Under 21 with Guardian

Kim Richey
“I started off that record scared to death,” Kim Richey recalls of making Glimmer with producer Hugh Padgham back in 1999 in New York and London. A disastrous haircut, unfamiliar musicians, and oversized budgets didn’t help matters. “It wasn’t the way I was used to making records.”

The way Richey was used to making records was with friends in a vibed-out, low-key setting. That’s how she made her debut album with Richard Bennett, and it’s how she made her new album, Long Way Back… The Songs of Glimmer, with Doug Lancio. So Glimmer was different, and not just on the production side.

Then, as now, the compositions that comprise Glimmer were the Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter’s first collection of true confessionals. Prior to that she’d been a staff writer at Blue Water Music writing from a more arm’s-length vantage point for her first two releases, 1995’s Kim Richey and 1997’s Bitter Sweet. But Glimmer was all her.

Revisiting that history for A Long Way Back was both emotional and edifying for her. “I was pretty broken-hearted when I wrote and recorded most of those songs and I remember feeling that way,” she says. “At the time, I needed to really get out of my head and out of Nashville. I think that was what appealed to me so much about making a record somewhere that wasn’t home and with new people. Recording these songs again was a good way to look back and remember I made it through those times.”

The 20 years of distance between then and now provided another benefit, as well: Richey is more comfortable with her voice, both literally and metaphorically. As a result, Long Way Back sounds like it has nothing to prove and nothing to hide. It’s more spacious, but not less spirited, with Richey’s voice, in particular, feeling more relaxed and rounded than on the original. Starting with “Come Around,” the 14 new renderings take their time to make their points, meandering casually around, much like their maker.

An Ohio native, Richey’s passion for music was sparked early on in her great aunt’s record shop where she’d scour the bins and soak it all in. She took up the guitar in high school and, while studying environmental education and sociology at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, she played in a band with Bill Lloyd. But it didn’t stick… not right away.

After Kentucky, Richey worked in nature centers in Colorado and Ohio and traveled to Sweden and South America. She eventually landed in Bellingham, Washington, where she worked as a cook while her boyfriend went to grad school. Their deal was, she got to decide where they went after he graduated. One night in 1988, some old friends — Bill Lloyd and Radney Foster — rolled through town. She sold t-shirts at their gig, and they talked up Nashville. To drive the point home, Lloyd sent her a tape with Steve Earle and others on it. So taken by the songwriting, Richey and her partner loaded up their Ford F150 and headed to Music City.

In Nashville, Richey cooked at the famed Bluebird Café and gigged around town at writers’ nights. At a show one night at 12t h & Porter, Mercury Records’ Luke Lewis approached her. In classic Richey fashion, she didn’t know who he was. Still, she went to a meeting with him and Keith Stegall, played one song, talked a lot, and got a record deal at the musical home of Billy Ray Cyrus and Shania Twain. Remembering the glory days of major labels in the ’90s, Richey says, “They gave me way more than enough rope to hang myself with. I could do whatever I wanted.”

What she wanted was to work with her friend, producer Richard Bennett. So she did. For Bitter Sweet, she put Angelo Petraglia at the helm, before turning to Padgham for Glimmer. “Bitter Sweet was recorded in Nashville with my road band and friends,” Richey says. “That record was as if the kids had taken over the recording studio while the adults were away. Glimmer was more pro and less messing around having fun. The musicians were all super-talented and gave the songs a voice I never would have thought to give them. Hugh was up for trying anything and really encouraged me to add all those vocal arrangements that ended up on the record”.

For 2002’s Rise, Richey took another left turn, signed to Lost Highway Records, and hired Bill Bottrell as producer. Though it was her first time writing in a studio with a band, the players’ talent and Bottrell’s whimsy proved to be great complements to Richey’s own rule-breaking style. The resulting record was quirky, confessional, mesmerizing, and masterful. And it officially set her outside contemporary country’s bounds which was fine by Richey, whose music had always broken barriers.

A greatest hits collection dropped in 2004, buying her some time to tour, write, and make 2007’s Chinese Boxes with Giles Martin in the UK, followed by 2010’s Wreck Your Wheels and 2013’s Thorn in My Heart, both produced by Neilson Hubbard in Nashville. The latter landed her at Yep Roc Records, where she also released 2018’s Edgeland, made with producer Brad Jones in what she has described as the easiest recording process she’s ever had, despite working with three different tracking bands in the studio.

Through it all, Richey has worn her heart on her lyrical sleeve, revealing herself time and again. “I started writing songs because of Joni Mitchell, probably like most women songwriters of a certain age,” Richey confesses. “I loved being able to write songs because I was really super-shy. I couldn’t say things to people that I wanted to say. If I put it in a song, there was the deniability. If I ever got called on it, I could say, ‘Oh, heavens no, that’s just a song! I made that up.’”

Though she could fall back on plausible deniability, with Richey, what you hear is actually what you get. “I don’t have a lot of character songs because I’m not that good at making things up out of thin air.” Even when it comes to the main narrator of a song like Edgeland’ s “Your Dear John,” Richey demurs with a laugh, “I do think that song is probably just another song about me and I’m pretending to be a barge worker.”

On Long Way Back… The Songs of Glimmer, though, she’s not pretending to be anything or anyone she’s not, and neither are the songs. Richey and Lancio set out to make a guitar/vocal record, but the songs had something else in mind, and that something included drums by Lancio’s legendary neighbor, Aaron “the A-Train” Smith, among other things. “Once we stopped making rules about what could and could not be on the record, the songs spoke for themselves,” Richey says. “I knew all along I wanted Dan Mitchell to play flugelhorn, and the two tracks he played on are two of my favorites. In the end, the songs decided.”

From her move to Nashville to her making this record, for Kim Richey, the songs have always decided.

https://kimrichey.com/


Bettysoo
It’s the voice that gets you first. 
“BettySoo may well have the most gorgeous voice in Texas …if not in all contemporary folk – its purity and strength can be downright devastating.” – ACOUSTIC GUITAR 

BettySoo’s vocal prowess is a thing of wonder.  A world-class instrument of deft phrasing and purity, a voice that knows when to hold back and when to dive in.  At her own live shows, taking a verse onstage with friends or singing harmonies in sessions with Austin’s finest, BettySoo sings with consummate loveliness and self-assurance.  A voice that knows the roots of American music inside and out; coming from a most unexpected place – a diminutive Korean-American with a deceptively girl-next-door demeanor. 

Then the performance reels you in. 
“Truly remarkable. BettySoo’s sharp, often self-deprecating humor skillfully wove the songs together. Her clear, evocative voice and poignant lyrics recall Patty Griffin and Joni Mitchell, and did I mention she’s a hell of a guitar player?” 
– NO DEPRESSION, live concert review 

Touring the unforgiving circuit of listening rooms, clubs and festivals, BettySoo has mastered the art of performance.  A funny anecdote sets up a song of heartbreak and need; a witty rejoinder belies the dark truths that underpin much of her work. 

And that's when you notice the songs. 
"BettySoo’s 'How To Live Alone' is one of the best songs written in Austin during my final decade here." 
– PETER BLACKSTOCK

“Beautiful, heart-wrenching songwriting that is also edgy and unwavering.” 
– KUT,  Austin 

“Exceptionally well written and arranged songs with a confidence that speaks volumes.” 
– AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN 

They call it the live music capital of the world. Austin, Texas, is a city where the musical bar is set high.  Since exploding on the Austin scene a decade ago, BettySoo has carved out an enviable niche among the very best the city has to offer. 

Here’s what BettySoo has been up to: 
Touring nationally, both solo and as dedicated support for artists such as James McMurtry, Chris Smither, and Alejandro Escovedo.
Wrote, recorded, and toured in Europe and the U.S. with Rebecca Loebe and Grace Pettis for the new buzz-heavy trio Nobody’s Girl, celebrating the release of their debut EP Waterline with Lucky Hound Records in Fall 2018 and their self-titled album July 2021. 
Recorded vocal harmonies for countless luminaries, including two Eliza Gilkyson records, the latest James McMurtry release, Robert Harrison's (Cotton Mather) solo release, Pat Byrne (winner of Ireland's The Voice), among others.
Approved mixes for a sparkling country-rock collaboration with song-writer and filmmaker Gandulf Hennig (documentaries on Gram Parsons, Merle Haggard) produced by Grammy-winner Sheldon Gomberg (Ben Harper, Rickie Lee Jones), with guest appearances by Benmont Tench (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers), David Steele (Dwight Yoakam, John Prine), Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello), Taras Prodaniuk (Merle Haggard, Richard Thompson), and others. 
Debuted two full-band, full-throated songs from her hotly-anticipated China Girl: The Songs of David Bowie and David Byrne at a packed-to-the-rafters benefit for beloved Austin bassist George Reiff with artists like Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes and Patty Griffin. 
Designed and produced a creative productivity planner entitled Work Play Every Day that combines self-improvement prompts, creative ideas, productivity tools, and more -- all within an effective old-school time-management device.
…and she still manages to find the time for one of her very favorite things: to sit in at gigs and collaborate with friends such as Butch Hancock (the Flatlanders), Michael Fracasso, Jaimee Harris, Bonnie Whitmore, and Jon Dee Graham. 
BettySoo is as Texan as they come. 
Raised outside Houston by first-generation Korean immigrant parents, educated at UT, she grew up listening to the Great American songbook and country radio.  Older sisters led her to the world of singer/songwriters, and nights spent at The Cactus Café and Hole In The Wall turned her on to the legacy of Texas song. 

Her 2007 solo disc, Little Tiny Secrets, garnered heavy regional airplay; 2009’s Heat Sin Water Sin produced by Gurf Morlix (Lucinda Williams, Ray Wylie Hubbard), provided building blocks to a national (and international) audience.  In 2014, When We’re Gone, co-produced with cellist Brian Standefer (Alejandro Escovedo, Terry Allen) placed her firmly in the first rank of songwriters working today. 

She’s won the requisite awards: New Folk at Kerrville, Songwriter of the Year at Big Top Chautauqua, The Dave Carter Songwriting Award at Sisters Folk Festival, Mountain Stage's New Song. 

She’s played the festivals – multiple South by Southwests, Kerrville, Calgary and more. And the radio shows – E-Town, Mountain Stage, WoodSongs, BBC 2 with Bob Harris. 

Her singing has been heard on Riverdale and Girl Boss, and her songs formed the musical backbone to Christine Hoang’s 2017 play A Girl Named Sue, singled out by Austin360.com in their review as “gorgeous, moving ballads comment(ing) on the themes of the scenes they punctuate.” 

The future looks auspicious for BettySoo. 
Until the novel corona-virus shutdown, the Nobody’s Girl project was touring nonstop, and their intelligent lyrics and tightly-woven harmonies keep their audiences entranced.  The trio recorded a full-length album featuring players such as Charlie Sexton (Bob Dylan), J.J. Johnson (Tedeschi Trucks), Glenn Fukunaga (The Chicks), David Grissom (Buddy Guy, Allman Brothers, Ringo Starr), and Michael Ramos (John Mellencamp, BoDeans), who reprised his role as producer. She hit the road as dedicated support for songwriting heroes James McMurtry and Chris Smither.  You’ll likely see her onstage singing harmonies at shows for artists such as Eliza Gilkyson, James Hyland, Kim Richey, and more.  Music programmers have an embarrassment of riches to choose from, and listeners still have the opportunity to re-familiarize – or hear for the first time – the extraordinary talent that is BettySoo. 

In the Time of COVID-19, BettySoo cut a unique path through the broad streaming landscape -- and as with everything she does, she approached it in a way that invites authentic connection, encourages compassion, and merits listening.  Her weekly Nobody's Happy Hour via Zoom fostered an intimate and meaningful community and were hailed by many as one of the most creative streamed residencies anywhere.

“In her own words, ‘I guess Asian-American songwriters aren’t that common.  At least, not in Texas.’  Well, songwriting and singing of this caliber aren’t that common anywhere.” 
– NO DEPRESSION

https://bettysoo.com/

Bonnie Whitmore
AUSTIN, Texas — Bonnie Whitmore is not new to the music business. For the last two decades, she’s played bass and sung with some of the biggest artists in the Americana genre: Hayes Carll, John Moreland, Eliza Gilkyson, Sunny Sweeney, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Butch Hancock, to name a few. She’s also maintained a weekly residency at the legendary Continental Club Gallery in Austin, where she lives. 

Her 2016 release F*** With Sad Girls turned heads, but with Last Will and Testament, Whitmore has turned a corner in her own artistry that may just catapult her to the top of the Americana heap. 

As someone who’s never shied away from the issues, she’s not afraid to be direct. Her record is full of topical songs, tackling suicide, rape culture, loss, and the great American divide. It’s not easy to talk about heavy subjects without weighing the music down, but Whitmore pulls it off without difficulty. It’s like she’s used to talking about serious matters in casual conversation — which she is.

 “I’ve definitely been told to shut up and sing,” she says, referencing the phrase that became commonplace after it was directed at the Dixie Chicks. In such divided times, many artists have become hesitant to share their opinions for fear of being ostracized or losing fans. But Bonnie took “shut up and sing” literally. “I thought, fine, I’m just going to sing what I want to talk about.”

“My goal for this record is to inspire people to have hard conversations,” she explains. “But I definitely subscribe to writing pop music, with catchy lyrics and repeating phrases.” 

The depth and candor of the record conveyed through Whitmore’s pop sensibilities make it a pure pleasure to listen to. Instead of telling you how it is, she often poses questions in her songs.  

“Who do you want to be?” she asks in the song “Right/Wrong.” “What do you want to say?” “What’s the point of liberty in the land of the free, without you and me?” It feels like a Tom Petty anthem, and, not unlike Petty’s writing, carries a message of justice and true patriotism beneath an all-American jangle of guitars.  

“None of My Business” was written after the 2015 terror attacks in Paris. Whitmore’s gorgeous vibrato is the star on this lush, vibey track. “Day in and day out, all we really do is scream and shout, missing what it’s really all about. Instead of melody, let’s find the harmony, love forwardly, don’t let our fears defend us.” 

She wrote the title track, “Last Will and Testament,” after losing yet another member of the music community to suicide. “Asked for It” uses a punk rock attitude and driving rhythm to get the listener take a hard look at the nature of rape culture. “So go on and blame the victim. Why should violence have consequence? And each time you silence them, recreates the same event. She’s the kind of girl you said asked for it.” 

Her intention is never to preach, but rather to have her songs inspire discussion and reflection. 

“I’ve always had the drive to participate and use my voice. I feel it is our responsibility to use our voices to challenge authorities if we want to make things better,” she says. “We’re seeing a resurgence of the ’60s civil rights movement, and it is so inspirational right now to see so many people willing to protest things that are wrong, to live up to what we stand for, which is equality for all.”

The album isn’t all topical, though; it gets personal too. “Fine,” a track clearly destined to be a radio favorite, is an upbeat country rocker about the cycles of relationships, co-written with rising star Jaimee Harris. “Love Worth Remembering” is about the meaning of unconditional love, set to a throwback ’60s R&B feel. And “George’s Lullaby” is a beautiful tribute to her friend and mentor, bassist George Reiff, who recently passed. 

Bonnie grew up steeped in music and flanked by strong women. She toured in a band with her parents, Alex and Marti, and older sister Eleanor (now one-half of alt-country outfit the Mastersons with husband Chris Masterson) from an early age. A professional pilot, Alex Whitmore would fly the family to gigs at remote Texas bars and crowded festivals. Fun fact: Bonnie is a licensed pilot as well. 

Bonnie’s mother has been a big influence on her. Marti is not only a classically trained opera singer, (“an actual diva,” says Bonnie, “and with that, there’s real power — as a soprano, she could overpower a whole choir”), but has also always been very outspoken, and that rubbed off on Bonnie too. Whitmore never thought of “feminism” as a bad word. 

Whitmore co-produced the record with Scott Davis, who also co-wrote one of the album’s standout tracks, “Right/Wrong”. They recorded at Ramble Creek Studio in Austin with engineer Britton Biesenherz. Craig Bagby (drums), Trevor Nealon (keys), and BettySoo (backing vocals, accordion), all members of Whitmore’s band the Sad Girls, are fixtures throughout the record. 

Whitmore has spent the last few years polishing these songs on the road opening for James McMurtry. “Bonnie’s been first call support on my tours for a while now, because she kicks ass consistently,” says McMurtry, “Sometimes I forget who’s opening and wander back into the venue after I eat, thinking, “Damn, chick can sing, opening band sounds like money, oh . . .”   He first asked her to open a tour for him a few years ago, after hearing her sing “F*** With Sad Girls” at the Continental Club Gallery. She’s a songwriter’s songwriter, and a musician’s musician, a fact made evident by artists like McMurtry wanting her as an opener, and artists like Hayes Carll wanting her in their bands. 

When the Austin-American Statesman’s music critic Peter Blackstock received an advance copy of Last Will and Testament he named Whitmore Austin360’s June Artist of the Month. “Whitmore still enjoys the supporting role,” he notes, “but these days, she has too much to say to stay in the shadows.”

https://bonniewhitmore.com/