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“Whenever I write a song, the thing that I enjoy the most is when someone hears a song or a line and says, ‘That’s how I feel,’” says Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Kim Richey. “As long as the music is connecting, there is no end.” Today, Richey keeps her connection-fueled perpetual motion moving with the release of a brand new album, Every New Beginning. Released on Yep Roc Records and featuring ten songs spanning from more recent writes to decade-old puzzle pieces—written, or co-written by Richey with a coterie of characters—Every New Beginning highlights not just the songs of a master tunesmith but a career-defining performance from the voice which Brandi Carlile has cited as formative in crafting her own style.
“Sometimes songs aren’t ready to reveal themselves and you have to have the patience to wait them out,” says revered songwriter and performer Kim Richey who hung onto the chorus of her new single “A Way Around” for a year before the spark finally caught fire. “We will serve no song before its time,” she laughs. Then one morning, ahead of a morning co-write with Aaron Lee Tasjan and Brian Wright, Richey sat down with a guitar and revisited her initial chorus idea. “Finally it came to me,” she remembers. “‘You’ve been looking for a way around.’ That’s all I needed and the rest of the chorus fell out.” Eagerly, she brought that chorus to Tasjan and Wright and “A Way Around” was born.
Sonically, “A Way Around” exudes 1970s southern California; a simple chord progression energized by swirling, arpeggiating guitars and a bass foundation that pulses and moves with the singer’s celestial voice. Emerging from a psychedelic, instrumental bridge driven by producer Doug Lancio’s and Tasjan’s guitars, Richey revisits the chorus: “You been looking for a way around / Water keeps rising til you think you’re gonna drown.” “This song was probably a message from my subconscious to me saying ‘the best way might be through rather than around whatever is troubling you.’”
Produced by Doug Lancio (Patty Griffin, John Hiatt), Every New Beginning 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 Lex Price on bass and 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.
Look for Ritchey in Nashville on June 11th at the Grand Ole Opry, June 26th at Riverside Revival and Sept. 17-21st at AMERICANAFEST.
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