Kim Richey - Thorn in My Heart '2013

Tracks list

Tracklist

01. Thorn in My Heart
02. London Town
03. Something More
04. Breakaway Speed
05. Angels' Share
06. Come On
07. Love Is
08. I Will Wait
09. I'm Going Down
10. No Means Yes
11. Take Me to the Other Side
12. Everything's Gonna Be Good

Kim Richey's recordings have always too mercurial to pin down. She's stubbornly
followed her muse down the lanes of contemporary country, Americana, and adult
alternative pop, but has never stayed in one place too long. Thorn in My Heart
possesses country music's spirit at heart, but it's not exactly a country
record. Produced elegantly and sparely by Neilson Hubbard, it is a brave,
confident collection that is irredeemably melancholy. In order to pull this off,
a songwriter needs to possess the twin gifts of lyric and musical
understatement. Richey doesn't disappoint. Her characters are honest,
vulnerable, wary, and confused; their disappointment never bitter; their
optimism never totally vanquished when things don't turn out properly. They are
lovers hopeful, wary, and wronged (but never commitment-shy), family members,
and those who want to flee from dead dreams and bad relationships. On the
country-tinged title track, the protagonist asks a lover who has pushed the
boundaries to the breaking point if, no matter how hard she loves him, he will
continue to be a source of pain. Carl Broemel's (My Morning Jacket) pedal steel,
Pat Sansone's (Wilco) harmony vocal, and Will Kimbrough's acoustic guitar anchor
Kris Donegan's electric and her voice. "London Town" is a lonely love song,
accented by Dan Mitchell's French horn. "Breakaway Speed," with its reverbed
guitar, is a midtempo country-rocker illuminated by textured pedal steel and
killer guest duet vocals from Jason Isbell and harmony vocals by Trisha
Yearwood. It's about a lover left reeling after being seduced and dumped in
record time. The rocker "Come On"'s protagonist exhorts her beloved to flee with
her from a dead-end town -- though she's not convinced he will. She's even
willing to wait -- a little. "Love Is," a sparse country waltz, examines all of
its contradictions; it's adorned with shimmering piano and a ghostly clarinet by
Doug Mosher. In "I'm Going Down," her protagonist, accompanied by banjo,
fingerpicked guitars, and piano, dedicates herself to escape at any cost. "No
Means Yes" is a classic country, "no tell, motel" love song. Set closer
"Everything's Gonna Be Good" displays Richey's character's sucked-up courage as
she whistles past heartbreak's graveyard with nearly jazzy grace. Richey's
characters on Thorn in My Heart inspire strong empathetic ties with listeners
via simple, beautiful melodies and lyrical accuracy by turns poetic and
accessible. It is yet another in a string of excellent releases by her, but it's
also something more. It integrates everywhere Richey's been yet inhabits a
terrain completely of her own design.



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