A Sunday evening show at the Town Hall, Kirton in Lindsey, Lincolnshire’s premier americana music venue, is quite a rare event, but there again the night’s headline act more than warranted any change to the normal procedure. It would, in truth be of little exaggeration to describe Kim Richey as anything less than ‘East Nashville Royalty,’ such has been her contribution to the singer-songwriter profession through both her thought-provoking and heart-felt songs and her irresistible vocals, for well over thirty years. Tonight’s concert was Richey’s first opportunity to tread these hallowed boards though she did appear just across the Humber Estuary at one of East Yorkshire finest venues (Newbald Village Hall), during a short tour last May to promote her most recent album, the wonderful “Every New Beginning”, that garnered great praise from these pages, receiving 9/10 from AUK’s very own sage Martin Johnson. More recently, towards the end of last year to be precise, Richey performed with her band at the Ryman Auditorium, opening the final show of Jason Isbell’s residency, and joined him on stage to perform the two songs they sang together on his classic americana album “Southeastern”.
As with her most recent tour on these shores, Richey was joined on stage by Luke Brighty on electric guitar with Richey herself preferring the acoustic variety. Together they kicked proceedings off with four of the strongest songs ever to open a show, a testament to the audacious strength in depth Richey possess in her canon of work and a statement that tonight they were taking no prisoners. Opening with ‘Every River’, which first saw the light day as the opening track from her classic 1997 album “Bitter Sweet”, the audience were immediately blown away by a voice, that despite having recently celebrated its 68th birthday, cut through the cold February night air like the proverbial hot knife through butter. This was followed by one of her most recognised songs ‘Angel Share’, from the 2013 album “Thorn In My Heart”, the crowd requiring no encouragement to softly sing along to the achingly beautiful chorus. The third song saw Richey return to the very start of her recording career with ‘Just My Luck’ that had been the lead single from her 1995 debut album. The final track of this opening salvo was the sublime ‘Chase Wild Horses’, Richey strumming her acoustic guitar with an intensity that propelled this track to almost anthemic proportions while Brighty’s lead lines delivered all the necessary tension and release. Truly epic.
At this point it was time to turn the focus on to the most recent album, beginning with the gentle sway of ‘A Way Round’, followed by the album’s opening number ‘Chapel Avenue’, a reflective tale of childhood memories, with its narrative connecting across the ocean, from Kettering, Ohio, all the way to Kirton in Lindsey, Lincolnshire. A fan request via social-media saw the set inclusion of ‘Straight As The Crow Flies’, with Richey admitting it would remain in the show for the duration of the tour as she had no idea which venue, if any, this particular admirer would be attending, not that this was an issue for any of tonight’s congregation with this joyous song, another to have originally appeared on the “Bitter Sweet” album. The first set was brought to a close with ‘Girl In A Car’, the first of two songs in tonight’s set list from the 2002 album “Rise”.
During the obligatory short interval for refreshments, many of the regulars took the opportunity to chat to Richey and avail themselves from the merchandise stand that along with the usual choice of albums and t-shirts also included sets of a particular brand of multicoloured pencils, of which Richey had confessed to being somewhat obsessed with during the first set
All suitably refreshed, and merchandise bought, the second set got underway with ‘Those Words We Said’, another song from Richey’s debut album, before it was fast forward to her most recent offering. Renowned singer-songwriter Aaron Lee Tasjan also happens to be Richey’s close neighbour back in East Nashville and in recent years they have become regular collaborators. The following number ‘Joy Rider’, possibly the best song from “Every New Beginning” is a perfect example of their combined talents with its tale of a likeable local rebel during those restricted days of the pandemic. The last of the new numbers tonight was the nostalgia-filled ‘The World Is Flat’, a song that ebbs and flows with a narrative that wrestles with dubious acceptance. In between these two new songs was the one and only number from the 2010 album “Wreck Your Wheels” along with a relatively rare outing for the beautiful ‘Careful How You Go’.
For the remainder of tonight’s concert Richey returned to her back catalogue, starting with ‘Pin A Rose’, its title inspired by a phrase from an episode of the legendary U.S. Crime Series “NYPD Blue”, followed by a delightful rendition of ‘A Place Called Home’. As is becoming more common these days, and in keeping with her most recent UK tour, Richey took the time before performing the last song of the night to explain that she would not be leaving the stage at its conclusion, but rather would remain to accept the crowd’s appreciation before performing the encore. The final two songs hit with the same impact as the opening numbers, both comfortably sitting alongside her finest and, by the raucous reaction, clearly among the crowd’s favourites. Starting with the heartbreaking ‘Don’t Let Me Down Easy’, with Brighty deftly supplying lead lines while simultaneously picking out the melody, there was hardly a dry eye in the house at its conclusion, and only after what seemed like several minutes of appreciation were the duo able to break into the encore, the gloriously uplifting ‘I’m Alright’, which included some spirited contribution on the chorus from the evening’s congregation.
It may be only February but with tonight’s emphatic performance by Kim Richey following just a week after Ruth Moody had raised the rafters off the Town Hall, one feels that the remainder of the year has got a lot to live up to.
As with last year’s tour of the UK, tonight’s support was supplied by Carla J Easton, who had just driven down from Glasgow with her guitarist Paul Kelly and would be driving back with Richey and Brighty to Scotland the next day for a show at Stirling’s Tollbooth, followed by a gig at Glasgow’s Glad Cafe. Easton, formerly of both TeenCanteen and Poster Paints, has just finished recording her fifth solo studio album, of which the bulk of her seven-song set list tonight was culled, though, as yet, the album doesn’t appear to have been released. Easton’s music leans slightly more towards an Indie sound, her diminutive stature, somewhat dwarfed by the Fender Telecaster around her neck, disguised a powerful voice, while Kelly filled out the sound on his acoustic guitar. The emphasis on new material meant that the setlist was completely fresh and updated compared to last year, with songs such as ‘Romance Is Dead’, along with ‘Road Trip’, a song inspired by a holiday to Nashville and Memphis, both standing out as strong numbers, as was ‘You Might Be The Sun’. Easton is also a current member of the ‘Hen Hoose Collective’ and co-directed the feature-length documentary “Since Yesterday: The Unsung Pioneers Of Scottish Pop”, which is also well worth checking out.
Hyperbole?? A little bit over the top?? No …. I don’t think so!
It was a “you had to be there” moment … and I was!! Fantastic night and your description was spot on Graeme. Call me biased, but, like you, I could eulogise incessantly about Kim; she’s up there with the Gods of Americana. I’ve seen her over 20 times thro’out the last 25 years and looking forward to the next 25! (er, now that is hyperbole).
A slight left turn here … but as you mentioned support Carla J Easton having a hand in the doc. “Since Yesterday …” I watched it and loved it. I was particularly intrigued to see reference to the group “His Latest Flame” About 35 yrs ago I picked up on this all girl group and their one album release (fabulous by the way!).
Hi Alan. Glad you enjoyed reading the review and that it reflected your assessment of the gig. It was a conscious decision to wax so lyrically, not purely to assert my overview of the performance, but to emphasise Kim’s standing with-in the songwriting fraternity over the last 35 years, and how fortunate we are to witness such rarified talent. I was reminded of this whilst currently writing an article on the legendary Tom Russell, and the fact that we need to both cherish as well as rightfully laud these unique artists while they are still able to share their art with us.