.......KELLY RICHEY’S INTERVIEW BY MONTE ADKISON "THE BLUES STALKER"
..............Photos by "The Blues Stalker".......... Article ctsy "La Hora del Blues" ..........Vicente Zúmel..........


Lexington-native Kelly Richey, now based in Cincinnati, started playing guitar 12 hours a day as a teen when she took her faithful Stratocaster with her everywhere, even to school. She has played professionally now for over two decades. She joined the briefly hot country-rock, Nashville based all-female band Stealin’ Horses. Kelly split to form her own group while being influenced by her favorite guitar players, Roy Buchanan and Freddie King. Some of her fondest memories are being onstage with Albert King in Nashville in 1988 and when she was invited to join him for a song and ended up playing an entire set. In 1993 in Louisville, Lonnie Mack saw Kelly perform and was so impressed that he invited her to join him on stage for a blistering guitar duel. The Kelly Richey Band has opened for James Brown and Johnny Winter, toured through 35 states and performs about 225 live shows a year.


Blues Stalker: Kelly, tell us about your CD "Sending Me Angels," and how it came about.

Kelly Richey: It has opened up so much to me and John Snyder, the Grammy winning producer I worked with, is a genius. I met John in Louisville in January 2001, where he saw me perform and magic was imminent when he signed on to produce the album. I listened to hundreds of songs to select from while he assembled a stellar group of session players in Memphis. We recorded, mixed, and mastered Angels in 11 days in March. I wanted a studio album that I could do the songs live with a 3-piece so we worked very hard to put together music that would work. I can do all but two cuts live from the CD - those are piano based.

BS: How can the CD and others be obtained?

KR: They are available from Sweet Lucy Records on my web site as well as major online sites.

BS: Has the blues-rock commitment evidenced by Angels limited your acceptance at more traditional blues clubs or blues festivals?

KR: I don’t really feel that this is a problem. I have the ability to lean more toward a blues set when needed and then kick it hard for those really rockin’ opportunities. I love both blues and rock and have worked hard to blend both styles together in a way that I hope to be uniquely my own.

BS: Since Angels, you have just released a new CD. Can you tell us about it and how it came about?

KR: At the end of the year we just released a new live CD titled ‘Kelly Richey LIVE... As it Should Be’ . I spent the entire summer while on the road touring recording as many of our shows as possible so I could capture the very best live performances. I’m excited about this CD but like all recordings, you capture where you are at that moment in time and move on.


BS: What is your website and how can fans contact you?

KR: You can find our web site on the internet at: www.kellyrichey.com Our site is always current and there are many ways of contacting us through this site. We have a message board, fan mail page, contact information for booking and publicity and our calendar is always up-to-date so you can find us live. Personal e-mail address can be found on our site as well. It’s very important to me to try and respond to as many e-mails as possible. I love to hear from fans!

BS: Describe your favorite instrument and the equipment that you use.

KR: I play a 1965 Fender Strat that I got as a teenager. I have many beautiful guitars but this one plays itself! I’m currently touring with a VHT Pittbull Amp. It’s similar to a Vox AC30. I have several vintage Fender Super Reverb Amps and several guitar rigs for both live and studio work that you can check out on our site: http://www.kellyrichey.com/

BS: In addition to touring, you also teach guitar lessons? How are you able to do that?

KR: I’ve taught most of my playing life. I teach solid throughout the winter months and whenever possible during the rest of the year. I even teach lessons in the RV while on the road. I really love to teach! I come from a long line of school and music teachers so I guess it’s in my blood so to speak. I had an incredible guitar teacher who inspired me to learn and I feel it very important to work with people if you have that gift.

BS: Kelly, we talked once about how yoga has improved your technique. Can you share that information with our readers and how it came about?

KR: I’m a very driven person and it’s always been hard for me to slow down. As I began to mature a bit I realized that the demands of touring were only becoming more and more intense so I needed to restructure my life to meet those demands. I started out with some yoga classes and then began working with a macrobiotic counsler who also gives me at least one shiatsu massage each month. I’m not 100% macrobiotic but I do practice the principles the very best that I can while on the road. Last but not least, I began working out with a personal trainer who has designed a program that I can take on the road with me. It’s a combination of all of these factors that has made a huge difference in my playing and performance stamina.. Yoga helps me relax and gain the flexability that I need to play while working out keeps me strong enough to meet the demands and healthy food is the fuel behind it all!!! I feel better and younger than ever!!!

BS: Tell us about your experience meeting and playing with Albert King.

KR: I was working as a bartender Nashville, TN when Mr. King came to play two sold -out shows. I was just young and stupid enough to ask him if I could sit in and he said "If you show up with that guitar of yours, I’ll let you sit in"…so I did! I went back stage since I worked there and found Mr. King between shows and told him I had my guitar. He said "Come in here and let me see what you got", so I pulled out my old Fender Strat and began to play.. He rambled on about Stevie and many other artists he knew and then he told me "playing guitar is like pullin’ out a gun, you better mean to use it!" About that time they came back to get him for the show and he said to me, "You go on out there and kick the show off without me". I said okay with all the excitement I was feeling and about that time he stood up. He was huge! He said to me "Don’t you make me ashamed!" and I said "No sir I won’t". He kept me up there the entire show and left me up there when he was done! That experience changed my life and I will forever be greatful to have spent that evening with him.

BS: Are there any particularly memorable jams that you have participated in?

KR: I met Lonnie Mack several years ago and got to sit in with him. Over these past few years, we’ve become good friends and I so value his input to my music! Warren Haynes and Wayne Perkins are two other great guitarists that I’ve met via sitting in at jam sessions in Nashville and have become friends with.

BS: Do you have any plans to tour Europe? I know you would gain a great deal of new fans there.

KR: I’m very excited to report that we are currently finalizing our first tour to Europe. We will be there in late April / early May of 2003

BS: You have a unique style - you play against the groove and use a lot of syncopation. Can you tell us anything, about developing your unique style?

KR: I grew up playing piano which is a percussion instrument and then I moved on to the drums where a big part of my heart and passion still lives. I often realize that I treat my guitar like a drum set. I really love the concept of a great groove and I’m very hard on drummers!

BS: With whom would you like to play with for one night if you could get that one wish fulfilled?

KR: Bonnie Raitt. She’s my hero!








Thank you Monte for this interesting interview to the great Miss Richey
MONTE ADKISON’S BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Monte Adkison, aka "the Blues Stalker," has been listening to the blues for over four decades. Along with many other teenagers who grew up in the southern United States in the early 60’s, she listened to powerful Nashville, Tennessee WLAC radio deejay "John R’s" popular blues radio show after midnight every night. Currently a high school social science teacher in Florida for over thirty years, Monte was the recipient of a scholarship in 1995 from the Florida Humanities Council to study blues music at the University of Tampa where she met the late Tampa Bay harmaniac, Rock Bottom, and the late "Diamond Teeth" Mary McClain. Amazed that "Diamond Teeth" Mary had been written up in European blues magazines but not in American, she vowed to change that.

Taking a summer pilgrimage to the Delta to study at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, she spent time researching Mary in the Blues Archives and met David Nelson, then editor of Living Blues which is based there on the Ole Miss campus. She asked David if he knew Mary and he said he had seen her perform at the W.C. Handy Awards in Memphis in ’92. When asked if indeed his magazine was true "Living Blues", if she wrote about Mary performing on her 95th birthday, would he publish it? The answer was yes and Living Blues did and then went on to write an article on Monte’s Blues in the Schools program in a ’97 issue. Monte began writing a regular column for the Suncoast Blues Society newsletter, the Twelve Bar Rag under the moniker "the Blues Stalker." Five years later, the "Blues Stalker" is still writing about talented blues artists who are under appreciated and often ignored by the mainstream press. She also covers other aspects of the blues music industry besides the musicians themselves. Her photographs can be viewed on the Suncoast Blues Society web site www.suncoastblues.org as well as photographs of the popular annual Tampa Bay Blues Festival.

Monte’s commitment to keeping the blues alive is evident in her article, her photography, and in her classroom in Ocala, Florida where every inch of her walls are covered with snapshots and autographed posters of blues musicians that she has met. As she puts it, "It’s my way of sneaking the heritage in - when you’re bored with the lessons and look up on the walls and see a Kenny Neal, or Eddie Kirkland, or Sista Monica - you might just give a listen later in live and fall in love with the music just like I have. It is another small way of keeping the blues alive."
You can visit her site at www.bluesstalker.com

This is the reason why I am really satisfied and proud to have at "La Hora del Blues" staff, directly from USA, the valuable suport, help and collaboration of this great blues expert and lover, known as "The Blues Stalker". I am sure you will enjoy this page with all her interesting and juicy interviews and photographs, so I can only encourage you to visit it regularly. Welcome aboard!, Monte....

Vicente Zúmel, "La Hora del Blues"
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