The car park was full at the Newbald Village Hall or as the branding would have it, Newbald Live. The venue has had a considerable makeover since I last visited and it now provides a great room for visiting artists to play. There was a full house to see the latest Americana/Country act booked for the delectation of the folk from East Yorkshire. Richey is no stranger to our shores and it’s a treat to find her out in the country at lesser stops to play her selection of songs to new and old audiences. Her catalogue is one of the strongest I know and it has been consistent over nearly 30 years of recording. She played a selection of songs from her 1995 debut Kim Richey through to her 2024 release Every New Beginning.

The voice is still a tour de force that’s a beautiful instrument. To accompany herself she played chords on an acoustic guitar although the ‘pin drop’ numbers were when she put down her guitar and left the playing to her accompanist, Luke Brighty, on a restrained electric guitar. Take The Cake, off her last album, was one such song along with Girl In A Car all the way back from 2002. Between the songs stories came thick and fast, she looked back on her early years with amusing self-deprecation. She was asked by her record label about her ideas for a title for her debut LP? Without missing a beat she volunteered ‘Child Of The Wild Blue Yonder’. They heard her out and then called it Kim Richey! Over her long career she’s mixed with many bright lights in the Americana/Country firmament but she only name dropped Aaron Lee Tasjan, a neighbour in East Nashville who’s worked and toured with her. Joy Rider was one such collaboration where she sings about the childlike curiosity of a young boy who explores the world on his noisy motorbike.

The hits or singles were ticked off as she played Those Words We Said, Come Around and  The Way It Never Was. Then it was time to play her last two songs and quickly promote her merch including tea towels (that she’d spent a lot of time lugging around various gigs with little success!) These songs were the fabulous Chapel Avenue and then a singalong I’m Alright. We all shuffled into the dark chilly Yorkshire night with a glow after a very special evening.