Categories
GUEST EDITOR

Kim Richey’s Old Friend: Books

Kim Richey spent the initial portion of her 15-year career chafing at various stylistic restraints, some self-imposed, others foisted upon her by others. Through the second half of the ’90s, the itinerant daughter of a Dayton, Ohio, record-store owner sampled and discarded various guises: new-country misfit (1995’s Nashville-friendly self-titled debut), Lucinda Williams in waiting (1997’s calculated Americana stab Bittersweet) and top-40 hopeful (1999’s super-slick Glimmer). And while those albums had at least two things in common—great songwriting and a soulful, not-in-the-least-bit-showy vocal approach—it wasn’t until more recently that Richey locked into a groove all her own. That in mind, Wreck Your Wheels (Thirty Tigers), her sixth and latest release, finds the artist reveling in a friction-free comfort zone somewhere along the well-read, emotionally honest folk/pop continuum. Richey will be guest-editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our Q&A with her.

Richey: I am never without a book in progress and one ready as back up. Recently, I read To Kill A Mockingbird for the first time. I’m not sure how I made it out of school without reading it, but I did. My friend Jane says you have to look for your luck sometimes. About a dozen pages into the Harper Lee classic, I realized how lucky I was to be reading it for the first time. What a great book. This year is the book’s 50th anniversary.

Video after the jump.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no4x4wZKitY

2 replies on “Kim Richey’s Old Friend: Books”

I was wondering what your top 5 favorite books of all time are? I have to say that when I first heard your song “A Place Called Home”, on the TV show “Angel”, I was stopped dead in my tracks. It perfectly accented the mood in the show. I have since listened to more of you rmusic, and I thank you for your art.

–Nick Bridwell

Books, music, and art are my drugs! My house has piles of books everywhere and my iPod is always gaining new music. And if I’m not creating new artwork, I am sad.

Comments are closed.