Kim Richey - 10/10

In January 2024, Kim Richey found herself in Mexico, gazing out at a sea of people singing along to “I’m Alright,” one of her classic tracks. The three folks on stage with the veteran, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter were also raising their voices in harmony. To her right sat Brandi Carlile, to her left, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Brandy Clark. The formidable foursome was participating in a songwriter’s round only half-jokingly dubbed “Titans of Americana” at Carlile’s female-forward Girls Just Wanna Weekend festival on the Riviera Maya in Mexico.

“That was nuts looking out and seeing everybody arm-waving and singing along,” says Richey, still both incredulous and cheered by the memory of performing with that supergroup and later appearing alongside other Girls Just Wanna Weekend-ers Annie Lennox, Lucius, Allison Russell, and Sarah McLachlan among others. “It was just like, ‘wow’!”

The good news for fans of this particular Titan is there will soon be a whole new batch of songs to sing along with and arm wave to with the May 2024 release of her 10th studio album Every New Beginning.

The album features 10 tracks, written, or co-written by Richey with a coterie of characters, over the course of several years, and produced by critically lauded multi-instrumentalist and producer Doug Lancio (Patty Griffin, John Hiatt). It was recorded at Skinny Elephant studio in Nashville with engineer Dylan Alldredge in August 2023 with musical assistance from longtime collaborators like Dan Mitchell and Neilson Hubbard — who produced Richey’s 2013 album Thorn in My Heart — and newer friends like Nashville neighbor Aaron Lee Tasjan, who lends his irrepressibly sparkly musicality to the proceedings. Every New Beginning manages to continue the throughline of Richey’s nearly 30-year career while simultaneously adding a new chapter.