ALBUM REVIEW: Kim Richey Commemorates the Journey on ‘Every New Beginning’

There’s excitement at the start of something new, but oftentimes the magic is in the middle. The songs on Kim Richey’s new album, Every New Beginning, build their stories from looking back on the past, looking toward something better just ahead, or, sometimes, just looking around, with scenes that feel drawn from listeners’ own stories.

Kim Richey (photo by Stacie Huckeba)

In her nearly 30-year career, Richey has mastered the art of songwriting, finding big truths in small moments and winning fans with lyrics both witty and searing. Fellow songwriters are among her fans: Radney Foster and Mary Chapin Carpenter are a few who have recorded her songs, and Jason Isbell, Trisha Yearwood, Reba McEntire, and many more have invited her to add vocals to their recordings. Brandi Carlile, who cites her as an influence, featured Richey alongside her in a songwriters set dubbed “Titans of Americana” at this year’s Girls Just Wanna Weekend.

But it’s everyday moments, not the glare of the spotlight, that cast a spell on Every New Beginning. “Chapel Avenue” collects scenes familiar to many from childhood and then says a wistful goodbye to it all. “Goodbye Ohio” bids farewell, too, but to a relationship that was home until it wasn’t.

Moving on is hard, as Richey makes us feel acutely in these songs, but staying still isn’t any better an option. On “Floating on the Surface,” a peaceful, easy groove comes laced with an edge that suggests what’s underneath can only be ignored so long: “Floating on the surface / never making waves / At the bottom of the sea / There’s too much mystery.”

The moods and melodies that move behind Richey’s insightful lyrics get a boost on Every New Beginning from some fresh instrumental directions. “Come Back to Me” gets an old-time tinge from fiddle and banjo, while a flugelhorn adds extra punch to the bright closer “Moment in the Sun.” And a full fleet of keys — including piano, pump organ, Wurlitzer, and mellotron — wrings every bit of heartbreak out of “The World Is Flat,” about a relationship beyond mending.

Standout “Feel This Way” doesn’t need a lot of instrumental flash; the lyrics do the knocking down all on their own. It’s about the mind knowing that there’s going to be an eventual ease-up to heartbreak, but the heart sure feeling like it’s forever. “They say one day I’ll look back and laugh / If they wanna make it better they gotta do better than that,” Richey sings before arriving at the repeated line that builds the chorus: “It hurts like it’s always gonna feel this way.”

But “Moment in the Sun” deposits listeners on that sweet other side after all, depicting a time when “you shimmer and you shine.” After all the moving-on Richey presents on Every New Beginning, this, she declares, is a moment in which to stay a while. And whether this moment finds you at the start, middle, or end of a journey, Every New Beginning has a song to get you through.

Kim Richey’s Every New Beginning is out May 24 on Yep Roc Records.