Much of my experience with country-pop has been through the
\nradio and artists like Mary Chapin Carpenter. (She’s not country, I
\nknow, but I tend to think of Shawn Colvin also when I think of this
\nmusical genre.) The music easily walks both sides of the musical
\nfence without strongly committing to either, ending up with a
\nrather interesting blend.<\/p>\n
Kim Richey is an artist who could easily be the next Mary Chapin
\nCarpenter in terms of popularity in this genre, and could easily
\nfit onto adult-contemporary radio with her Colvin-like vocal
\ndeliveries. Her third album
\nGlimmer<\/i> is proof of this, and is an album that pleases from
\nbeginning to end.<\/p>\n
Richey has been described as “country” by other journalists and
\nher own record label, but I’ll go on the record to dispute this. If
\nanything, Richey’s musical attack is rooted deeper in the folk
\nveins than anything else. Just listen to a track like “Hello Old
\nFriend” and hear the way the story unfolds, and you’ll understand.
\nHarry Chapin and John Denver used to use their songs in similar
\nmanners, and Richey does bring back happy memories of both these
\nartists in comparison.<\/p>\n
But there’s enough of a pop sensibility in her music to make
\nsure that even staunch country haters will not hesitate in taking a
\ncloser listen to Richey’s music. “The Way It Never Was” is a
\nperfect example of this, and is my hands-down pick for a future hit
\nsingle. Of all the tracks on
\nGlimmer<\/i>, this is the one I found myself constantly going
\nback to.<\/p>\n
Other tracks like “Other Side Of Town,” “Good At Secrets” and
\n“So It Goes,” all tap into this vein as well, proving that Richey
\nis a prime candidate for AOR radio breakthrough – and I hope that
\nthe powers that be give her a shot.
\nGlimmer<\/i> is that strong of an album, and Richey that talented
\nof an artist, that I think she could easily pull it off.<\/p>\n
The true test of this album, however, wouldn’t come in the halls
\nof the Pierce Memorial Archives. Instead, it would come on the home
\nstereo system of my mother, who loves all sorts of music, and is
\ninto artists like Carpenter and Kathy Mattea. (Fact: The woman owns
\na CD player that holds somewhere around 110 discs.) What surprised
\nme, however, was that she really didn’t start taking notice of this
\nalbum until it hit tracks like “Didn’t I” and “Strength In You”.
\nThe verdict: Positive, though I was surprised it took nearly the
\nwhole album for her to stand up and take notice.<\/p>\n
\nGlimmer<\/i> is an album that, if there is any justice in the
\nworld, will be the one that makes Richey a star. Even if it
\ndoesn’t, she can hold her head up and know that she created an
\nalbum that sets the worlds of country, pop and AOR music, on their
\nrespective ears.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6141],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-36285","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-kim-richey","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36285"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36285"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}