NOW SPINNING
WARY + STRANGE
Amythyst Kiah
BLUES | ROCK • 2021 • ROUNDER RECORDS
Amythyst Kiah came up through the old-time and Appalachian folk circuit. She majored in Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Country Music Studies at East Tennessee State, and was part of Songs of Our Native Daughters, a super group of folk oriented women of color, with Kiah, Leyla McCalla, Allison Russell and Rhiannon Giddens, showcasing how black musicians were influential in developing the sound of early country music.
With ‘Wary + Strange,’ she set out to make a different kind of record, one that sounded 'haunted' and 'slightly uncomfortable.'
She succeeded.
Plugged in and turned up, this is a different conversation entirely. 'Black Myself' won Song of the Year at the Folk Alliance for the version on Songs of Our Native Daughters. Here, it's the second track, after the slinky kiss-off, 'Soapbox,' and it roars with heavy guitars, heavy subject matter, and her voice that can do quiet devastation and full-volume fury in the same song. And the record gets better from there and includes contributions from S.G. Goodman, BIlly Strings and Sadler Vaden among others.
Kiah highlights the Black roots of American popular music without tiptoeing around things. And she rips the doors off the building and raises the roof when she plays live.
LISTEN & BUY
If at all possible, buy it at your local record store.