back gem with simple accompaniment from that man Hubbard on keyboards and the understated guitar of Kris Donegan. As Richey’s ballads go, it is as good as it gets.
Number 4: Breakaway Speed from Thorn In My Heart (2013)
Those key players remained in place for Thorn in my Heart. Newly ensconced within Yep Roc Records now, with Hubbard still overseeing proceedings, Richey’s reputation within the songwriting community and the respect with which she was, by now, firmly held, is demonstrated on the album by contributions from the likes of Jason Isbell and Trisha Yearwood. Isbell’s vocals are so prominent on this track that it is almost a surprise that it isn’t listed as a duet. Songwriting credits are shared here with Mando Saenz, and wasn’t the first collaboration between the pair. Richey is quoted as saying, “In a town known for great songwriters, Mando Saenz is one of the best and most original”.
Number 3: Pin A Rose from Edgeland (2018)
Edgeland was widely reckoned to be Richey’s finest hour since 1999’s Glimmer. It is a properly grown-up record by an artist not only comfortable in her own skin and with her ability as a songwriter, but also as one who is as welcome to new musical input as she is relying on her tried-and-trusted collaborations. On the sleeve notes for the album Richey, amongst all the usual thanks and appreciations, gives particular mention to producer Brad Jones for expanding her musical view. Pin a Rose was written with Chuck Prophet and has Richey observing a friend’s toxic relationship and dreading the outcome. “You saw a light, I saw a freight train coming, I tried to tell you he was no damn good. You heard bells, I heard the hammer falling, he ran you down like I said he would”.
Number 2: A Way Around from Every New Beginning (2025)
Interviewed on these pages at the time of Richey’s most recent release, Every New Beginning, Richey revealed just how financially challenging it is for artists to record these days. Recording ten songs for the album was, she said, all they could afford. For an artist this well established in the songwriting community to reveal these restrictions speaks volumes about the environment she and myriad other brilliant artists work. That interview also allowed Richey to confirm her love of working with other artists, including Aaron Lee Tasjan, who introduced Richey to Brian Wright. Their collaboration resulted in A Way Around, which features Tasjan on guitar and Hubbard on drums.
Number 1: Those Words We Said from Kim Richey (1995)
So, having trawled through Richey’s thirty-year back catalogue, how hard is it to pick a standout from all that quality. Glimmer and Edgeland stand out as far as top albums go and could have featured much more here if the direction of travel was different. But it is often the case that no matter how long the journey and how far you follow the career of a favourite artist, it is first impressions that leave the greatest mark. And so it is that we return to the very first track on that debut album. Reaching the far from dizzying heights of number 59 in the US country charts, Those Words We Said nevertheless helped propel a late entrant to the music scene into, if not exactly superstardom, then, at the very least, one of the most respected songwriters of her generation.
