UCPAC to Welcome Singer/Songwriter Kim Richey, 10/24

Critically acclaimed singer/songwriter Kim Richey will perform at Hamilton Stage for the Performing Arts in Rahway on Saturday, October 24th at 8 p.m. Tickets are just $22 and can be purchased at www.ucpac.org. The concert is part of the on-going Split Level Concert Series which highlights critically acclaimed singer-songwriters in a uniquely intimate setting.

Those artists who find themselves stuck in the deepest of ruts two decades into their careers could learn a thing or two from veteran singer-songwriter Kim Richey. She's never been afraid to go where the inspiration is.

Early on, the Zanesville, Ohio native thrived on the progressive side of mainstream country, her albums (1995's Kim Richey, 1997's Bittersweet and 1999's Glimmer) showcasing twang-pop sensibilities, a rich, rounded vocal tone and effortlessly sophisticated songwriting that other discerning performers - Radney Foster, Trisha Yearwood and Pam Tillis to name a few - coveted for their own recordings.

In the years since, Kim has made her subtly psychedelic album Rise in Los Angeles with producer Bill Bottrell, flown to London to enlist the help of Giles Martin and emerging with the crisply orchestrated Chinese Boxes, and turned to her East Nashville-based bandleader and frequent co-writer Neilson Hubbard to conjure the earthy indie-pop feel of Wreck Your Wheels and to complete her latest masterpiece of smart, sensual understatement Thorn In My Heart. The dozen songs that make up Thorn In My Heart show that Richey is still dreaming up fetching melodies that arc and bend in unexpected ways, and still discovering fresh angles from which to articulate matters of the heart.

Upcoming Split Level Concerts include Willie Nile at Hamilton Stage on November 27th, Peter Bradley Adams on December 4th at The Loft at UCPAC, and Mary Fahl (former lead singer of October Project) with special guest Rachael Sage at Hamilton Stage on December 19th. For a full listing of shows, visit the Split Level Concerts website at www.splitlevelconcerts.com and the Union County Performing Arts Center website at www.ucpac.org.