Kim Richey

小简介
俄亥俄州并不像是音乐的温床，可是，如果你有个婶婶之类的在那里经营一家唱片店，你当然会得到帮助。这就是Kim Rickey如何走上这条路的——在一箱一箱的45转唱片里尽力地挖掘，从Janis Joplin到Lovin' Spoonful。在高中时她开始玩吉他，到了大学开始较多地上台演出。那个时候，她组建了一个乐队，唱了很多和声歌曲。大学毕业后，她到处游走，到过科罗拉多、华盛顿、南美、波士顿、欧洲，还偶尔到了纳什维尔。在蓝鸟咖啡馆当厨师打零工并没有对她结识那些自创作歌手的同好们有什么阻碍。
1988年，Richey在Nashville扎下根，开始磨练自己的创作技巧。她获得了很好的声誉，因为作为一个歌手，她能解释歌词，并给它们配上最棒的曲调，还一直带着一种少有的诱人的乐观的忧郁写着歌。很快她与PolyGram公司签了约，并与1995年发行了首张同名专辑《Kim Richey》（AMG 4.0）。
1997年，发行Bitter Sweet（AMG 4.0）；1999年发行Glimmer（AMG 3.0）。这三张专辑被标记为当代乡村，但实际上却是走着John Hiatt的那种音乐路线。由于Kim Rickey扭曲的抒情歌词与节奏，与当年人们过多的拿她与Shawn Colvin相比。
直到1999年与制作人Hugh Padgham完成专辑Glimmer之时，她的声音更偏向于流行音乐。2002年发行专辑Rise。与制作人Bill Bottrell一起，Rickey用受到普遍好评的配器使自己的声音得到了充实，而这样的配器对一个所谓的当代乡村艺人来说则是不多见的；结果便是这张令人惊奇的精湛作品。
by Kelly McCartneyOhio might not seem like a hotbed of music, but when you have an aunt who owns a record shop, youve certainly got a leg up. Thats how Kim Richey got hooked on what would become her chosen path — digging through bins of 45s and listening to everything she could, from Janis Joplin to the Lovin Spoonful. In high school, she started playing guitar but didnt rack up much stage time until in college. That was when she started a band and sang a lot of harmony. After college, she did a lot of moving, to and through Colorado, Washington, South America, Boston, Europe, and occasionally Nashville. Serving a stint as a cook at the Bluebird Café didnt do much harm to pull her into the singer/songwriter fold. In 1988, Richey planted her roots in Nashville to really test that fold and hone her own songwriting craft. She built a reputation as a singer who could interpret a lyric and harmonize with the best of them, all the while writing songs with an optimistic melancholy quality that is unusual and alluring. Before too long, Richey was signed to PolyGram Records, releasing her eponymous debut in 1995. Bitter Sweet and Glimmer followed in two-year increments. All three albums were tagged as contemporary country but actually fall in step pretty close to John Hiatts brand of music making. Comparisons to Shawn Colvin have also run rampant over the years, due to Richeys cleverly twisting lyrical phrases and beats. By the time she made 1999s Glimmer with producer Hugh Padgham, her sound leaned even further toward the pop end of the spectrum. Cut to 2002 and the release of Rise. Teaming up with producer Bill Bottrell, Richey fleshed out her sound with worldly flavors of instrumentation, atypical for a so-called contemporary country artist. The result was mesmerizing and her most masterful work to date. A greatest-hits Collection arrived in 2004, followed by Chinese Boxes in the summer of 2007.